courserep

Changing how textbooks are created and consumed

A great number of students go through university without ever owning a book, with the poverty rate in the country as high as 50% and a huge youthful population, parents understand the value of higher education but without the tools necessary for a transformative experience, graduates, especially in public institutions, are no more different than when they enrolled.  

The courserep solution leverages on existing technology, publishing textbooks digitally and distributing through a mobile application all built around tools that enhance the students' educational experience. 

There are several solutions in the market at the moment and all work on the same model; an expensive device loaded with textbooks. The courserep model allows students install our application in any device, although we are interested in, and are already working towards developing an inexpensive device that will make for a better experience for the user, we will still give our users the option of deciding what is best for them.

The whole courserep operation, from conversion of the works to marketing and distribution is built around digital technology.

For a user to access our mobile application they have to have installed in on their device. All works on the application are electronic texts and payment for purchased books is made through electronic means.

The whole idea behind courserep is to digitize the students' educational experience by creating tools that make learning easier and more accessible, technology is incorporated into every single facet of our operations.  

We have been hampered  by a lack of funds to grow beyond the pilot phase and in the next year we would look to launch the application and grow the team to fill important positions.

Although we are currently working with a single institution (context: the textbook market in the country is decentralized, so a book recommended in one institution may not be used in the next one) we would expand our services in the next 12 months to the three institutions in the city where the startup is headquartered.

About 40% of the Nigerian population is around the tertiary education age bracket, our institutions at the moment are swamped with students and placement is a problem government has not been able to solve.

We see courserep as an alternative to the physical classroom, we want students to not be pressured in any way while the earn their degree. If higher education is accessible to anyone and everyone at a price they can afford, more people will be lifted out of poverty and improve their living standards.

The courserep solution will be available to users through a mobile application, we have designed an elaborate marketing program that targets students in the institutions where they study.

The period since the beta testing we have been inundated by messages from users and educators alike for when we will commerce full operations, it was a revealing experience for the students.

We deployed the app in a beta and put it in the hands of 50 students from our pilot institution for 30 days and the feedback is what has informed the redesign of the application for when we launch formally.

Through the period since the beta testing we have been inundated by messages from users and educators alike for when we will commerce full operations, it was a revealing experience for the students.

There are about 50,000 students in our pilot institution we plan to reach at least 20% of this number in the first 12 months after we commence full operation. The key is  to start full operation as we know word of mouth will b a key factor in growing our adoption figures. 

We have a young team that is very passionate about education and the role technology can play in making it more accessible. Fabby, involved in the day to day running of the startup is a serial entrepreneur who has been playing in the tech space in the country for the past 5 years our tech lead has done several projects for secondary schools and the startup Lead Author and publishing relations until recently was a special Adviser to the Cross River State Government on information and communication.    

The company revenue model is a split of the price for every book purchased on the platform in  60:40 ratio.

courserep keeps 60% and gives authors 40%. The company will quickly become self sustaining soon after launch of full operations. 

Venture firms in the continent still view education as the sole responsibility of government and do not see the business advantage in a big youthful population, this has slowed down our progress and made it difficult to raise funds.

Working with Solve will be a big leg up for us and expose the startup to funding and partnerships that will enable us grow the business.

Security of the works on the platform is a headache we are working to overcome, this is a problem that will hit us at scale but we are working with some of the best experts in the field overcome this challenge.