What happens when a neuroscientist refuses to accept the status quo in education?
Meet Victor Ogunbiyi, a tech futurist and the founder/CEO of DAWN AI Study — a deep-tech startup revolutionizing education for neurodivergent children across Africa.
From being a seasoned Chief Marketing Officer with over a decade of experience to building a groundbreaking AI-powered platform, Victor is driven by one goal: impact.
In this conversation with Today Africa, Victor opens up about his journey as a CMO, the systemic gaps in inclusive education, and the power of AI combined with human intuition.
He reveals how DAWN is not only identifying children often mislabeled as “unteachable” but also equipping parents, teachers, and therapists with tools to unlock their full potential.
If you care about the future of education, equity, or technology that actually changes lives, this is one story you don’t want to miss.
Tell us more about yourself
“Wherever I get to meet people, speak at events, and I’m asked to introduce myself,” he began, his voice measured but firm, “I start by saying I’m a tech futurist.”
It’s not a title taken lightly. For this founder, whose startup is quietly transforming how children with cognitive differences experience education, the term defines his purpose.
“And I’m someone that is driven by impact. So what I am building, I am building for impact. What I’m speaking, I’m speaking for impact right now. So that’s just a bit about who I am.”
What you have done before and the lesson that you learned
“I have been a CMO for over a decade,” he said. “That’s the Chief Marketing Officer and I helped different brands achieve their marketing goals, both local brands and international brands as well.”
Years spent building brands taught him more than strategy. It taught him to spot problems in plain sight. It sharpened his instinct to solve them.
“Most of those journeys really shaped me to become who I am right now. I’m a problem solver and like I said, I’m driven by impacts,” he said.
From CMO to product manager, his evolution was fueled by questions unanswered in classrooms—especially for kids who didn’t fit the mold. That shift led to the creation of DAWN AI Study.
Tell us more about DAWN AI Study
“Dawn is a deep tech,” he explained. “And when I say deep tech, because we cover education and also the mental awareness of K-12 learners.”
The mission? To make quality education inclusive for neurodivergent learners—those with dyslexia, ADHD, autism—who traditional classrooms fail to serve.
“We are driven by the good to ensure that quality education is inclusive and accessible to neurodivergent children or learners,” he said.
Too many children had been labeled “slow,” stigmatized before they had a chance. Dawn is building a different path—one where learning is tailored to the child, not the other way around.
“We are venturing into the main feature of personalized education,” he said. “That’s a bit of what we are doing in DAWN AI Study.”
What inspired you to focus on trying to help people who have challenges in learning?
“I’m a dyslexic thinker,” he revealed. “I’m neurodivergent myself.”
His voice didn’t waver. This wasn’t vulnerability—it was truth. And from that truth came purpose.
“So I have first lived this or should I say, constraints. I understand what it is to be different, to be labeled as different in a classroom.”
He remembers the brilliant kids dismissed, misunderstood, mislabeled.
“Some teachers would say they are stubborn, when in fact, they were neurodivergent.”
This isn’t about replacing teachers with AI. It’s about giving teachers better tools. Giving parents insights. Giving kids a voice.
“When you connect the dots from a parent to a teacher to the psychotherapist in our ecosystem, trust me, such a learner would become the best version of himself.”
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What’s the biggest breakthrough you have seen so far in identifying diverse needs in low-resource schools?
“One of the biggest breakthroughs,” he said, “was seeing a child that was previously labelled as unteachable in the classroom.”
Then came AIDA, Dawn’s proprietary tool.
“We were able to flag and detect signs of dyslexia by it.”
Without AIDA, the child would have remained a misfit. But with the tool, everything changed.
“The teacher made an informed decision, they were able to adjust their method of teaching. And within weeks, the child was reading aloud with confidence.”
That child, once silent, was now reading. Confidently.
“This is a child who doesn’t learn at the same pace as every other child in the classroom. But with AIDA right now, the child can read aloud with confidence.”
Don’t you think focusing on low-resource schools will affect the profitability of your business?
“Awesome,” he said. “Why the product is for everyone.”
But reality had its own ideas.
“We realized that more of our attraction was coming from outside Africa like the US, UK.”
Dawn had stumbled onto a global problem. But he never lost sight of those closest to the margins.
“Imagine a farmer that has a child with autism. Taking care of that child is one case. Sending that child to school is another case. Teaching that child with the right materials is another case.”
So Dawn partnered—NGOs, UNESCO, corporate organizations—to fund access.
“That’s why we work closely with organizations… to serve those in low resource schools.”
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How did you validate that there’s a need in this area of our education sector?
“In Africa alone,” he said, “we have over 40 million neurodivergent learners and they are out of school.”
