The Ibadan Pilot: Why We Are Starting Here — and What We Expect to Prove

Ibadan is Nigeria's second largest city and one of its most misunderstood markets. It is not a 'test bed' — it is the full proof-of-concept. This is what we are building, who we are building it with, and how we will know if it worked.

Why Ibadan

Ibadan is not Lagos. That distinction matters enormously for EduSure's model. Lagos is high-income, high-formality, and increasingly banked. Ibadan is different: Nigeria's largest city by land area, with a significantly higher proportion of informal-sector workers, a dense private school market (3,000+ private schools in Oyo State), and a deeply embedded savings culture built around market associations, churches, and PTAs. It is the ideal environment to prove that a community savings protocol for school fees works.

The founding team is Ibadan-based, with community networks that reach church congregations, PTA networks, and market trader associations. This is not a market we are entering from outside — it is a market we are already part of.

The Pilot Parameters

Target: 300 children enrolled across 10 partner schools in Ibadan, within 6 months of seed capital receipt. Target communities: Bodija, Agodi Gate, Samonda, Sabo, and Oke-Ado — each selected for density of informal-sector families and existing EduSure community contacts.

What We Are Proving

The Ibadan pilot proves four things the rest of the market needs to see: First, that informal-sector families will consistently contribute to a school-fee savings pool when they trust the mechanism and the community accountability. Second, that schools will accept direct disbursement from a third party when the payment is reliable and the school verification process is credible. Third, that field agents can build and maintain community contribution networks that work in zero-data environments. Fourth, that the Skill Academy courses increase contribution consistency — i.e., parents who improve their income management enrol and stay enrolled.