The Greensprings School's Recipe for Success

Greensprings School started with just 3 students in 1985 at Anthony Village in Lagos, but today, it is one of the most sought-after schools in Nigeria, with over 2000 students across its three campuses. The school’s alumni network is made up of successful entrepreneurs and captains of industries, who are now enrolling their children in the school so that their children can also enjoy the kind of quality education they enjoyed.

This course aims to show you the secret recipe that made Greensprings grow exponentially and keep pulling a high number of new enrollments per session. You will learn the essential things you need to know before starting a school, as well as the process of a school’s operation. The course covers everything you need to know about how to run a private school successfully in Nigeria.

Founder, Greensprings Educational Services Limited

Lai Koiki is the brain behind Greensprings School. As an innovative educational leader, her strategic approach to management has led to the sustainable growth of the school for about four decades. Mrs Koiki has a Montessori Diploma from St. Nicholas Montessori Training Centre in the United Kingdom, and due to her wealth of experience, she consults for and provides capacity building training for educationists in public and private schools.

Aside from being the Chief Executive Officer of Greensprings School, Mrs Koiki is a board member of Accreditation International and the current President of the Association of Private Educators in Nigeria (APEN).

Former Deputy Director of Education, Greensprings Educational Services Limited

Barney Wilson is a diversity and inclusion expert. His professional experiences are in engineering, telecommunication, business consulting, and education. For many years, he served as an instructor and principal in schools in the United States of America, including serving as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Wilson has a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Urban Educational Leadership and Community College Leadership from Morgan State University.

Chief Strategy Officer, Greensprings Educational Services Limited

Uche Ogbu is a project management and marketing guru, with experience spanning about two decades. He has an MBA from Business School Netherland, and his professional career cuts across FMCG, banking, hospitality, and education.

Aside from being the Chief Strategy Officer of Greensprings Education Services Limited, he is an independent consultant and provides marketing and corporate strategy services to businesses across all sectors of the economy – including FinTech.

Module 1: School as a Business (Expectation vs Reality, & Recipe for Success) by Mrs. Lai Koiki

In this first module on how to start a school in Nigeria, Mrs Lai Koiki shared her learning from running Greensprings School for about 40 years. She narrated the reason she started the school, the challenges she faced, how she was able to navigate the challenges, and how to set up a school for success. By the end of this module, you would have acquired the essential knowledge needed to start a private school business. Below are the sections in the module:

• Introduction
• Why this course?
• Reasons people start a school
• Why you need to a have strong WHY
• Crafting a mission and vision statement, and core value for your school
• Defining a unique selling proposition (USP)
• Planning for sustainability
• Determining priority, strategy, expected outcome, and timeline for a sustainable plan
• Adding value to students and the school community
• Importance of human capacity building and best practices
• Recipe for success
• How to generate constant students' enrolment
• Leadership in school settings

Module 2: Running a School Effectively Leveraging Innovative Methods by Dr Barney Wilson, Mrs Feyisara Ojugo, & Mrs Bola Kolade

The module started with the history of education in Nigeria and then moved to how the school system in the country has evolved over time. The facilitators dwelled on school operation management and how to run the day-to-day activities of a school without a glitch. This module on how to start a school in Nigeria is where the facilitators reveal the operations within Greenprings School and how any school can adapt the style to their specific situation. Below are the sections in the module:

• History of Education in Nigeria
• Innovative approach and methods of education management
• The Greensprings School's educational approach
• Steps to running a school effectively
• Running a school at a time like this (beyond limits)
• Steps to hiring qualified teachers
• Factors needed to run academic arm of the school
• Forward thinking approach to learning
• OPERATIONS - Setting up the right systems for daily smooth running of the school
• A day at Greensprings School
• Exposing students to global opportunities

Module 3: Customer Relationship Management (Maintaining a Healthy School Community) by Mrs Oluranti Bankole

The module is about how to interact with parents and how to manage any crisis that can tarnish the image of your school. Below are the sections in the module:

• Introduction to customer relationship management
• How to build a healthy parent-school relationship
• How to create systems that foster a healthy parent-teacher relationship
• Characteristics of a good customer relation officer
• How to engage with parents on the phone
• Is the customer always right? What to do when a parent takes to social media
• Factors to consider when recruiting the customer service team
• How to keep staff motivated
• Curbing red tape in school

Module 4: School Finance Management by Mrs Olufunke Laditi

Because cash flow is important when it comes to running any business, the fourth module of this course on how to start a school in Nigeria is about finance management. In the module, you will learn how to determine the ideal school fees, how to ensure you never run out of money when running your school, and how to manage parents owing school fees. This module will give you the needed information on how to run a private school successfully in terms of finances. Below are the sections in the module:

• How to determine the right tuition fee and other fees for your school
• Cashflow management for a school
• Integrating school management software with finance software
• How to set up a good finance team
• Managing debtors and the process of debt recovery

Module 5: Developing Sustainable Marketing Strategy for a School by Mr Uche Ogbu

The greatest mistake any school founder can make is to be unserious with marketing. With recent changes in consumer behaviours, parents do lots of research before choosing a school to enrol their children. As a school owner who wants to get constant enrolment, you need to dedicate effort to marketing and promotion of your school. Whether you are starting a Montessori school, a primary school, or a secondary school, this module provides the knowledge needed for marketing the school. Below are the sections in the modules:

• What is marketing?
• The concept of marketing funnel and buyer journey
• The 10 steps for marketing a school

Here are what people are saying after taking this course on how to start and run a successful school in Nigeria. Your testimony is next!