Years of Saturday classes and extra tuition didn’t just make Jeff Akwaboah better at Maths, English and Science: it also taught him how to recognise a good thing when he saw it.

Which is why Jeff, more than a decade into his successful financial career in the City, has become Mathnasium’s newest franchisee and the owner of its gleaming new centre in Winchmore Hill, London.

Jeff’s sticking to his career in asset management and appointing a centre director to run his new business, but intends to be as hands-on as possible at Winchmore Hill.

Apart from being in a position to know that the numbers add up, he’s always wanted the challenge of having his own business.

“I wanted to find one I understood and where I felt I could add value for myself and to a community,” says Jeff, who joined a bank at 21 and spent more than a decade working in finance.

“I used to go to Saturday classes and have tutors when I was growing up, so I understood the value of education.”

He visited a franchise fair before the pandemic and encountered a bewildering range of franchises, including others in the world of education, but was drawn to Mathnasium because it was new to the UK, was different, and had the USP of being a one-topic tuition service.

“Going down the franchise route is structured, organised, and less risky than starting your own business from scratch,” he says.

“The fact that you have a community of franchisees is very helpful, too, as you’re growing together, and they’ve walked the walk. That’s what appealed to me in the first place.

“And even though a franchise is still effectively your own business, having the infrastructure of Mathnasium behind you is good because they give excellent training to you and your staff.”

Jeff’s dedication was obvious from the start when, having found the right premises, he had to dash to his solicitor’s office at one o’clock in the morning to deliver signed copies of the lease!

As he prepares to open his Mathnasium Centre in Winchmore Hill, Jeff is already planning on opening a second and, eventually, a third.

“I believe in the Mathnasium model,” he says. “I believe in learning face-to-face. I would only invest in something I’d do myself.”

And the acid-test?

“I would definitely bring my own child to Mathnasium,” says Jeff, proudly. “The tuition is face-to-face, it doesn’t give homework, it’s fun, and it delivers results.”