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SMI is a 6-week program that turns school owners into Chartered School Managers — with the skills, systems and tools to build a school that thrives even after their involvement.
The Real Problem
You started your school with a vision But somewhere between managing staff, chasing school fees, handling parents and putting out daily fires — the vision got blurred.
Every term, you're anxious about how many students will return. You run adverts, you ask around, you pray. There has to be a better way to grow.
You can't take a day off without something going wrong. The school runs on you — your presence, your decisions, your energy. It's exhausting.
You hire people, you train them, and just when they're good — they leave. Or worse, they stay but stop trying. Managing people is draining you.
The school is generating revenue but somehow there's never enough. Fee collection is a struggle, budgeting feels impossible, and funding feels out of reach.
"4 in 6 schools in Nigeria shut down within 5 years of opening."
But
You're not failing
You were just NEVER TAUGHT how to
Run a School like a Business.
That's exactly what SMI fixes.
About SMI
SMI is a 6-week immersive training program designed for school owners in Africa. Every week, you learn, implement and grow — guided by experienced school founders who've built what you're building. No theory without practice. No training without tools.
Frameworks and assignments you implement directly in your school. By graduation, the work is already done.
Led by founders who've built what you're building. They've made the mistakes so you don't have to.
Hands-on access to the same tech top schools worldwide use to scale. You operate the tools live.
Support from our alumni and mentor community continues long after the program ends.
The 3-Step Path
Complete a short application. Tell us about your school and your goals. We review every application personally and respond within 48 hours.
Join 6 weeks of live virtual sessions via Zoom — led by experienced school founders and education leaders. Complete weekly assignments directly in your school.
Graduate, implement what you've learned, and receive your Chartered School Manager certificate. Then gain lifetime access to our pool of expert mentors.
Next Cohort
📍 Abuja — August 2026
Applications close when 50 spots are filled.
The Curriculum
12 modules. Each one tackles a real problem you're facing in your school right now.
Your Mentors
SMI mentors are not consultants reading from slides. They are school founders, directors and education leaders who have built what you are trying to build — and they volunteer their time because they believe in this mission.
No mentors are confirmed for your city yet — but the global pool mentors every cohort. See the full global pool →
Blessing Ngozi Omosebi
Cambridge Assessment Specialist & Head of Department
Lagos, NigeriaOne of Africa's few educators certified as a Cambridge Assessment Specialist for both AS & A Level Economics and Business Studies, Blessing Omosebi has spent 13+ years at the intersection of teaching excellence and institutional transformation. As Head of Department for Commerce at Greensprings School ù one of Nigeria's leading international schools ù she has personally trained over 10,000 educators across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa in Cambridge methodology and reflective teaching practice. A Best Graduating Student at the University of Lagos (MSc Management, CGPA 4.87), McKinsey Forward Program alumna, two-time published author, and Iconic Brand Africa's Top 10 Edu-Influencer of 2024, Blessing equips school leaders with both the pedagogical frameworks and data-driven systems to build institutions that perform at international standards.
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Folasade Adefisayo
Former Commissioner for Education, Lagos State | CEO, Leading Learning Ltd
Lagos, NigeriaFolasade Adefisayo brings something no other mentor in this programme can offer: she has led from the school desk and the cabinet table. As the Honourable Commissioner for Education for Lagos State (2019û2023), she shaped education policy for Africa's most economically significant state. Before entering government, she spent 12 years transforming the Corona Schools Trust Council ù Nigeria's most prestigious private school network ù rising from Executive Director and CEO to Director, and leaving the institution measurably stronger. Today she leads Leading Learning Limited, hosts the Purpose-Driven School Leadership Webinar Series ù now in its 7th edition on school governance and sustainability ù and holds a Fellowship at the University of Chicago Leadership and Society Initiative. Holding an MA in Education (Distinction) from the University of Nottingham and an MBA from the University of Lagos, Folasade bridges policy, practice, and strategic leadership in a way that is uniquely valuable for school founders who want to build institutions designed to last.
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Tasiyiwa Katie Mapondera
ICF PCC À EMCC EIA | Executive Coach & Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builder
Doha, QatarTasiyiwa Katie Mapondera is a dual-credentialed executive coach ù ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and EMCC European Individual Accreditation (EIA) ù with 17 years at the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and leadership transformation. Based in Doha, she founded Q L and D LLC, an innovation strategy and learning & development consultancy, and Q Teacher Supply ù the first registered supply teacher agency in Qatar. As Co-Director of Founder Institute Qatar and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Specialist at the University of Doha for Science & Technology, she has built and mentored startup ecosystems across the Middle East and Africa. She serves as an Advisor at EduMESS, Associate Director at Empower World, and earlier in her career managed the EdTech Innovation Incubator at the Software & Information Industry Association in Washington DC and consulted for the Supreme Committee that delivered the FIFA World Cup Qatar. In the SMI programme, Katie brings the rigour of a credentialed coach alongside the street-level wisdom of someone who has founded institutions, mentored founders through high-stakes growth, and built learning ecosystems from the ground up.
