Product Development Update
by Samson Odo, Founder & CTO
If you’ve been following Lira from the beginning, thank you. Building an AI-powered bridge between education and employment remains one of our most important long-term goals, and our conviction around that mission hasn’t changed.
What has changed is the timeline.
The reality is that schools move carefully, partnerships take time, and the current education landscape in Nigeria rewards caution more than experimentation.
Lira was designed to work hand-in-hand with institutions — not operate as a standalone consumer app. Without the right structural support, we risk investing heavily into a solution that cannot yet scale in the way it was meant to.
So instead of stretching the team thin, we are pausing active rollout on Lira and redirecting that effort toward a product the market is ready to adopt right now.
Why Paylo needs the spotlight
Paylo sits at the intersection of fintech and e-commerce, and that’s exactly where Nigerian businesses need support today. With rising costs and increasingly thin margins, founders need tools that activate quickly, deliver value fast, and stay reliable even when everything around them feels unpredictable.
That’s why Paylo is taking priority.
Our goal is simple: make world-class software accessible to entrepreneurs who otherwise couldn’t afford it, and pair it with the visibility and intelligence required to stay competitive in an AI-first economy.
What makes Paylo different?
Paylo runs on AetherGrid, our proprietary invisible layer that surfaces products organically across search, chat, and assistant interfaces.
Instead of pushing merchants toward paid ads, AetherGrid ensures their products appear naturally where users are already looking — in conversations, searches, and AI-assisted interactions.
This unlocks three important advantages:
- Merchants keep more of their revenue instead of relying on rising ad budgets.
- Customers find what they need in the moment, without being chased around the internet.
- Growth becomes organic, powered by infrastructure designed for the evolving discovery networks of the AI era.
Looking ahead to Lira’s return
Everything we build through Paylo strengthens Lira. When the education sector is ready for deeper transformation, we want to return with proof, partners, and infrastructure already in place. Until then, we are focusing on the parts of the economy that are ready to move now.
As Lira evolves behind the scenes, the work we’re doing with Paylo ensures it will come back stronger, steadier, and far more impactful. When the time is right, we look forward to unveiling a platform that redefines how education connects to opportunity.