For the third year running, Teesas Education has answered that question with a bold, future-focused solution, Teesas Summer School, which officially begins today.

Billed as “the ultimate summer experience,” this year’s programme is more than just an academic refresher. It’s a dynamic blend of tech training, entrepreneurship, creativity, and character-building, all tailored for children aged 8 to 18 years.

From coding and generative AI to tablet and smartphone repairs, the programme offers foundational exposure to the digital skills driving tomorrow’s economy.

But Teesas doesn’t stop at tech. Creative sessions in aerobics, animation, and graphic design ensure that children explore their artistic side while staying mentally and physically active.

Each student begins with a pre-assessment to identify academic gaps, followed by customised tutoring, a key feature that helps Teesas stand out. For older students preparing for national exams like WAEC and JAMB, the school includes continuous computer-based testing to build familiarity and confidence with digital exam formats.

“Teesas Summer School is more than a learning programme, it’s a launchpad for tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, innovators, and changemakers,” says Mr. Osayi Izedonmwen, chairman and founder, Teesas Education.

One of the most anticipated features of the 2025 edition is its entrepreneurship stream, designed especially for teenagers.

Participants will work on business ideas, refine them, and pitch to a panel of seasoned business leaders, including an entrepreneur who has built two billion-dollar companies. Winners could walk away with real startup capital to turn their dreams into reality.

The curriculum also focuses on character and leadership development, featuring life-transforming lessons from “The 7 Habits of Happy Kids” and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.”

These internationally recognised frameworks help children develop resilience, integrity, teamwork, and a sense of purpose.

In a digital-first age where distraction is everywhere, Teesas stands firm with a no-phone policy during classes, ensuring students stay focused.

Parents, in turn, receive detailed progress reports, reinforcing the school’s dedication to transparency, learning outcomes, and accountability.

Locations & Dates

The 2025 Teesas Summer School runs across two cohorts at the Teesas Learning Centres in Ikeja and Lekki, Lagos:

• First Cohort: July 21 – August 8 | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mondays to Fridays
• Second Cohort: August 11 – 28 | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mondays to Fridays

Although the first cohort begins today, new registrations are still being accepted via this link.

Children who register this week can participate in the remaining weeks of the first cohort and the beginning of the second, or simply enrol for the full second session.

For parents looking to combine fun, purpose, and future readiness into their child’s summer, Teesas Summer School may be the best decision of the season.

Teesas Matric, which is available on the Teesas Education App, gives users access to 40 years of past UTME and WAEC questions and over 5,000 solution-based video tutorials covering frequently asked questions.

Osayi Izedonmwen, founder and chairman of Teesas Education said,

“As an impact-driven organisation, Teesas was concerned about the UTME and WAEC abysmal results and decided to create a product to address it.

“During our research, we discovered that students use multiple websites or preparation materials for UTME and WAEC. This is both costly and time-consuming.

“In response, we developed Matric, a compilation of over 40 years of UTME and WAEC past questions and comprehensive step-by-step, solution-based video tutorials on how to approach each problem or topic using several proven techniques,” he said.’

Izedonmwen added that the company tested the e-learning platform during the 2024 UTME and achieved a pass rate of 97 per cent.

This gave Teesas Education the confidence to roll out the service ahead of the 2025 UTME examinations. To access Matric, students need to download the upgraded Teesas Education app from the Google Play store and iOS store, select “Matric,” and choose their preferred subscription plan: Premium+, Premium or Basic.

Matric Premium+ gives subscribers access to UTME and WAEC tutorial videos, practice questions, and timed mock tests for N28,500.

Matric Premium provides access to either UTME or WAEC tutorial videos, practice questions, and timed mock tests for N15,000. Matric Basic offers subscribers access to either UTME or WAEC practice questions.

Teesas Education also has technology-enabled hybrid learning centres in Lekki and Ikeja, Lagos which offer real-time computer-based WAEC, UTME and post-UTME practice tests and mock trials. Students who prefer a hybrid learning approach can combine studying at the learning centres with the Matric service on the Teesas Education app.

News Summary

• Matric by Teesas Education provides access to 40 years past UTME and WAEC questions
• Offers over 5,000 solution-based video tutorials of frequently repeated questions.

