SchoolTry: Meet the startup building the operating system for African schools

In 2008, Ismail Eleburuike, a graduate of Federal Government College Ilorin, Nigeria, moved to Sweden in search of top-quality education. On arrival, he wasn’t content making personal progress alone; his mind kept reminding him of his place of origin and how he could contribute to educational development back home.

Within three years, Eleburuike earned two Master’s degrees: one in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Telecommunications from Blekinge Institute of Technology, and another in Project Management and Operational Development from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Yet, something remained missing: a desire to give back.

The perfect opportunity presented itself when his mentee, who had served as a classroom teacher in Katsina State during the mandatory National Youth Service Scheme, reached out to him for financial assistance to set up his own school. However, Eleburuike insisted that he would only support it if the school his mentee was building was a digital one, something different from the commonplace schools.

That conversation, along with his firsthand experience of the transformative power of education in his life and what is available in Sweden, prompted him to research further how schools can be digitised. He studied models in the US, UK, Sweden, and what’s available in Nigeria.

So he concluded that instead of building just one school, they could serve multiple schools. He sketched an imaginary architecture for how the school would look, and that’s how SchoolTry was born.

Understanding SchoolTry

SchoolTry is an education management solution that empowers schools to coordinate operations, enhance communication, and improve overall efficiency. The EdTech provides a platform where students can take courses, school administrators can manage their students and…