Seyi Adelaju is co-founder of Nigeria’s first personalised learning platform, Gradely. He Shared his success story with SEGUN KASALI.
You grew up as a teacher’s son, how did that experience shape your life?
We have always valued education in my house where i grew up. I grew up in a rural environment here in Lagos, Badore precisely. So, there was quite some responsibility to stand out as a teacher’s child. I saw what education could do. I had seen people in our suburban areas become big in life just because education took them up. Wale Hassan, who is the head of Flutterwave today, is like a big brother. We were in the same neighborhood growing up. So, I saw that education took them off the street. I know that one of the best ways you can change life is to make quality education affordable and accessible for a lot of people. But, I would tell you that being a teacher’s son came with its challenges too.
How?
It put me under a lot of pressure too. You cannot score zero. Why would you? There were expectations. Of course, you are supposed to be a good example to others. While everyone gets two strokes of the cane, you get four because your mum is a teacher. When they flog you, your mum would say thank you very much (E seun gan) in the Yoruba language. So, people dealt with me to gain my parents’ liking.
Can you share some of the experiences?
There was this time I came late to school and one of the teachers, Mr. Edun that flogged the most in the school, was in a good mood that day and consequently asked all the late-comers to go. And as we were about to leave, he saw me and said ‘wait! wait! Seyi is here? All of you go back on your knees. Because Seyi is here, I am going to beat everybody’.
One of the reasons I couldn’t play football as much is because we gambled when we played football. It was a standard thing then whereby we all contribute money and the team that wins goes with the money. But, we all knew that when you are caught in the act, there is punishment for it. So, they would always technically find a way to remove me because it would go out as the teachers would always say that I should mention everybody’s names and I would. So, people made sure I don’t get into their circle even though I wanted to.
What about the good part?
It took away a lot of distractions. There were a lot of peer influences but they did not affect me. Till today, whenever I go to the streets, perhaps in the course of evangelism and I meet area boys, some of them would say I know you, your mother taught me. Besides, I can enter anywhere and get the doors opened. The cliche usually is, ‘I have seen you before. And this could be a friend your parents had done a favor.
Has this happened lately?
Yes, there is this humanitarian thing we usually do in our church and we needed to get a location. So, when we got into the neighborhood, there were a lot of processes- boys were saying we should drop something for them and all that. So, immediately I stepped forward to appeal to them, one of the boys was looked at me and asked if I attended Badore Primary School? I said yes, I did. Then, he said I know you in school. And you won’t believe that we had access to everything we wanted because of that. As if that was not enough, I was singled out for good by teachers while in school.
How?
You need to know that half of the education is in the teachers and if a teacher picks interest in you, you almost cannot fail. Not because the teacher would write exams for you but because you are constantly being monitored. I get called back most of the time and they would say why did you write this instead of this? So, they would say sit down there and complete it before you go. So, that level of support made it possible to grow. I got into Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and it was competitive. For someone coming from a regular school, what was different was that education was much more personalised for me and so, I was as good as those in top schools because students tend to excel when learning is personalised. Even as a teacher’s son, I wanted to study Law, not education because of the perception that education was not lucrative.
How did you end up in education department then?
I wanted to re-write JAMB then when I was admitted to study education instead of law. I was convinced that I could cross to Law if I have good grades till 200 level. So, I settled in, to the extent that I could not even change anymore (laughs), and I came out with the best teaching practice in my first year, and normally in Ife people hardly score A in teaching practice. So, I had it. But, it was not easy to be an education student in the university.
How and why?
You don’t even want to introduce yourself as an education student. ‘As smart as you are, you are studying education?’ is what I get from people most times I am in conversation with them. If people want to make jest of you, they would add Edu to your name like ‘Seyi Edu’ (laughs). So, it looks like you are headed for poverty.
This motivated you, right?
Yes, this was what spurred me to gather skills to change the poverty narrative since I could not change my department anymore. Another thing was when I graduated from the University and waiting for my Youth service, I got into teaching and was discouraged.
Why?
I was also techy. I was always making sure I am in terms with every available software and some of the teachers were saying it seems you are wasting away. So, they felt there was something more I could do. As a result, I went to a well-known computer training school, NIIT and I was learning game component design- how to build games, 3D animations. It was in-between that one company reached out to NIIT and asked for an IT person. And I just took the opportunity because they were looking for someone who could use CorelDraw and some tools. Somehow, I ended up working in an IT company that was focused on education and that was how I entered educational technology. So, I was working with Robert & John then. It was when the company had a launch with Glo that I decided that this is what I wanted to do with my life. That was how I met Boye Oshinaga, who is also a co-founder at Gradely. He was holding a virtual class then. We were both on Wale Hassan’s team. And that was how it started. So, from there, I later went to the University of Ibadan for my Master’s programme to study Educational Technology and joined Boye on School Compass where he was working. But, I later left for another company even though the education thing was still in me. It got to a point Boye and I decided to sit down and re-worked the plan. Thereafter, I resigned from my job and settled for where I am today.
This led to the innovation of remedial school?
We believe that every child can succeed but not at the same pace and not the same knowledge areas. The goal of planting the remedial schools is to give every child in developing areas like Ajah, adequate access to personal learning resources and support, for as little as N500, a day. The remedial school is a room equipped with 20 internet-enabled computers where children can easily access the Gradely app every day. It is specifically for children who have learning difficulties that need to be remedied as they prepare for entrance exams such as SSCE, Post UTME, and Common Entrance. It is equally for children that attend low-cost private schools, or are home schooled, due to financial struggles and therefore don’t have proper access to quality education. In the past, the regular solution for this would be to enroll the child in the group or private lessons. But with a school specially built to customise learning and solve learning difficulties, the children can be exposed to a more modern and personalized form of education, with digital resources and continuous on-demand support from the best tutors.
Did you decide to settle down thereafter?
Yes. I got married to a long-time friend at OAU at age 27. Perhaps because she was my friend already and as a result, there was not a lot to impress. We are very complementary in a lot of ways.
How?
She is also very entrepreneurial. Today, she works in the foreign operations of a bank and still runs her business. As of then, we were just two people that took our lives seriously and liked each other.
Was there any difficulty in asking her out?
Yes. When I did ask her out, she said she was going to get back to me. Then, one day she came to me and said okay we can do this. Honestly, I would probably still be single if she had not said yes then. She is bolder. She knew what she wanted.
Is there anything she has been trying to change in you?
She reads people faster. I can be very careless reading people (laughs). So, many times she tells me don’t do this thing with this person because it is going to be a problem and it would eventually come true.
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