In a welcome address, Osayi Izedonmwen, the chairman and founder, Imose Technologies, gave the Minister an overview of the company’s journey from its launch in 2014 to its venture into local assembly and becoming a leading indigenous mobile phone and tablet brand in West Africa.

In his remarks, Dr. Tijani said that Nigeria’s population would continue to grow and that “there cannot be meaningful connectivity without affordable devices.”

The aim of his visit was, therefore, to understand what the government can do to simplify Imose Technologies’ ability to produce devices locally, to make them more affordable and accessible.

Mr Izedonmwen concurred with the minister on the need to make smartphones more affordable for low-income earners and underserved communities explaining that battery components are a significant cost element of mobile phones.

“Localizing the production of lithium batteries will be a game-changer,” he said.

He pointed out that Nigeria has rich lithium deposits most of which are currently exported and stated that as a leading indigenous manufacturer of smart devices, there is an opportunity for backward integration in the supply chain.

Izedonmwen envisioned a future where Imose Technologies would be at the forefront of producing smartphone batteries from lithium.

“We believe that there is an opportunity to collaborate with the government at the national and sub-national levels to look for creative ways to reduce the cost of adoption so that those in underserved communities can access digital products. Ultimately, this will enhance digital literacy which will unlock a lot of value for the digital economy,” he stated.

Regarding the support the federal government can provide to indigenous technology companies, Dr. Tijani said, “For every sector that is a complete supply chain and what you may call a value chain through which the product is created and consumed. That is not something you leave to private companies to develop.

“The government needs to ensure proper regulation to allow companies to build, ensure that research and development are done properly and that our academic institutions are producing the skilled talent that companies need to function. In general, we have to ensure that when we come up with policies, they are policies that enable companies to do business because that is the only way we can grow our market.”

Dr. Tijani added that it is good to see companies like Imose Technologies that are going against the odds to try to build a strong business.

He stated that Imose Technologies’ products are commendable and reinforced the federal government’s commitment to support such companies.

Well, research by UNESCO affirms this. The appalling lack of access to quality education is saddening and despite collaborations to relieve this, more hands are needed. 

Osayi Izedonmwen is one of such innovators working hard to reduce this rate and bolster quality education access starting from Nigeria and then Africa at large. 

In this regard, he founded Teesas. Join us as he speaks on the company’s commendable reach, scale and impacts so far.

Kindly enlighten us about Teesas. What was the inspiration behind the name?

Teesas came from a Bini (Edo) word Etisa which means teacher. That’s a reflection of what we intend to do, which is to bring together the very best teachers, giving them an opportunity to impact lives, build leaders of the future, transform their minds, not just from the academic aspect but focus on developing the total child.

That’s why when you go on the Teesas platform, we are not just focused on academics but also total character building, strengthening the connection to our local culture and dialect, among others.

Correct me if I’m wrong please. Teesas was founded in 2021 after the pandemic hit hard in 2020. Was the idea of Teesas promoted by the pandemic or it had been cooking before the covid?

We had been planning and talking about developing an edtech platform for at least two years before covid came about. The reason is that we’ve always believed the future of education is going to be somewhat hybrid, and we already had a lot of interactions with kids because another company that I founded Imose Technologies, had become one of the largest brands delivering children’s educational tablets, for example, the Omotab educational tablets.

We already knew that we needed to increase the quality of educational content we put on the tablet and we also know that for us to reach children that are in the most difficult-to-reach areas, we had to leapfrog the structural hurdles through technology. So I had been thinking about this for a while.

Teesas last raised a $1.6m pre-seed fund December 2021, which was to stimulate your expansion into new markets and expand your product range. Where have you expanded to since then and what are the new products developed?

Last year, when we started, we were just rolling out primary school academic support products that essentially help children understand foundation concepts across subjects that are delivered from reception all the way to primary six. Today, if you go on the app, we’ve created so much value in terms of new products, now we have The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Kids, developed in partnership with Franklin Covey, the publishers of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and one of the world’s most trusted leadership training organisations. We are now their exclusive partner across Africa for education.

