Twenty years after Key Learning Solutions was founded with a vision to bring quality learning resources and online teacher training closer to Nigerian classrooms, the organisation has grown into a significant force in educational advancement, university preparation, and global opportunities for young Nigerians.
As KLS celebrates two decades of impact, its journey reflects a broader transformation in education, from the early advocacy for educational technology to today’s increasingly complex world of digital learning, artificial intelligence, global mobility, and international academic opportunities. At the centre of the organisation’s current chapter is Omolola Shonubi, its Executive Director, whose more than 15 years of experience across teaching, curriculum development, and international education have helped shape the organisation’s strategy while keeping its work deeply connected to Nigerian realities.
With more than 2,600 students impacted through its yearlong programmes, a proprietary curriculum developed for Nigerian students, relationships with more than 2,800 colleges and universities globally, and over $6 million in cumulative global university funding secured for students since 2015, KLS enters its next chapter with an ambition to scale its impact across Nigeria and Africa.
Empire: KLS has now completed 20 years of operation. Looking back at the journey from its early beginnings to where the organisation stands today, what does this milestone mean to you personally and professionally?
Omolola: Reaching 20 years represents not just a passage of time, but a fundamental shift from introducing a niche educational technology concept into building a vital pipeline for Nigerian talent. Both personally and professionally, this milestone signifies consistency, resilience, and deep, lasting impact across the education ecosystem.
Empire: KLS was founded by Ambassador Modupe Irele with a vision to bring learning resources and online teacher training to Nigerian classrooms at a time when educational technology was still relatively new. What do you believe made that vision ahead of its time, and how has it evolved over the past two decades?
Omolola: Ambassador Modupe Irele was truly ahead of her time by identifying that digital literacy and educational technology were not just supplements, but foundational necessities for Nigerian education to improve at scale.
While the landscape was largely analogue at the time, her commitment to integrating online teacher training and global resources established a framework for future-proofing the education system that we now take for granted, particularly following the widespread adoption of remote work and homeschooling during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
In a way, technology came to meet her after she had moved on. Over the past two decades, this vision has evolved from a pioneering, niche initiative into a critical infrastructure that serves as an essential pipeline for student success, democratizing access to global academic standards and opportunities.
You would have to ask her specifically what she saw, but I think she saw the large gaps and the way distance learning and computer-based education could bring the faraway closer. It’s about scale and making the invisible more accessible. You needn’t travel overseas to gain exposure when you can bring it visually and experientially through high-quality distance learning and thoughtfully designed technology for learning.
Empire: You joined KLS with more than 15 years of experience across education, curriculum development, and international learning institutions. What drew you to the organisation, and how has your experience shaped the direction you have taken as Executive Director?
Omolola: KLS is a second-generation company, meaning I took the helm of leadership from my mother. I finished university in 2005. I wanted to study education as my bachelor’s degree, but it was not available at Swarthmore College, so I studied Sociology and Anthropology and French, then went on to study Education at UCL’s Institute of Education.
I benefited greatly from that rigorous, highly academic liberal arts environment because it showed me the value of multidisciplinary thinking. I took courses across multiple disciplines, including computer science, which back then was C++. I cried and ultimately dropped that class because it was not for me. But even that exposure has been invaluable because I understand a bit of coding.
My background teaching young people, combined with curriculum development, helps me see our work in chunks that can be articulated, grouped, and shared simply. Clarity and recognizing all the parts we want to share with students before building a programme come from that background.
At Harvard, we also looked at literacy as being beyond just reading. The concept of multiple literacies and disciplinary literacy has been a major aspect of our programming and my leadership.
I did not always know that I would want to join KLS as the leader, but I always worked with my mother, and I think she helped to groom my leadership by having me work in the company before the opportunity to lead came about. It felt like a natural next step when the time came.
Having been part of the beginning and middle of the company has allowed me to ensure that our strategy remains aligned with the core vision, while consistently working towards elite international expectations and staying deeply relevant to Nigerian realities.
Empire: One of KLS’s defining achievements has been the development of a proprietary curriculum designed specifically for Nigerian students. What gaps in the existing educational system did KLS identify, and how does your curriculum respond to the realities and aspirations of today’s students?
Omolola: We identified a critical gap in localized preparation for global academic expectations. Our proprietary curriculum acts as a direct bridge.
We work on metacognition, giving students exposure to opportunities that challenge them and help them identify their likes and dislikes, while also helping them plan ahead. One of the challenges I observed is that parents and schools wait to plan, but one of my biggest beliefs is that we need to plan ahead by working backwards.
Know where you want to go so you can identify what is required and take steps within your control. I apply the concepts of backwards planning to university and post-secondary preparation, which is a crucial aspect of workforce development.
