Meet Tunji Adegbite of Naspire, Online Social Learning Platform

Learning has over the years evolved from the traditional classroom lectures we are used to; it’s become a lot more easier and fun.  From online courses to Youtube videos, there’s a growing number of platforms offering a means for anyone to become an expert at any field; and people are learning away at little or no cost and at their own pace.

Tunji Adegbite is set to spice this up, and make learning even more fun for Africans with Naspire. The startup aims to promote social learning among students, professionals and entrepreneurs by providing an avenue where Africans can connect and share knowledge with a community of like-minds.

In this interview, he reveals more about Naspire, the problems it’s solving and his journey into entrepreneurship.

Can we meet you?

Hi, my name is Tunji Adegbite and I am the founder of Naspire, a social learning platform. I am a young Nigerian with the zeal to facilitate knowledge sharing using local perspectives with a global relevance.

Tell us about Naspire & the solutions you’re offering?

Naspire is an online social learning platform that helps individuals and SMEs in Africa learn, share, and connect with one another so all can achieve their aspirations.

At Naspire, we believe that the free exchange of knowledge and experiences is key not just to the fulfillment of individual aspirations but also to solving Africa’s problems, powering its knowledge economy thus driving economic growth and development.

What inspired the idea for it?

Naspire was conceived primarily to help students, professionals and entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Africa learn from one another, share knowledge, connect, test their ideas, and access useful resources to help them win in their career and life. We feel sharing knowledge and mentorship are fasters way to learn than the conventional approach.

Tell us how the platform works?

It’s as easy as ABC. To access Naspire, visit our website (naspire.com) and sign-up for free. Once you are in, you would be able to access your profile page, the home page, Naspire blogs, and events page.

Following signup, you can join our virtual mentoring groups, ask questions and get answers, learn from experts and our curated case-studies of African businesses, share knowledge, join discussion forums, or partake in our offline events.

As a social learning platform in Africa, Naspire seeks to achieve a communal feeling among its members, hence we place premium on trust and mutual respect, which are essential to members achieving individual and collective goals.

How has the response been from Nigeria since launch?

The platform launched officially in April 2018, so we are barely a month old, but so far the response has been very encouraging. On Naspire’s launch date, welcome emails were sent to close to a thousand professionals, entrepreneurs, and students, and over 50% responded positively to it.

What has been the most exciting moment since you started running Naspire

I would say it has been the positive responses so far, it just re affirms the reasons why Naspire needed to be created, and the fact that Naspire is bridging a gap and meeting a need in the African society.

Tell us a little about your foray into Entrepreneurship?

My mother has been a big time entrepreneur and an employer of labor ever since I have known her, bridging a gap and I have admired this about her. With this inspiration, I’ve always had the intention to bridge a gap.

I am a learning junkie, I love to learn, so over the years, I found out that most of what we learn is with a Western context and not easily applicable or understood if brought down to Africa. I then thought to myself, why not have a learning platform for Africans, with learning from a purely African context but with global relevance. This was the birth of the idea of Naspire, and my plunge into entrepreneurship.

What are the challenges you faced when you started out, and how did you overcome them?

Most of the challenges faced so far have been during the development phase of Naspire. Since it is a community, the critics and observation from users is taken very seriously in other to give the user the best experience possible.

It is safe to say that thus far, we have only had good challenges, challenges to help us grow and develop, and keep offering the best possible service to the Naspire community.

If you were given $1 million to invest in your company, where would it go to?

Such money would go into the research and development of quality content within the context of our users, improve our technology infrastructure, more brand awareness campaigns across Africa, offline events such as master-classes, sponsoring of learning events, and kick start a yearly Learning conference/fair where members can meet, learn and share in real life. I could go on but let me stop here.

What are the future plans for Naspire

For the future, Naspire is ever evolving and improving on its services and user experience. We plan on launching a mobile app pretty soon, an e-learning platform, a learning series that would air online, amongst other offline opportunities Naspire can tap into.

The sky is just the beginning for Naspire. We look forward to learning, sharing and connecting with you on Naspire.