Gerald Revocatus is the founder/CEO of Fiqra Technologies and Fiqra Academy, he’s focused on leading both organizations to the forefront of EdTech and digital transformation across the continent, creating scalable solutions to tackle social challenges.
With a background in product management, web development, and digital marketing, Gerald has been able to develop cutting-edge technologies that improve access to quality education, especially in underserved communities.
Gerald Revocatus shared with Today Africa about his entrepreneurial journey.
Tell us about yourself and what Fiqra as a brand is into?
I’m Gerard Revocatus and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Fiqra Technologies, which is the parent company of Fiqra Academy. So at Fiqra Technologies, we are committed to making sure that we provide organizations and different entities with technologies, specifically software solutions.
But also through our flagship product, which is Fiqra Academy. We enable the young generation of Africans to learn in-demand skills, starting with digital skills like computer programming, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, and so forth.
So with that, we are committed to bridging the gap between education and industry needs by providing quality and flexible and accessible digital skills education for the African youth.
What is your backstory and how did you come about with your business idea?
It initially started as basically an idea. I never saw myself spearheading or steering a company or having a business in that sense. Alongside with my co-founder, we started like just young kids from university passionate about coding.
I was 18, my co-founder was about 21, if not 20. So we were just passionate. We could just design different websites and get some freelancing jobs or work remotely and so forth. So I started as a front-end engineer. My co-founder was a back-end engineer.
So that was a really good mix. He could do things that I couldn’t. I could do things that he couldn’t. It started as a journey of just trying to find something meaningful to do. But as it went on, one of our family friends, you know, like Africans have these big clans that you don’t even understand, like you’re being told like, this is your brethren.
I don’t know, he’s the son of your uncle. I just end up calling him like a family friend. He’s more of a brother to me. So he came to Dar es Salaam, since I reside in Dar es Salaam. He came here for studies, then he graduated top of class.
After graduating, it was really hard for him to search for employment, despite him being top of his class. So he started doing different entrepreneurship, like trying to sell different products. He used to produce pepper sauce and he started to sell it and so forth.
I started to imagine that this is the same story among many other Africans. Like we find a lot of other young Africans graduating, some top of the class with really good GPAs. But they really have a hard time getting employed because maybe first they have outdated skills.
So the story of my brother really touched me and I was like, okay, so what if we start training people with digital skills, mind you, I started working for different companies without even having a degree. It’s just because I possessed an in-demand skill.
I could code and despite my age and not having a university degree, I even became a product manager one time with Digital Opportunity Trust. So I was like, what if we channel the skills that we have to many other young Africans not only to help them stand out in the job market but maybe they can find freelancing opportunities and make a living out of it.
So it brought us to a position where we started doing training during Covid-19. It was a crisis period, but also it came with opportunities whereas we started doing web development classes online.
Our first class was in March 2020. So we started the class on web development and universities were closed. Everyone was desperate. So people wanted to find different opportunities to keep them busy and so forth. We saw an opportunity in that.
In our first class we had like more than 40 students who enrolled and it gave us hope at least. It went on and until it reached a time where we were working a lot, like we could have a lot of sessions every month.
So we thought, what if we have the most centralized way where we can deliver these skills and people can access them anywhere, anytime. We went on to build Fiqra Academy. We started with an MVP in 2022 and people could access our courses for free.
Then in 2023, around April we properly launched Fiqra Academy as a web app and an Android app. Then in 2024 last year, we scaled to iOS. So that’s the story behind how it came to be.
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Can you describe the process of launching your business into the market?
As I said earlier, we never thought we would be businessmen. It just happened on the way. We were just passionate kids who happen to be businessmen. We just started working for passion in that sense.
Along the journey, we came to realize that there is a demand for what we’re doing. So before even dealing with the compliances, going to the regulatory bodies to register our business and so forth, we started working on the ground and understanding the problem that we are trying to solve enough to build a business on top of it.
It happened spontaneously. We didn’t plan for it to go that way. So by starting with the groundwork, we came to realize the following, what do these people really need? And we could properly build a solution that best fits the needs that our clients or our current clients have.
So creating a solution that solves a problem rather than starting with a solution that looks for a problem to solve. That’s how it went. After understanding the need and of course, after also participating in different business incubators and accelerators. We came on to better understand even our idea and so forth.
And then later on, in 2021, around October, we registered our company, formerly known as Vijana Tech. After registering with the company named VijanaTech, went on to continue with operations and so forth.
And last year we had to rebrand into Fiqra because VijanaTech in Swahili means youth and tech is technology. So it was like more of a name that targets a specific set of people.
