How to Start an AI Agency | COURSUS.IO Executive Education
Executive Education · Live Cohort

Build an AI Agency That Serves
Global Clients From Africa.

A practitioner's intensive for Nigerian and African entrepreneurs ready to build real AI service businesses, with paying clients, structured pricing, and the playbook to expand internationally.

8 Modules Over 2 Days Fully Virtual, Live All Backgrounds Welcome Real Deliverables by Day 2
Live cohort, not a recorded course Works for all founder types, technical or not Built on 2025/2026 market data from Nigeria, UK & US Leave with real outputs, not just notes

Most people interested in AI agencies have the same four sticking points.

This course was built around solving exactly these.

01

You don't know how to position yourself

Everyone is "doing AI." Without a specific niche and a defensible angle, you're competing on price before you've even started.

02

You don't know what to charge or why

Most founders underprice because they're guessing. Pricing without a framework is just fear with a number attached.

03

You can't get past the first client

No portfolio, no case studies, no referrals. The first paying client feels impossible to close without already having one.

04

You're not sure your location is a disadvantage

Operating from Nigeria or West Africa and trying to serve UK and US clients. You wonder if that automatically puts you at a discount.

Four types of founders. One course that serves all of them.

Your background determines your path through the technical modules, not whether you belong here.

Model 1

The Orchestrator

Business, law, finance, or management background. You sell, manage, and deliver outcomes. A contractor builds the technical layer. Your edge is that you speak the client's language better than any developer ever will.

Model 2

The No-Code Builder

Strong digital literacy, no coding required. You'll personally build automations using Make.com, Voiceflow, and Zapier. You can prototype a client solution in 48 hours without waiting for anyone.

Model 3

The Domain Expert Packager

Healthcare, logistics, real estate, agriculture. Your industry knowledge is the product. The AI is the delivery mechanism. Nobody can replicate what you know about your sector.

Model 4

The Technical Builder

Software, data, or engineering background. You can build the systems. Your gaps are commercial: pricing, positioning, sales, and client management. This course fills exactly those gaps.

Operating from Africa is not a liability. Properly leveraged, it's a structural competitive edge.

60%

Lower operational costs

Than UK and US equivalents. Same service. Higher margin. The cost structure you're born into is your moat.

97%

Nigerians want to learn AI

KPMG's 2025 global study puts Nigeria among the highest globally for AI adoption intent and trust.

600%

YoY AI adoption growth

Nigeria posted the fastest year-on-year AI adoption growth in a 64-country dataset in 2025. The window is open right now.

5.7M

UK SMBs. Your first export market.

99.2% are small businesses. English-speaking. GMT-aligned. Completely reachable from Lagos from Month 7.

By Day 2, you will completely master our in-house client acquisition template, the exact system the Coursus team has used for years. Not notes.

This is a working session. Every module produces something you can use immediately.

A defensible niche statement that passes the 10-second test with a non-technical prospect.

A full pricing model with Micro, Small, Medium, and Large tiers and the logic to defend every number.

A first-client acquisition system using the Show-Don't-Tell demo method that removes the portfolio requirement.

A 12-month financial roadmap with conservative and aggressive scenarios, break-even calculation, and hiring timeline.

A complete SOP document covering delivery, QA, client communication protocols, and churn prevention.

Legal templates included: MSA, SOW, NDA, and P&L model, all Nigeria-law compliant and ready to use.

A vetted three-phase geographic expansion plan from Nigerian SMBs to UK clients to US markets.

A technology stack decision matched to your founder model, no expensive guesswork about tools.

8 modules. Two days. Everything you need to launch.

Pre-reading materials for all 8 modules are distributed one week before the live sessions. You arrive prepared. The live sessions are working time.

01
Market Reality & Niche Selection
The global AI services market broken down into three tiers you can access. Nigeria's fastest-growing sectors ranked by sales cycle, competitive intensity, and economic capacity. The Three-Layer Positioning Framework and your Ideal Client Profile.
02
Technical Foundation & Team Architecture
The Minimum Viable Team at each revenue stage. No-code vs custom development, the honest answer. Your technology stack, white-labelling strategy, and Voice AI setup. Founder-model-specific paths for Models 1 through 4.
03
Pricing Architecture & Packaging
Why most African agency founders underprice and exactly how to fix it. The four-tier pricing model with Micro through Large bands. Value-based pricing logic, retainer structuring, and the pricing calculator you'll use for every proposal.
04
Building Your Portfolio & Brand
Getting your first case study without a prior client. The free pilot strategy. Website essentials, LinkedIn positioning, and the credibility signals UK and US clients are actually looking for when they vet a new vendor.
05
Client Acquisition Systems
Outbound and inbound playbooks for Nigerian, UK, and US markets. The Show-Don't-Tell demo method. Prospecting tools: Apollo, Clay, Companies House, Jobberman. Behavioural signal tracking and how to read a prospect's willingness to pay before you pitch.
06
Sales & Proposal Process
The discovery call framework. Proposal structure that sells. Negotiation principles drawn from Never Split the Difference. Handling price objections, competitor comparisons, and the "can we start small" conversation without discounting.
07
Delivery, Retention & Operations
The six-phase project delivery framework. QA checklist and the four stress tests every system must pass before go-live. The psychology of first-time AI clients. Quarterly Business Reviews, churn warning signals, and the retention system that turns satisfied clients into referral sources.
08
Financial Planning & Scale Strategy
Startup capital scenarios from bootstrapping to comfortable launch. Conservative and aggressive 12-month revenue projections with real assumptions. The three big Year 2 decisions: geographic expansion, services to products, and boutique vs scale. Monthly financial metrics to track without exception.