Within this period, we’ve also developed the secondary school entrance exam product. What it does is to really help children prepare for entrance exams into different categories of secondary schools — Catholic schools, National Unity schools, Military schools and all.

We’ve taken many years of past questions, broken it down, brought in the best and brightest tutors to  really dig deep into how to answer those questions effectively, training the children and giving them many years of past questions that they can take on the app.

We’ve also developed a more robust product for learning Nigerian languages. That’s targeted at parents that want their children to get grounded and connected to their local culture, at home and in the diaspora.

Those are some of the things we’ve done in terms of enhancing the product range.

Regarding expansion, we’ve started making moves in Kenya, we’ve set up a full team in Kenya and we are at the early stages of setting up a team in Ghana. We’ve made quite some expansive moves in the last one year and we will continue to grow the business.

Did you have legislative issues when you launched in Kenya or Ghana, when it came to the Government and dealing with their rules, laws and policies?

We are still in the process. For Kenya, it was a bit straightforward, we registered as a full-fledged subsidiary. In Ghana, we had to look at the local laws and find the best ways to accommodate our business there. We are a law-abiding company so we have to focus our energies to align with the local legal requirements to register a company there and essentially, we’ve done whatever is required to register or set up. I wouldn’t say it’s easy or hard because the only comparison we have is Nigeria and relatively, we’ve had very good lawyers from the onset and it hasn’t been very difficult.

How have these products enhanced your growth and what are the impacts made so far?

We have done a lot of CSR and one which I’m excited and proud of is the Teesas Donate Program, where we have encouraged individuals to donate damaged devices such as tablets and computers to us, we’d repair them and infuse those devices with our educational content. We then deliver these devices for free, donate them to orphanages, IDP camps and we don’t just donate devices, we support those orphanages with one-on-one tutorials every now and then, and give them internet access for a year.

For a startup that came to life just last year, it’s something we are really proud of and we are clearly focused on giving back to society. We believe in creating value, impacting lives and at creating essential value for our shareholders because as an organization, our vision and ambition is to democratize access to quality education with the aim of developing the whole child and enhancing their future outcomes.

Today, we have lots of big schools such as Oxbridge, St Saviours, and others collaborating with us. Our goal is not to replace traditional schooling. We see our products as supplements to help schools truly deliver on their vision and that’s why we are super excited about programs like the Principal’s Academy, where we brought in principals, school owners, and administrators and we gave them a robust 2-day training, we brought an international coaching expert from the US to really teach them how to drive social-emotional learning, how to help children develop skills that they need to be successful as they move into the real world. 

A lot of schools attended the program and it just reinforces our aim to strongly collaborate with schools with the aim of doing exploits.

From what you’ve said, could we say you also reach out to the underserved? For people that can’t afford education

Absolutely, that is the core essence of the Teesas Donate Program. We believe that as an impact-driven organization, no child should be left behind. Our commitments remain to make sure that every child, everywhere, has access to quality education and the only way we can do that is to find creative ways to bring in these underserved children that otherwise cannot afford quality education. 

That’s why we are focused on the program, giving out those tablets for free, giving them access to quality education for free, so yes, our goal is really to get more people educated and that involves reaching the underserved and the difficult-to-access communities.

How have you been able to sustain and even intensify this growth and impact? As of January this year, you already had over 150,000 downloads on the Google Play Store. How much increase have you gotten now? Still on numbers, tell us about the tractions you’ve made so far?

We try not to be number focused at Teesas, we try to be more impact-focused and that is how we measure our success. Remember our core ethos is impact, we measure success by the number of lives that we’re impacting and the transformation that we are making in the lives of children.

When we go to schools and are able to expand the network of schools we collaborate with, those are things that we track.

Are you saying users can leverage your product without the app?

We’ve designed the product such that whether you’re on the web or mobile, you can have access to the app. We’ve made access as seamless as possible and we also recognize that 60% of Africans interact with products using their mobile phones and that is why both on android and iOS, we have the app available.

The partnership will enable the deployment of FranklinCovey’s “Leader in Me” program in primary and secondary schools, as well as universities by Teesas. The company’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People video content on social-emotional learning will also be put on the Teesas Education App.

