With graduate unemployment and skills mismatch remaining persistent challenges in Nigeria’s higher education system, an indigenous education technology company, LearnFlourish, is positioning itself as part of a broader shift toward experiential, industry-aligned learning.
Nigeria produces hundreds of thousands of university graduates annually, yet employers across sectors continue to report difficulties finding job-ready talent.
Policy conversations around education reform, employability, and workforce development have increasingly pointed to the limitations of lecture-heavy academic models that offer little exposure to real-world work environments.
LearnFlourish, a Nigerian-built EdTech startup, is addressing this gap by integrating work-based learning simulations directly into university curricula.
Rather than replacing traditional academic instruction, the platform allows students to experience simulated job roles aligned with their fields of study before graduation.
The Founder/CEO, Oluwatobi Olaniyi said, “Our universities are producing intelligent graduates, but intelligence alone is no longer enough, students need structured exposure to how knowledge is applied in real workplaces. LearnFlourish was built to make that experience part of learning, not something graduates scramble for after school.”
The startup provides discipline-specific simulations and work-based learning that mirror real industry tasks, decision-making scenarios, and workplace problem-solving. These simulations are contextualised to local realities, allowing students to engage with challenges similar to those they are likely to encounter in Nigerian companies and organisations.
Education experts note that such models are gaining traction globally as institutions seek cost-effective ways to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
In Nigeria, interest in experiential learning has grown alongside conversations led by regulators and policymakers on curriculum relevance, industry collaboration, and graduate employability.
LearnFlourish works with universities and industry partners to embed its simulations into existing academic programmes. According to the company, this collaborative approach allows institutions to enhance learning outcomes without undertaking full curriculum overhauls or expensive infrastructure investments.
“There is growing recognition that universities cannot solve employability alone,” the founder added. “Industry has to be part of the learning process, and technology makes that collaboration scalable.”
The startup’s approach has begun attracting institutional attention. In 2024, LearnFlourish was selected for a €3,000 grant under the Orange Corners Nigeria Incubation programme, an entrepreneurship initiative supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands that focuses on strengthening innovation ecosystems and supporting scalable startups.
In 2025, the company also emerged as a beneficiary of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, receiving $5,000 in seed funding. The programme, one of Africa’s most prominent entrepreneurship initiatives, supports startups with training, mentorship, and capital to drive economic development across the continent.
Analysts say such backing provides third-party validation for early-stage education technology ventures operating in a sector often viewed as difficult to scale.
“Funding and institutional support in EdTech signal confidence not just in the product, but in the underlying thesis,” said an education and workforce development analyst familiar with Nigeria’s EdTech landscape. “That thesis, increasingly, is that employability must be designed into education from the start.”
Beyond funding, LearnFlourish’s model aligns with broader national conversations around youth employment, skills development, and economic competitiveness. Government agencies and higher education stakeholders have repeatedly emphasised the need for stronger collaboration between academia and industry to ensure graduates are prepared for the realities of the labour market.
Oluwatobi further explains that “Universities remain the backbone of knowledge development. What LearnFlourish does is extend that work by helping students apply what they are already learning in structured, real-world contexts.
Our approach aligns with the efforts of universities and education regulators to improve learning outcomes. We’re not proposing a new curriculum, but a practical layer that strengthens what institutions are already teaching, we see ourselves as a support system for universities, not a disruptor.
The goal is to reinforce existing teaching with experiential learning, not to replace lecturers or classrooms. Many Nigerian universities are doing remarkable work with limited resources. Technology allows us to support those efforts by giving students practical exposure without placing additional strain on institutions”.
Startups like LearnFlourish reflect a growing belief that technology can help close this gap by simulating work environments at scale, particularly in contexts where internship placements and industrial attachments are limited.
While challenges remain, including adoption timelines, institutional readiness, and policy alignment, observers say the emergence of solutions focused on applied learning suggests a gradual shift in how higher education outcomes are being measured.
“Degrees will always matter,” the LearnFlourish founder said. “But the future belongs to graduates who can demonstrate what they can do, not just what they know.”
As Nigeria continues to grapple with youth unemployment and education reform, the rise of experiential learning startups like LearnFlourish may offer a glimpse into how universities, industry, and technology can converge to reshape the education-to-employment pipeline.