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Kenechukwu Nsofor
Director | Multi-Campus School Builder
Onitsha, NigeriaKenechukwu "KC" Nsofor is one of the few mentors in this programme who has done exactly what SMI participants are trying to do ù build a school from the ground up and scale it. Growing up in Onitsha, KC spent his school holidays working as staff in the family's K-12 institution, learning every layer of school operations from the inside. Upon graduation, he took over its management and over the next 17 years grew it into a network of four campuses serving over 2,500 students ù earning a top 10 ranking among schools in Anambra State. As Director of Learning at Field International School, KC brings knowledge no textbook can replicate: the operational realities of multi-campus management, teacher retention, school finance under pressure, and the systems that allow a school to grow without falling apart. When school founders in the SMI programme face the challenges of scale, KC has already lived through them.
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Adeleke Adesina
PhD | Business Systems Coach & School Founder | Lecturer, University of Lagos
Lagos, NigeriaDr. Adeleke Adesina holds a PhD in Chemistry Education from the University of Ibadan, an MEd from the University of Lagos, and certifications from the UK's Systems Academy, the School of Consulting London, and Finland's School of Education ù giving him a rare blend of academic depth and global practitioner credibility. A Lecturer at the University of Lagos for over a decade, he is also the founder of five businesses, including The Rock Empire Group of Schools in Lagos, which means he brings lived school-founder experience into every coaching conversation. As Founder of ADELEKE ADESINA COMPANY, he has spent 17 years helping executives build the systems, structures, and processes that move organisations from founder-dependency to scalable performance. In the SMI programme, Adeleke equips school leaders with the business architecture their institutions need ù the workflows, operational structures, and organizational design that allow a school to run profitably and grow without the founder being the bottleneck.
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Ayokanmi Moriyonu-Bamidele
Chartered Accountant & Financial Services Consultant
Abuja, NigeriaAyokanmi holds four professional certifications ù ACA, ACTI, AAT, and CFA Level I ù alongside an MSc in Finance from the University of Lagos and alumni status from the McKinsey Forward Program, making this one of Nigeria's most comprehensively credentialed school finance profiles. As founder of Skyelip International Limited, Ayokanmi has spent over five years guiding SMEs through financial planning, tax compliance, investment strategy, and corporate governance. School leaders in the SMI programme gain a practitioner-led guide to building financially sustainable institutions ù from budget management and audit readiness to tax obligations and sound investment decisions.
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Ify Obidi-Essien
Founder & CEO
Lagos, NigeriaIfy Obidi-Essien is a Microsoft Global Training Partner and the founder of Tech-Savvy Teacher International, an EdTech organisation she has led for nearly a decade from Lagos with active operations across Nigeria, Dubai, Rwanda, and Kenya. Her most distinctive credential: she was among the practitioners who contextualised Microsoft's certified educator (MCE) curriculum for African classroom realities, making globally recognised teacher-tech certification accessible to educators across the continent. A Certiport Authorised Testing Centre operator and recipient of a Women and Leadership certification (Grade A, European Business University of Luxembourg), Ify bridges corporate technology standards and frontline education. Her T.E.D.A. (Tech Executive Development Academy) coaching programme develops education leaders, and her work as Project Consultant on the Charterhouse School Lagos initiative ù West Africa's first British Independent School ù demonstrates reach across elite and community education contexts alike. Ify has spoken at eLearning Africa and other international platforms, and is completing a Master's in Digital Transformation at Nexford University. She brings to SMI participants a rare combination: deep technical certification expertise, a proven system for scaling digital skills across African markets, and nearly a decade of institution-building experience.
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Toyin Sam-Emehelu
PhD | Founder, CoreSkills Transformational Academy | John C. Maxwell Foundation
Lagos, NigeriaDr. Toyin Sam-Emehelu has spent 13 years doing one thing: developing leaders who transform institutions. Holding a PhD in Educational Management and Planning and an M.Ed in Educational Psychology from the University of Lagos, she founded CoreSkills Transformational Academy Limited and serves as Director of Partnerships at Equip Nigeria ù the John C. Maxwell Foundation's African arm ù working with school leaders, NGOs, and SMEs across five African countries. An Accredited and Licensed Management Trainer by the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CMD), Fellow of the Pan African Consultant Association, and active mentor with the MasterCard Foundation, Tony Elumelu Foundation, and Teach For Nigeria, Dr. Toyin is among Africa's most credentialed practitioners in education leadership and human capital development. She has distilled over a decade of field experience into 33 published books on leadership, coaching, and organizational transformation.