In the long run, it would have limited us to explore different other avenues or different other opportunities. So we had to rebrand it into Fiqra, which basically means an idea in Swahili.
What were the challenges that you guys faced in the beginning and how did you overcome them?
As African entrepreneurs, there are a lot of challenges. First, it has to do with our abilities and other ones, you have nothing to do about it. So now if you’re in a situation where there is a combination of both, then it becomes a little bit exhausting.
First, it’s finding a team. Throughout the journey, we’ve had people who came in and went, and I don’t blame them at all. And the only person who stayed is, it’s my co-founder, of course, and one of our design leads. They’re the ones who stayed for years, but the people who we started with the business, a lot of them are long gone.
They have other ambitions and are working elsewhere. So you can see that you can be able to find a good talent, but also retaining it as a startup, it can become very difficult in terms. First, you don’t have enough cash flow, you don’t have enough funds that can help sustain business.
For example, if I wasn’t living in my mom’s house, I believe the story would have been different because I would have some bills to pay. The same applies to the other team members who left. They had bills to pay.
It’s either they stay attached to a vision or create a better life for themselves as well. So it was really hard in that sense, finding a team. But also there are some people who came in because sometimes startups can have a really good social status. So people are drawn into it because of their social status.
Once they’re in and then they find the hurdles and how complicated it is. And they’re like, no, this is not for me. In that sense, finding a good team and retaining it has been one of the challenges, but next it’s the funds as I touched about it a little bit.
Sometimes you don’t have paying customers and it goes on like that. And so you need a lot of money to keep the business sustainable, at least having a quality runway for you to test out ideas, for you to properly test out your product enough to create a product market fit. So if you don’t have funds, then it becomes very hard.
So it was the same with us. I remember our first seed found was like a thousand USD. And what could that do? You see, so you just, we had to build the MVP and even try to do other gigs because as I said, we did software solutions. So the software solutions had to fund the Fiqra Academy product.
It was really crazy in terms of funds until we came later on to raise from MasterCard like $70K. From that moment, we could at least test out the idea properly and have a proper runway that enabled us to properly enter into the market.
What’s your business model and how does your business generate revenue?
On the software solutions arm, it’s basically simple. We work with organizations so as to provide them with custom software solutions from web development to software development and digital marketing as well.
The way we work, it can be through referrals and they pay for the custom service. Now, when it comes to the Fiqra Academy, it’s practically simple as well. We have diverse ways. First, students enroll through our mobile applications or Web App. They enroll in specific courses and they pay for the course.
Fiqra Academy retains 30% of the revenue generated for the course, and 70% goes to the instructor or the specific educational organization that owns the course. But also right now we also white label Fiqra for other big organizations like banks and so forth, for their internal training.
We came to realize one of the other challenges that big organizations face is that each year they have some training that their employees must complete and they sometimes spend a lot of money to host the training.
With white labelling Fiqra by using Fiqra to train their staff, we charge these organizations per year. It depends on the company size. Those are the two main ways Fiqra Academy creates revenue.
Since you launched, what has worked to attract and retain customers to your business?
We utilize different channels. There is social media marketing. So we are quite active on Instagram and also Facebook and Twitter. And recently last year, we opened pages on LinkedIn.
We really utilize social media as our marketing channels, because first also we target youth who are the most active people on social media. But also we have a huge partner network of youthful organizations.
So we are working with Digital Opportunity Trust, Tanzania Emerging Youth Awards, who have reached thousands of young Tanzanians. Through leveraging their audience, we market our courses to their audience, and sometimes even create tailored training specific to their audience as well. So that’s the second one.
Also through writing different articles on LinkedIn and also as well as on our web page, website, Fiqra Academy website. We get to tap into a diverse audience who are proactive and eager to learn about different skills as well.
So mainly it’s on social media, but also leveraging our partner networks. And last year also we started exploring email marketing in that sense. But those are the main channels. And so that’s what we do internally, and also on the other hand, it’s through attending events and exhibitions.
These different platforms are available both locally in Tanzania and some international stages. So with that, it introduces us to diverse markets and different stakeholders who can really help us propel the vision and our mission to reach new heights.
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How is your business doing today and what does the future look like?
Currently, in the Fiqra Technologies side, we have a very young team. The oldest in our team is probably about 26, 27. So we have a lot of ideas that are being cooked inside. We have a lot of solutions coming. We’ll be launching one at a time.
We really don’t want to stop dreaming in that sense. For now, we mainly offer software solutions, also with our flagship product, which is a learning management system, Fiqra Academy.
But in the near future, as Fiqra Technologies, we are looking forward to tapping into different markets like FinTech, AgriTech, and so forth, offering different solutions that are built in-house.