“The ‘Leader in Me’ program is a whole-school transformation model and process developed in partnership with educators that empower students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. 

It is based on principles and practices of personal, interpersonal and organisational effectiveness, and upon the powerful premise that every child possesses unique strengths and has the ability to be a leader.”

The ‘Leader in Me’ training and consultation builds on four core areas: professional development for educators, known as 7 Habits for Educators, designed for principals, headteachers and school administrators; 7 Habits for Happy Kids aimed at pre-schoolers and kindergarten; 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens for Highschool students and teens; including the 7 Habits for Families intended for parents and family learning.

Osayi Izedonmwen, Founder and CEO of Teesas, expressed his excitement about the partnership stating that the FranklinCovey ‘Leader in Me’ training and the Teesas Education App have similar goals of addressing educational gaps at the foundational level.

“As an impact-driven organisation, our content is designed to develop the total child from an academic standpoint as well as social and emotional learning. Teesas was the first EdTech in Nigeria to launch an e-learning app for children in reception (kindergarten) through primary school because we know that children need a solid foundation to be successful later in life.

“What makes the FranklinCovey ‘Leader in Me’ phenomenal is that it targets both the teacher and student. This is important because teachers can only impart the knowledge that they have. So, if we empower teachers to become great leaders, we’ll be empowering our children to lead themselves and uphold strong principles,” he said.

Teesas makes learning seamless and enjoyable for learners who can seamlessly connect with educators on the platform.

With the deployment of technology and adoption of local culture and dialects, the startup was built on a goal to eliminate barriers between tutors and students.

The startup provides high quality video tutorials delivered by highly intellectual teachers who explain foundational concepts using English and major local languages to deepen understanding. 

Bill McInytre, Vice President of FranklinCovey Education said: “We are so excited to be partnering with Teesas Education to bring you a new Leadership training paradigm for schools, students and families that is effective and all-inclusive. Over the years, the ‘Leader in Me’ model has built resilience and leadership in students, created a high-trust culture, and helped improve academic achievement. School communities in Africa can now bid farewell to the old Carrot-Stick method of Leadership, it is time to embrace the Whole Person Paradigm.”

• The 2022 cohort brings together five teams of innovators focused on tackling global sustainability challenges, from protecting our oceans and fighting climate change and plastic waste, to increasing educational opportunities across the African continent.

The Collaborative, launched in 2020, aims to identify breakthrough innovations that address systemic change to support a sustainable future.

The second cohort of five winners will join a bespoke yearlong strategic collaboration with the Institute where they will tap into the full range of Morgan Stanley’s expertise, networks and resources to help them achieve scale. Each winner will also receive an award of $250,000 to increase the impact of their initiative.

The 2022 Sustainable Solutions Collaborative cohort is comprised of a diverse group of organizations.

The other organizations in the group are CarbonBuilt, a startup from Los Angeles, California, delivering a scalable concrete product that reduces embodied carbon by 70 to over 100% compared with traditional concrete, without compromise to performance or production cost; ISeeChange, the data company from New Orleans, Louisiana, that empowers communities to report and track real-life climate change impact; Notpla, a sustainable packaging startup based in the UK, that delivers the convenience of single-use plastics without the environmental impact and OceanMind, a nonprofit based in the UK that powers enforcement and compliance to protect the world’s oceans.

“Each of these organizations has the potential to scale and contribute to creating the type of systemic change needed to achieve a more sustainable future,” said Matthew Slovik, Head of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley.

In 2020, Morgan Stanley launched the Sustainable Solutions Collaborative to boost sustainability initiatives that would benefit from partnerships across private and public industries.

This second cohort joins a group of global innovators thinking about health care, climate solutions, plastic waste reduction and ecosystem services through re-engineered distribution methods, technology platforms and a new perspective on the importance of nature.

“We are thrilled to welcome these visionary teams into the Collaborative and look forward to seeing their solutions scale as the need to reach a sustainable future is at an all time-high,” said Shelley O’Connor, Vice Chairman and Head of External Affairs for Morgan Stanley.

