BY MFONOBONG NSEHE, FORBES
Gossy Ukanwoke, a 23-year old Nigerian Internet entrepreneur, has embarked on creating a different type of social network. His tech startup, Students Circle, fuses a social feature with a rich database of over 10,000 academic resources- notes, essays, past assignments and tutorials.
Students Circle is something like Facebook, but for scholars and more serious-minded folks. The site launched in December 2010 and so far it has 2,407 registered members and over 20,371 non registered members from over 120 countries. Not too shabby for a startup that’s yet to receive a dollar in venture funding.
According to its website, “Students Circle Network allows students to interact and communicate over educational resources, making education and e-learning social and human by giving resources, study groups, social connections, scholarships offers and university placements.”
I chatted with him briefly today. We talked about his company, his comparative advantage, and the future.
Why would someone want to join Students Circle?
Students Circle Network – the academic social network — is uniquely bringing together the worlds of social connection, media and education to a single platform thereby allowing students, teachers and institutions connect without bounds. We are currently making over 10,000 resources available for free. Our focus on Africa is high. We believe that with the right content and audience, we can transform education in Africa.
What’s your comparative advantage? What makes Students Circle any better than Edmodo or any other educational social network?
We are bringing the best of all worlds: Social + Education. On the social aspect, students/teachers get to learn from each other based on personal knowledge and research. On the educational aspect, teachers and students can connect and use high quality content from top 200 OCW member universities. Study groups are used to schedule learning sessions and interactive forums to drive learning. We are launching API’s that will allow the use of Students Circle in classrooms.
Student Circle’s interface is very similar to Facebook’s. Why? Aren’t you afraid of being tagged as yet another Facebook copycat?
Yes, we moved towards getting a bit of the structure of Facebook because most our users are already using Facebook and it’s only natural for them to look for things the way they do on Facebook. It’s best for user experience. However, I am not worried about being tagged another Facebook clone because we are highly different and our focus is defined to education.
You have a database of thousands of high school and college courses. Where do you source them from, and how can users be certain of the quality of the content they are deriving from your site?
Students Circle Network is a member of the OpenCourseware Consortium. OCW Consortium has member universities globally with the most contributing member being MIT; others include Open University, UK and University of California at Irvine. This is to name a few. The point is that our content is from these universities. These are some of the most reputable universities worldwide.
Give me an overview of your business model. What ideas do you have about monetizing your site?
Currently students is a freemium business. We provide high quality services and content for free. We are running ads on the network which are generating some revenue. We are also gaining commissions from service partners who provide services for our users. Our monetization strategy includes developing a package for specific services. This is currently in the works.
Have you shared your vision with any angel investors or venture capitalists? Do you even believe in those guys?
Yes I have shared these ideas with venture capitalists and angels when this was at its infant stage and at the point they felt it was early. The VCs were not focused on early stage startups at the time. Do I believe them? [laughs] I hope to, I really do. Africa needs more VCs and angels.
What’s your current staff strength?
We currently have 3 team members and a fourth consultant. Chika Uwazie is the VP in charge of Business and Connections. Amblessed Uche is the product development manager and user experience lead. I handle development, strategy, technology, business and everything else. Anibe Agamah of Encipher Group consults for us on development.
Give me a glimpse into the future. How do you see Students Circle evolving over the next five years?
Students Circle should start awarding certificates and subsequently after all processes are fulfilled – diplomas. We are looking at partnering with Girne American University [in Northern Cyprus] for this purpose. We are also looking at being the number one social network and educational resource in every classroom in Africa and across the globe. We are working heavily on mobile delivery and this will be the major front for Students Circle in times to come.
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