What participants say.

"I came in as a healthcare administrator with zero technical background. By Day 2 I had a niche, a pricing model, and a working demo for a clinic client I'd been avoiding pitching. Closed them two weeks after the cohort."

AO
Adaeze O.
Healthcare AI Agency, Lagos

"The pricing module alone was worth it. I'd been charging ₦150K for projects I now invoice at ₦1.2M. Same work. Different framing. I had no idea how badly I was underselling."

KA
Kemi A.
Real Estate Automation, Abuja

"I'm a software engineer. I thought I'd breeze through the tech modules. What hit me was the sales section. I had no framework for pricing, pitching, or closing. That's what I came away with."

EB
Emeka B.
Technical Founder, Port Harcourt

"I arrived in the UK stressed about balancing survival and second-semester tuition. Using the automated outreach framework from this academy, I launched my AI agency and landed two logistics clients within 6 weeks. I am comfortably funding my MSc now without doing grueling odd jobs."

CO
Chukwudi O.
MSc Data Science, University of Sunderland

"Balancing lectures with UK living costs is no joke, but setting up my AI agency changed everything. The blueprints helped me confidently pitch and close a £1,500/month retainer with an e-commerce brand. My MSc fees are completely covered, and I'm building a scalable business."

BT
Babajide T.
MSc Digital Business, Teesside University
Lead Instructor
Anabel Duberry

Anabel Duberry teaches Artificial Intelligence and Data-Driven Decision Making at University College London's Department of Computer Science. Before UCL, she spent years building production AI systems for enterprise clients across the UK, from NLP pipelines for financial services firms to conversational AI for healthcare providers. She built real systems, saw what broke, and learned from it.

She created this programme after watching technically capable founders across Africa consistently undervalue their skills in global markets. Most already understood the tools. They needed the business architecture to wrap around them.

  • Lecturer, AI & Data-Driven Decision Making, UCL Computer Science
  • Former AI systems practitioner, UK enterprise clients across financial services, healthcare, and logistics
  • Specialisation in NLP, conversational AI, and enterprise ML implementation
  • Research: AI adoption barriers in emerging economies
Anabel Duberry

One cohort. One price. Everything included.

All modules, all templates, all legal documents, and cohort Slack access are included. No upsells.

How to Start an AI Agency — Live Cohort

8 modules · 2 live days · Fully virtual · All four founder models

$100 60% OFF
$ 40

  • All 8 live modules with pre-reading materials distributed one week in advance
  • Complete legal template pack: MSA, SOW, NDA, all Nigeria-law compliant
  • P&L model, pricing calculator, ICP worksheet, and 90-day quick win sprint
  • Platform directory covering US, UK, and Nigerian prospect sources
  • Cohort Slack channel: peer network and post-session Q&A
  • Session recordings for 90 days post-cohort
Reserve My Seat →

Seats are limited to maintain cohort quality. Payment secures your place.
Contact us if you have questions before enrolling.

Answered honestly.

Do I need to know how to code?+
No. The course is designed for all four founder models, including Model 1 (Orchestrator) and Model 3 (Domain Expert Packager), who have no technical background and no intention of building anything themselves. The technical modules have separate paths clearly labelled for each founder model. If you can't code, you'll follow the Contractor Briefing path, which teaches you how to manage and brief technical work without doing it.
I'm a student or recent graduate. Is this for me?+
Yes, explicitly so. The course was designed with university students in mind. Your academic discipline is your niche. A healthcare student who builds AI tools for clinics does not compete with a computer science student who builds generic chatbots. Your background is an asset, not a limitation.
I'm not based in Lagos. Does this apply to me?+
All frameworks, pricing strategies, and client acquisition playbooks apply across Nigeria, and the underlying principles hold for practitioners in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt. Where local regulations differ, the course flags it. The primary examples and market data are drawn from Nigeria because it's the most developed AI agency ecosystem on the continent, but the model travels.
What if I already have a business or some clients?+
The course covers both launch and scale. If you already have clients but no pricing framework, no SOP, and no clear expansion plan, Modules 3, 7, and 8 will have the highest immediate impact. Many participants come in with one or two clients and leave with the operational structure to grow beyond founder-led delivery.
What exactly do I leave with?+
Eight real deliverables: a niche statement, an Ideal Client Profile, a pricing model, a website brief, a sales pipeline, a 12-month financial roadmap, an SOP document covering delivery and QA, and a complete legal template pack. These are working documents, not notes. By the end of Day 2 you have something to act on immediately.
How long is the programme and how is it delivered?+
Pre-reading materials are distributed one week before the live sessions. The live intensive runs over two consecutive days, fully virtual, with modules delivered in structured blocks. You arrive prepared, not passive. Recordings are available for 90 days afterwards.

The gap between intent and execution is your market. Close it.

79% of organisations have already adopted AI agents. Only 14% have deployed them at scale. The implementation capability is what's missing, and it's what you'll be selling.

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