When Nigerian university students turn to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support their studies, the experience is often disconnected from how they are actually taught and assessed.
Generic AI platforms may generate fluent answers, but they rarely reflect local syllabi, course structures, or examination formats. For many higher education students, this mismatch has created a quiet academic risk: technology that appears helpful but delivers shallow learning.
But Opeyemi Muyiwa-Dada and Angel Umeh decided to do something about it. They built Florence AI, a student-built education technology startup, which aims to bridge the learning gap by building curriculum-aware artificial intelligence designed specifically for Nigerian universities.
Rather than positioning AI as a replacement for learning, Florence is structured around how students are taught in practice. Its system is trained to recognise university syllabi, course outlines, and examination patterns, allowing students to practise relevant questions, work through structured explanations, and revise material in a way that mirrors classroom expectations.
“The emphasis is not on speed or shortcuts, but on comprehension and exam-relevant understanding,” said Muyiwa-Dada in an interview.
The idea emerged from a familiar problem across Nigerian campuses: large class sizes, limited lecturer access, and minimal personalised academic support. While AI tools have become more common among students, most are designed for global use, without sensitivity to local academic standards. Florence’s approach assumes that relevance matters more than breadth.
By embedding curriculum context into its models, the startup is betting that students value academic accuracy over generic answers. Its tools are designed to support structured revision, clarify difficult concepts step by step, and reinforce responsible academic use, particularly in an environment where universities are still grappling with how to integrate AI into teaching and assessment.
“Florence’s development strategy reflects that institutional uncertainty. Instead of bypassing universities, the company is positioning itself as an infrastructure partner, focused on alignment with academic governance, data protection, and research-driven deployment,” he said further.
This approach contrasts with many consumer-facing edtech tools that scale quickly without institutional buy-in.
That institutional focus shaped Florence’s recent pilot engagement with the University of Lagos.
The company conducted an authorised survey to understand student demand, learning behaviour, and expectations around curriculum-aligned AI support.
The pilot generated strong engagement and helped validate the startup’s central assumption: that students prefer structured, syllabus-aware academic assistance to generic AI outputs.
For Muyiwa-Dada, who serves as Florence’s chief executive officer, credibility within the university system is central to the company’s long-term ambition.
While his role centres on strategy, institutional partnerships, and ensuring the platform aligns with academic standards rather than undermining them, Angel Umeh, who also serves as the chief technology officer, leads product development and engineering, with a focus on reliability and responsible deployment within university environments.
Together, the founders are building the AI startup cautiously, aware that education technology operates within sensitive institutional and regulatory boundaries.
Their emphasis on curriculum awareness, rather than generative novelty, positions the startup for success and growth. If successful, the startup could help shape how AI fits into Nigeria’s classrooms, not as a shortcut, but as a structured academic support tool grounded in local curricula.
