Lorentia Chiejina: Transforming Nigerian kids into critical thinkers

Lorentia Chiejina is the proprietress of Rednaxel Nursery and Primary School, which is located in Ajao Estate, Lagos. A lawyer and now school administrator, Lorentia has a strong passion for raising kids and transforming them into critical thinkers.
She started Rednaxel two years ago with few kids. Today, the number of school children has grown reasonably.
“I thank God we are close to two years in Ajao Estate. Our children are increasing. What we practise here is the British curriculum, a little bit of the Nigerian curriculum and a bit of Montessori. The Montessori aspect of the curriculum is just telling us that we need to use visuals, audios to teach the kids. If you are teaching a kid, you should show them what it is, unlike in those days when people grew up memorising sounds,” she tells Start-Up Digest.
“Now, you show them how to put square pegs in square holes. We have the Phonetics teacher, the Montessori teacher and all of them are qualified. They are all certified by the British Council. We have the crèche and the nursery,” she says.
As an edupreneur, Lorentia believes that running a school is not child’s play as it requires a lot of resources. However, she says that she should have started small if given the chance to begin again.
“I started this business with millions of naira. I am talking about N4 million plus. But If I had my way, I would start small. But maybe because of my passion, I had to start big. I will advise any entrepreneur who wants to start any business to start small in the best way. Thank God I was able to withstand the storm. The passion and God kept me going. We rose from four to 10, to 15, to 20 and more,” she says.
To run a school, you must have passion, vision and mission, says Lorentia.
She believes that running a school is more than collecting school fees from parents, saying that a school proprietor must constantly update himself/ herself with modern skills.
“In fact, every morning, you must read your mission and vision. You need to raise kids that will go out there and compete, even internationally. That’s what we are here to do. Running a school requires being passionate about kids so as to be with them. You must have the knowledge. I am a lawyer but I took a course in Early Childhood Foundation and I have online courses in education. I went further to have my Montessori certificates,” she explains.
In the next five years, Lorentia will like to see her kids go out there and compete with those in Lekki and other parts of the world.
“You know they have international students in Lekki and I want kids here to compete with them and win. In 10 years’ time, I want to have a boarding school. We also want to have branches in Lagos, Asaba, Lekki and other places,” she states.
She also says that running a school is worthwhile.
“Yes, it’s worth a while if you know what you are looking for. I want these kids to call me tomorrow and say, ‘I am Chisom, former pupil of Rednaxel. I am in the UK, running my master’s degree’. The gain may not come immediately, but after a while, you start seeing profits,” she says.
She urges upcoming entrepreneurs to ask God to show them the path of success and honour. It’s all about passion. Don’t give up. Challenges will come but don’t give up,” she admonishes.

 
ODINAKA ANUDU