From Teacher to Tech Founder: How Emeka Built an Edtech Platform Used by 200 Schools

The Classroom Problem Nobody Talked About

Emeka Okafor spent seven years teaching mathematics at Government Secondary School, Independence Layout, Enugu. Every term, the same chaos: exam results delayed by weeks, attendance registers lost, parent-teacher communication reduced to crumpled notes in school bags. He watched his headmaster spend ₦180,000 per term on printing report cards alone. In 2021, after a particularly brutal exam season where results for 400 students took six weeks to compile, Emeka decided enough was enough. He was not a programmer. He was a teacher earning ₦78,000 a month. But he had a problem he understood deeply, and that understanding turned out to be more valuable than any technical skill.

The Google Sheets Prototype

With no budget and no technical skills, Emeka built a Google Sheets system for his own classroom. He tracked attendance, grades, and parent contacts. Other teachers started asking to use it. By the end of 2021, twelve teachers across three schools were using his spreadsheets. The problem was obvious: Google Sheets collapsed under the weight of 200+ students, mobile access was terrible on the cheap Android phones most teachers used, and data privacy was non-existent. But the demand was real. Teachers were desperate for anything that reduced the paperwork nightmare that consumed hours of their teaching time every week.

Meeting His Co-Founder at a Wedding

In April 2022, Emeka attended a wedding in Awka and sat next to Chioma Eze, a software developer working for a fintech in Lagos. He described his spreadsheet problem over jollof rice. Two weeks later, Chioma had a working web prototype. They called it ClassTrack. Chioma built the platform on weekends while Emeka tested it with five pilot schools in Enugu. They agreed on a 50-50 split. No legal documents. No incorporation. Just mutual trust and a shared frustration with how Nigerian schools were run. Emeka handled school relationships and feedback. Chioma translated that feedback into features. It was the simplest and most effective co-founder dynamic either of them had ever experienced.

The Pricing Mistake That Almost Killed Us

They launched ClassTrack in September 2022 at ₦5,000 per school per term. In the first term, they onboarded 18 schools. Revenue: ₦90,000. Not even enough to cover server costs. The problem was not the product — teachers loved it. The problem was that they were selling to the wrong person. Headmasters wanted the tool but could not justify the expense to PTA boards. Parents saw no direct benefit. Emeka realised they needed to reframe the value entirely. In January 2023, they introduced a tiered model: ₦15,000 per term for schools under 200 students, ₦35,000 for schools with 200-500 students, and ₦60,000 for schools above 500. They also added a parent portal where parents could check grades and pay fees online. Suddenly, headmasters could sell it to PTAs as a parent communication tool, not just admin software.

The School That Changed Everything

Royal Crest Academy in Onitsha was the breakthrough. With 780 students and a reputation for innovation, they signed up for the premium tier in March 2023. But more importantly, their proprietor, Mrs. Adaeze Okonkwo, became an unpaid evangelist. She mentioned ClassTrack at every Proprietors Association meeting in Anambra State. By July 2023, 23 schools in Anambra alone had signed up. That word-of-mouth channel was worth more than any marketing budget. Emeka learned that in Nigerian private schools, the proprietor network is everything. One trusted voice in the right room beats a thousand Instagram ads.

Surviving the Cash Crunch

The naira redesign crisis in early 2023 nearly destroyed them. Schools could not collect fees, so they could not pay for ClassTrack. Fourteen schools defaulted on payments that term. Emeka and Chioma survived by taking contract development work — Chioma built a loan management tool for a microfinance bank for ₦1.2M, which kept the lights on for four months. It was humbling. They had a product people loved and still could not get paid. Emeka drove a Keke part-time on weekends to supplement his income. He never told Chioma about that.

Reaching 200 Schools

By December 2025, ClassTrack served 200 schools across Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Imo, and Lagos. Monthly recurring revenue hit ₦3.8M. They employed eight people — four in customer success, two in sales, one developer, and Chioma as CTO. Emeka left teaching in June 2024, a decision that still gives him guilt. The schools that need ClassTrack most — public schools — cannot afford it. He runs a free tier for five public schools as a result. Every term, he visits those five schools personally, just to remember why he started.

Lessons From the Classroom to the Boardroom

Three things I wish I knew on day one. First, your user and your buyer are different people — teachers used ClassTrack, but proprietors paid for it. Build for the user, sell to the buyer. Second, distribution in African education runs through associations and networks, not ads. One advocate at a proprietors meeting was worth ₦500K in marketing spend. Third, build a cash buffer for macro shocks. The naira crisis taught us that revenue does not equal survival if your customers themselves are drowning.