So they co-designed with teachers. With parents. With neuroscientists.
“We can’t just build things in the labs. We can’t just write codes without having behavioral logs from parents and without having transcripts from teachers.”
They built with real classrooms and real homes. The numbers spoke volumes.
“Our first pilot, I’ll say we reached over a thousand parents across Africa and 300 teachers across five states in Nigeria.”
And what did they find?
“There was a massive gap in accessible, culturally relevant tools for understanding diverse learners.”
Based on your statement that means you need competition in the area
“As a matter of fact,” he said, “right now, we are almost like, would say 90% getting our IP and patent for this. Because we are the first mover.”
Still, he welcomes rivals.
“We need competition so that we can complement each other.”
Because the market isn’t scarce. It’s an ocean.
Can you walk us through a student’s journey using your platform?
“Most of our dashboards are role based,” he explained.
It begins with the parent. Neuro-assessments through AIDA. Behavioral logs. Teacher progress tracking.
“Then AIDA curates… a personalized learning path for that learner.”
The journey is not static. It evolves.
“Consider the platform as a full cycle or full support ecosystem for a neurodivergent child, from point A to point Z.”
Even adulthood is part of the roadmap.
How does DAWN’s use of computer vision and psychometrics make your platform uniquely adaptive?
“The secret recipe to our product is not in AI alone,” he said. “It’s the connection between our AI tools and human intuition.”
Computer vision detects attention shifts. Psychometrics flags behavioral traits.
“We then allow educators and specialists to step in with precision.”
AI is the signal. Humans are the response.
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Why is this localization so important for equitable AI?
“Language is access to everything you do,” he said. “If you have a good product, but it doesn’t communicate, it’s as good as nothing.”
In a country of many tongues, accessibility is more than a technical hurdle—it’s a social contract.
“Equity is not just about availability, it’s about belonging.”
Can a learner use your platform without a teacher being involved?
“We don’t just give an AI tool to a child to use,” he said.
There must be a guardian—parent, teacher, someone.
“This is not a content creation tool,” he clarified. “This is to help you learn how you best learn and also support either your parents, your guardian, or your teacher.”
Design with mindfulness. Or don’t design at all.
What is the role of a human expert alongside AI in your system?
“AI should inform and not replace human sight and even insight.”
Their dashboards connect schools to behavioral coaches, therapists, neuroscientists.
“Our AI flags the needs. The human factor responds.”
It’s not man or machine. It’s both.
How were you able to fund your startup from scratch to where you are today?
“To be honest, it’s all bent on the founders’ secret, grit, and passion,” he said.
Personal investment. Resilience. Faith.
“I know how much I’ve contributed to build this.”
But he wasn’t alone. Early backers came through: AI Orb, GP AI, Diego—father of Jada AI—and others.
“We were one of the early startups that was funded to go to GITEX in Marrakesh, Morocco.”
He credits the team. The supporters. And finally, God.
“Without him, we are nothing. There’s no impact.”
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How do you ensure privacy, consent, and fairness when working with children’s sensitive data?
“Consent is key,” he stressed.
“Currently, we design with the UNICEF child data principle in mind.”
Encrypted logs. Anonymized identities. No third-party sharing.
“Children’s identity anonymized.”
They even built features for neurodivergent pregnant parents.
“So that kind of data, we have to ensure that privacy is key.”
What role do you expect the government and institutions to play in your sector?
“If the government says no, we can’t do anything,” he said plainly.
Governments, NGOs, teacher colleges—all vital.
“We’re already working with policy partners… to make sure that DAWN AI is part of the inclusive educational policy discussion.”
Which of your platform’s features surprised you the most in terms of learner feedback?
“Our LMS,” he said. “Because it’s not a traditional LMS.”
Before monetizing, they made sure assistive tools—speech to text, dyslexia fonts—were free.
“The frequent usage of such tools were really alarming.”
The need was deeper than he imagined.
How does DAWN AI Study generate revenue?
“It’s role-based,” he explained. Money flows in from parents, teachers, therapists, marketplaces, and government partnerships.
“We get money from different things obviously.”
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Where do you see DAWN AI Study in the next five years?
“I see us become the go-to neurodivergent platform that will be serving over 40 million neurodivergent learners in Africa.”
When neurodivergence is mentioned, he wants one name to surface:
“You should be talking about DAWN AI Study.”
What advice would you give to others, especially younger ones, who want to build their business?
“One advice I would say is don’t rush to build,” he said.
“Have a mentor or accountability partner, someone that has created the path ahead of you. Be focused.”
Then he paused.
“Believe in yourself. Be prayerful and keep rooting for yourself. Sky is just the beginning, it’s not the limit.”
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