And in terms of Fiqra Academy, we are soon to launch a project called Fiqra Clubs. Where we’ll be creating communities in schools, secondary schools as well as primary schools, so as to prepare the young generation with the harsh job market.
We figured out that if we start equipping people with digital skills from a very young age. They will become digitally illiterate enough to stay ahead of the market trends, but also steer innovations both locally and internationally as well.
So with the introduction of Fiqra Clubs, we are looking forward to reaching more than 10,000 students in the next two years. But also we are about to introduce Fiqra Content Hub, which will enable not only Fiqra Academy to create a lot more high quality courses internally.
But also it will be a hub where many other innovators, many other educational institutions will utilize to create courses and content that will benefit their audience, but also Tanzanians and Africa at large. So these are the two ongoing projects internally.
What are some key lessons that you have learned in your journey as an entrepreneur?
There are a lot of lessons. Some that I don’t wish any other entrepreneur to pass in a similar situation. First, it’s about building meaningful relationships. So I came to realize that business is all about relationships.
As a startup, you might have a really good solution, a really brilliant one, an outstanding solution. But if you’re not open-minded and smart enough to build relationships. Because business starts with a good relationship, you can have a really good relationship with a certain entity.
And with that starting point, it creates new opportunities of making money and growth as well. Anytime I go to a certain event, I will try even my best to not stay with the people who I already know. I’ll start looking for new opportunities, new relationships, trying to find people who can help my organization or my business to propel the mission even further. That’s one.
So relationships are very vital for any business growth. But also second, it’s about compliance. Now this is very important. You don’t want to mess with the government, you don’t want to mess with the tax authorities, you don’t want to mess with the regulatory bodies that you’re supposed to comply with.
In fact, that’s the first reason why we closed Vijana Tech because back then we had a very high debt when it comes to tax. So it was really crazy back then. We had to close that business and come up and start another business. You see, it’s frustrating that you’ve built a good story around the business, but you’ll find yourself being forced to end something.
Simply, you haven’t complied with the regulations. And this can be also narrowed down to hiring proper talents that can properly understand what’s required for your business to comply.
Sometimes we just go blindfolded and we’re so passionate about our ideas enough to neglect some of the important aspects and you come to realize that you were busy looking for clients. But there are very other key and important things that you should have put into consideration.
I’ve spent a lot of time mentioning that because it can even ruin not only your business but even your life. People go to jail because of compliance issues.
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What advice would you give to younger ones who want to become an entrepreneur someday?
Do your homework before starting a business. So what does this mean? We usually start businesses so as to become successful at some point. And success comes as a result of different things.
When we speak of success, we mean money. Now, money is a reward for solving someone’s problem. As an entrepreneur, it’s very key and very important that you get to understand the problem enough to make people give you money for it.
So we have to do your homework in a way that you properly understand the problem enough to build a solution around it. There is an example here in Tanzania. There’s this big organization here which had a project where they were building wells in underserved communities.
Like the Maasai people, they had to travel a very long distance to find clean water. So they were like, what if we build wells in their communities so that they wouldn’t travel a very long distance?
They raised a lot of money for it, and they went on and built a lot of wells in the Maasai communities. One thing that they came to realize later on is that the Maasai people were not using the wells. And they’ve already spent billions of money.
So when they got back to the drawing board to understand why they are not using the wells. They realized that in the Maasai communities, women are the ones who go to fetch water. They usually stay in the house to take care of the family and maybe milk cows.
The women are usually in their compounds most of the day. The only time they get to go out, it’s when they go to fetch water. To them, the journey wasn’t a burden. It was more of a time to explore different things in the river and play different games.
You see, they couldn’t wait to go and fetch water. So now you bring them wells in their community you’ve removed the fun part of their day. To them it wasn’t a problem at all. Maybe if they had built the wells close to the river, maybe it would have worked for them.
Why have I shared this? It’s that we should spend a lot of time to better understand the problems before raising a lot of funds and spending billions of money going and building a solution that won’t work at all.
Where can we go to learn more about you and your brand?
I’m Gerald Revocatus across all social media; Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook at Gerard Revocatus, as well as Fiqra Technologies and Fiqra Academy. It’s the same across all social media, but also Fiqra Technologies website is fiqra.io and Fiqra Academy is fiqra.academy.
That’s where you get to learn a lot more about what we do, about our future plans, about our milestones and so forth. But also feel free to reach out in case of any feedback. We really love gathering feedback so as to better, to better curate our solutions for the vast majority of African youths.
Click here to read the part 2 of the interview with Gerald Revocatus.
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