What we hope to do is connect the standard Nigerian classroom experience with the rigorous demands of global institutions, ensuring our students can transition seamlessly and excel on international stages, not just academically but also behaviourally.
Empire: More than 2,600 students have been impacted through KLS’s yearlong programmes, with an average SAT score of 1,275 and 10 percent of students scoring above 1,400. What do these outcomes tell you about the potential of Nigerian students when they receive the right preparation and support?
Omolola: These results confirm what we have long believed: Nigerian students have extraordinary potential. Given equitable access to elite preparation, rigorous guidance, and structured support, there is no limit to what they can achieve.
I also think these results reflect the openness and insight of our partner schools. They recognized that targeted support could add to what their teachers were already building. They saw where it might extend what they already offer, so they built it into their students’ experience.
I think it also took a kind of collaborative courage. A school’s core work is teaching and learning, and I would suggest that working with specialist services allows that limited time with students to be spent where it counts, while leveraging a partner who can offer the depth that comes from doing one thing intensively.
Schools that build in specialist partnerships with us have, I think, signed on to give their students more access to leadership and university preparation than would otherwise be straightforward to resource at scale.
To every school that has worked with us, these results are theirs as much as ours.
Empire: KLS has built relationships with more than 2,800 colleges and universities globally, while 14 KLS students have gone on to attend Ivy League or other elite universities. How important have these international relationships been in creating pathways for Nigerian students?
Omolola: Our network of over 2,800 global university relationships helps our students have more options. If we were asking our students to dream, we needed to give them more options to access that dream wherever they wished to go.
We don’t have partnerships with Ivy League schools. Having students gain admission to Ivy League and other top-tier universities proves how essential these conversations and support systems are for helping our students demonstrate their capacity on a global scale.
The measure for us is not admission into the Ivy League, but rather for students to understand what it takes to work towards and attain such international best standards. Not everyone can get in because there is simply not enough space, but when we showcase, support, and encourage excellence broadly, we are elevating more and more of our Nigerian talent onto the world stage.
Empire: The organisation has helped students secure more than $6 million in cumulative global university funding since 2015. Beyond the financial value, what does access to this kind of international educational opportunity mean for the students, their families, and the wider Nigerian education ecosystem?
Omolola: Securing over $6 million in cumulative global university funding, as tracked since 2015, represents true social mobility.
Beyond the financial relief for families, it opens doors for entire communities and enriches the broader Nigerian educational ecosystem by creating a network of global scholars and leaders.
Empire: Education is changing rapidly through technology, artificial intelligence, global mobility, and new approaches to learning. From your perspective, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing Nigerian students and educators over the next decade?
Omolola: The primary challenges lie in navigating rapid technological shifts, artificial intelligence integration, and shifting global mobility dynamics. However, the greatest opportunity is preparing our students and educators to actively lead these transitions rather than simply adapt to them.
We continue to offer virtual education services and resources for our students and teachers. It is not just about the technology, though. While we have more technology at our disposal in Nigeria, there is still a digital divide due to the unavailability of uninterrupted and affordable internet.
We need to catch up with our teachers and schools in a way that is affordable for them to leverage these resources. AI is also one of those aspects. Nigerian education is still catching up in terms of pedagogy too.
Teachers being able to use technology as a tool, rather than as the end in and of itself, is something we also wish to champion. It is not having educational technology; it is the appropriate usage of technology to further learning in a way that is not just about entertainment, but deep, meaningful learning experiences that impact our students for the foreseeable and highly unknown future.
Empire: As you reflect on 20 years of KLS, what do you believe has been the organisation’s most important contribution to Nigerian education, and what would you like its legacy to be?
Omolola: Our most vital contribution has been shifting the global narrative around Nigerian youth capability.
I want our legacy to be undeniable proof that, given the right resources, Nigerian students can compete, thrive, and lead anywhere in the world.
Empire: Finally, as KLS begins its next chapter, what is the vision for the next 20 years, and what new possibilities are you most excited about pursuing for Nigerian students?
Omolola: As we look to the next 20 years, we are focused on deepening pedagogy. We need to scale up by catching up with our teachers on what good instruction looks like.
I want to help scale up our work by giving others access to what we are doing across Nigeria and Africa.
For Omolola Shonubi, the next chapter of Key Learning Solutions is therefore not simply about expanding programmes. It is about expanding access to better learning, stronger pedagogy, and the kind of structured preparation that allows Nigerian students to compete confidently in an increasingly global world.
Two decades after KLS first embraced a vision that placed technology and global learning opportunities closer to Nigerian classrooms, its next ambition is clear: to deepen the quality of education while taking the lessons and frameworks developed over 20 years to more teachers, schools, students, and communities across Nigeria and Africa.