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Chisom Ekwerike
Brand Growth Strategist & Associate Chartered Marketer (CIM)
Birkenhead, United KingdomChisom Ekwerike is an Associate Chartered Marketer (CIM, UK) and brand growth strategist whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, consumer psychology, and data-driven positioning. Holding an MSc in Digital Communication with Distinction from the University of Chester, she has trained 100+ business owners on how to clarify brand positioning, build audience trust, and convert visibility into revenue ù delivering a 45% engagement increase and 30% conversion improvement for the brands she has led. As Senior Brand Marketing Manager at BuildurBrand and formerly a Customer Insights Analyst for Hastings Direct, Chisom brings both the creative and analytical sides of brand building. For school leaders, she addresses one of the most neglected assets in education: a school's brand ù how parents perceive it, how communities talk about it, and how it earns trust long before enrolment conversations begin.
View ProfileProgram Benefits
Not just what you receive — but what happens to you, your school, and the people inside it.
Right now, most of your decisions are reactive — you put out fires, deal with what's in front of you, and hope for the best. After SMI, you lead with a clear vision, measurable goals and a system that tells you exactly what is working and what is not.
You will implement the Automated Growth and Student Acquisition Engine — a framework that delivers 53% student growth year on year and compounds every year you apply it. No more anxious terms. No more desperate last-minute adverts.
You will design the operational systems, committees and delegation structures that allow your school to function professionally — whether you are present or not. For the first time, you will feel what it is like to be a CEO, not a caretaker.
You will implement a staff retention and leadership development framework that makes your best people want to stay, grow and contribute to the long-term vision of your school. Recruitment becomes strategic, not desperate.
You will set up automated communication systems that keep parents informed, appreciated and emotionally connected to your school. Parents who feel valued don't just stay — they refer others. Your community becomes your growth engine.
You will build a financial system with accountability structures, projection tools and revenue strategies tailored to your school. Fee collection becomes structured. Budgeting becomes simple. And for the first time, you will know exactly where your school's money is going.
You will set up the legal framework, policy documents, governance structure and compliance systems that protect your school and signal to investors that you are serious. Funding becomes accessible — not a dream.
You graduate as a Chartered School Manager with a globally recognised certificate. You join a community of school owners across Nigeria, Africa, India, China, the Middle East and beyond. Your school stops being local and starts being world-class.
Your Chartered certificate carries credit units you can transfer toward a global MBA in Education Business through our partner universities. One program. Two qualifications.
During the program you will operate — not just observe — the same technology tools used by high-performing schools worldwide. You leave knowing exactly how to implement them in your school from day one.
Every graduate receives a voucher worth up to ₦500,000 to access school management tools — dramatically reducing your cost of adoption and giving you a head start on every school that isn't using technology yet.
SMI connects you to a network of education investors and funders actively looking to back school growth in Africa. You will know how to pitch, what to prepare, and who to talk to.
Beyond the Chartered credential, you have the option to earn an additional Certificate in School Management from one of our partner universities. Two certificates. One program.
The Abuja — August 2026 cohort is 100% sponsored.
Every single one of these transformations is available to you — at no cost.
See if I qualify →School Management Institute (SMI) · Abuja
Through the EduMESS Scholarship, we are offering 100% scholarships to the first 50 school owners who apply to join the August 2026 cohort of the School Management Institute.
This scholarship covers the full program fee and gives you complete access to 6 weeks of live training, mentorship, certification and technology tools.
What this program is worth
₦120,000
Full fee
Includes 6 weeks of live training, all 12 modules, Chartered certificate, technology tools, mentor access, investor network and university credit transfer.
EduMESS Scholarship — August 2026
₦0
100% Scholarship
Fully sponsored. You pay nothing at application, nothing during the program, and nothing at graduation.
📊 Numbers updated in real time as applications are reviewed.
⚠️ This scholarship is limited to 50 spots. Applications are reviewed personally — not everyone is accepted. Once the 50 spots are filled, registration closes permanently for this cohort.
See if I qualify for the free cohort →Our Partners
SMI partners bring scholarships, technology, funding access and global networks directly to our school owners.
Do you have a service that benefits school owners?
We partner with technology platforms, financial institutions and education networks.
50 school owners in Abuja will transform how they run, grow and lead their schools this August. One of those spots has your name on it — if you qualify.
See if I qualify — it's free →Applications close once all 50 spots are filled — or on 31st July 2026, whichever comes first.
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