Profits towards access
Why I’m Building This
I’m Kene Okafor, a Nigerian-American student and the founder of Classday.
I started Classday because I believe technology, and particularly AI, has the potential to fundamentally change education. Classday is my attempt to build a platform that makes high-quality, personalized learning available to students at a scale that previously wasn’t possible.
But my ambition for Classday has never become just about building a profitable technology company.
I grew up with a connection to two very different educational realities. I’ve been fortunate to have access to great schools, technology, and opportunities throughout my own education. At the same time, being Nigerian has meant seeing how many incredibly capable students grow up without access to those same resources.
Sometimes the difference isn’t ability. It can simply be whether your school has enough computers, whether you have a device at home, or whether you can afford access to the educational technology that other students take for granted.
I want to do something about that.
Classday
I founded Classday while I was a university student because I wanted to rethink how students learn from the material they’re already given.
Students can give Classday their actual course materials, including lecture slides, syllabi, readings, and notes. Classday uses those materials to create personalized classes that teach concepts, test understanding, identify weaknesses, and adapt to the individual student.
My goal is to build Classday into a global education company serving millions of students.
And I want that success to fund something bigger.
My Mission
As Classday grows, I intend to dedicate a portion of the profits I generate from the company toward expanding access to education.
I want to begin in Nigeria.
My goal is to work with underfunded schools and communities to help provide students with devices and access to educational technology. That also means giving students and schools we support free access to Classday and, eventually, other educational platforms we build.
Over time, I want to expand that work beyond Nigeria into other developing countries and underserved communities.
I don’t believe building a highly profitable company and caring about social impact are contradictory.
I want Classday to succeed commercially. I want to build better products, employ talented people, reach millions of paying students, and create a valuable company.
But I also want the scale of our impact to grow alongside the scale of our business.
If Classday becomes twice as successful, I want us to be capable of helping more students. If it becomes ten times as successful, I want that impact to grow with it.
Why This Is Personal to Me
I know I’ve been fortunate.
The educational opportunities I’ve received have shaped my life and given me the ability to even attempt something like building Classday.
I also know there are students just as intelligent, ambitious, and capable as I am who haven’t had access to those same opportunities.
I can’t change that for everyone myself.
But I can try to build something powerful enough that, if it succeeds, it gives me the resources to make a meaningful difference.
That’s why I’m creating this initiative alongside Classday.
We’re early. I haven’t equipped thousands of schools or given millions of students free technology, and I don’t want to pretend otherwise.
This website isn’t a celebration of what I’ve already done. It’s a public commitment to what I intend to do.
If Classday succeeds, I want part of that success to return to education.
I want students who pay for Classday to receive a product worth paying for. I want the company to grow because we’ve created something genuinely useful. And I want part of the value we create to eventually give another student, somewhere with fewer resources than I had, access to an opportunity they otherwise might never have received.
That’s what success with Classday means to me.