For this award, the Institute engaged a diverse network of sustainability thought leaders and practitioners from across a wide variety of industries and sectors to make anonymous nominations. Morgan Stanley carried out a rigorous selection process on the nominations received to identify the innovations with the greatest potential for systemic impact that would also benefit from deep and sustained engagement with Morgan Stanley.

Teesas was launched in 2021 and delivers engaging tutor-led videos and e-books in both English and local indigenous languages and its CEO and founder, Osayi Izedonmwen says that “it is gratifying that Teesas has been recognized by Morgan Stanley as ‘a breakthrough innovation that addresses systemic change to support a sustainable future,’ and even more so as the only African start-up to make the 2022 Sustainable Solutions Collaborative cohort.

“All of us at Teesas remain committed to our mission of becoming Africa’s learning gateway because we believe that with quality education, all other sustainable development goals can be achieved.”

The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing (The Institute) builds scalable finance solutions that seek to deliver competitive financial returns while driving positive environmental and social impact. Founded in 2013, The Institute creates innovative financial products, thoughtful insights and capacity building programs that help maximize capital to create a more sustainable future.

Companies selected to The Elite 200 represent the top pre-seed and seed-stage startups in digital learning across the “Pre-K to Gray” space. 

Teesas will now compete for up to $1 million in cash and prizes in San Diego this April at the ASU+GSV Summit, the annual education technology event hosted by Arizona State University and GSV Ventures.

Teesas was selected from a global applicant pool of 750+ companies, the largest application pool for the GSV Cup yet. More than 175 judges from leading venture capital firms and strategic partners in digital learning like Accel, General Atlantic, Reach Capital, and Owl Ventures, among others, used rigorous criteria to determine the 200 most promising companies.

Osayi Izedonmwen, founder and CEO of Teesas said: “We are elated that we’ve been selected as one of The Elite 200 just a few months after we closed a $1.6 million pre-seed round. All of us at Teesas feel like winners already. We thank GSV Ventures for the recognition and their commitment to uplifting EdTech startups globally.”

“We’re at a critical and exciting time for the future of society,” said Deborah Quazzo, managing partner of GSV Ventures. “The pandemic has made it increasingly clear that Ed is on The Edge — on the edge of innovation, transformation, globalization. We’ve always imagined a new era in which ALL people have equal access to the future, and this year’s Elite 200 companies are emblematic of that vision. We’re proud to name the 200 semifinalists in the GSV Cup competition and look forward to having them pitch live at the ASU+GSV Summit.”

The Elite 200 companies serve learners from Pre-K to Gray, with companies well-distributed across the following categories: Early Childhood, K-12, Higher Education, Adult Consumer Learning, and Adult Enterprise Learning. The 2022 Elite 200 continue to break barriers, comprised of an increasingly diverse and global group:

• 58% of companies have female founders
• 51% of companies have founders that identify as people of colour
• 44% of companies are based outside the United States

The GSV Cup is powered by Google Cloud, HubSpot for Startups, HolonIQ, and GSV Ventures.

Teesas is an African-focused EdTech firm committed to building e-learning platforms that deliver curriculum-aligned educational content via web and mobile applications.

The Teesas educational app is aimed at children in reception and primary school grades and teaches core subjects through engaging tutor-led videos and e-books in English and local languages such as Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa, Bini, Igbo, Tiv, Ibibio and others.

The pre-recorded videos are delivered by highly qualified tutors and uploaded unto the app across different grades with adaptation to make them fun using animation and gamification to enhance engagement and understanding. 

Teesas also provides e-books and live classes to further deepen the child’s understanding and a companion app for parents that provides personalised content recommendation and real-time feedback on their child’s performance such as duration of videos watched within a course, percentage of revision quiz completed, test scores, areas of need etc.

On the other hand, GSV Ventures is a female-led, multi-stage venture capital firm focused on the $7+ trillion education sector. The fund is currently investing out of GSV Ventures Fund III and backs innovative entrepreneurs around the world in the “Pre-K to Gray” Arc of Learning.

GSV manages over $675 million in global EdTech investments. Portfolio holdings include Andela, Class Technologies, ClassDojo, Coursera, Course Hero, Degreed, Guild, MasterClass, Outlier, Photomath, Quizizz, Lead School, Brightchamps, and ClassPlus, among others.