Kshitij Sainani, the Chief Executive Officer, Learnstar, an e-learning platform set to debut in Nigeria in January, 2024 has disclosed that the mission to transform Nigeria’s economy by closing the knowledge and practical skills divide has led to LearnStar creation.

Sainani said with the platform, the digital economy is going to experience a boost as it is the e-learning destination for creatives, professionals and any individual who aims to learn something new.

“Learnstar offers an extensive curriculum of never- before-seen learning materials from celebrities and industry leaders for digital and non-digital creatives on a distraction-free and learning- optimised platform. Learnstar aims to provide credible, authentic, and standardised education on various topics, including business, entertainment, sports, hospitality, and much more, from professionals in the industry,” he said.

Sainani explained that all the courses in the programme are not only built by celebrities, but also conducted by the A-listers in the entertainment, business, tech, and sport sectors among others, to avail students of their vast experience.

Some of these facilitators include celebrities such as Asa Asika, to coach on music business, Swanky Jerry on fashion, Hilda Baci on cooking dishes and Wavy The Creator on how to launch as an artiste.

Sainani, who had an oversea education migration consultancy, said they came up with the idea to start the platform owing to the fact that education still remains the solution to wide ranges of problems the country faces today.

Sainani, who noted that there is a huge gap in the creative side, said the platform aimed to help increase the literacy rate and employment level by two per cent in the next five years.

He said Learnstar will kick off with six subjects, adding additional one each month. The curriculum, he pointed out, was produced after extensive discussions with the facilitators who also incorporated personal experience in the course.

Speaking further on the short course masterclasses, Sainani noted that the duration for each course varies between two to four hours. He added that all courses are divided into different modules, each module ranges about 15 minutes to 20 minutes.

Sainani said: “Based on our studies, we realised that in today’s world, the millennials and the Gen Z, have lesser attention span to do a three or four months course online. So what we’re going to do is provide shorter courses, more brief but contain all information. Then post that, we are going to offer scholarships to the students where they can go to somewhere like Dubai or another country where they can do a full programme for three or four months with practical learning, not only online.

“We are looking to train the next stars of Africa. So our success story is our students. If we can get them the right kind of scholarship, or internship, we can actually see people get educated from our courses and do something for themselves.

“We genuinely want to help grow the nation and Africa. If we can help increase the employment numbers and decrease illiteracy level, that is something Learnstar would be proud of.

“We have plans for 6,000 subscribers in the first two months with a growth rate of five per cent onward.”

Cofounder, Learnstar, Kundan Sainani, said the entertainment and creative space was in the top ten contributors to the nation’s GDP last year, stating that the ed-tech space in the next three years will grow to a $1.8billion market in Africa.