Smetase is run by Emmanuel Oyelowo, based in Lagos, Nigeria, with a small team (“Smetase”, “we”, “us”). This policy explains what personal data we collect when you use Smetase on the web at app.smetase.com or on Telegram, why we collect it, who sees it, and the choices you have.
We are responsible for your data under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA). Questions: privacy@smetase.com.
1. What we collect
You give us
- Account details. If you sign in with Google: your name and email address. If you use Telegram: your Telegram user ID, username and display name.
- Study profile. Your goals, preferred countries and programmes, budget, grades, intake plans and anything else you tell us in the chat or when you set up your profile.
- Conversations. The messages you exchange with the Smetase AI and with advisors, on the web and on Telegram.
- Interview practice. Your answers in mock visa and admission interviews, and the feedback you receive.
- Your progress. The steps you tick off in your plan, such as paying a deposit, booking an English test or preparing proof of funds.
- Messages to us. Anything you send us by email.
Created as you use Smetase
- Programme matches, your shortlist, your chosen programme and your Study Plan.
- Technical data such as IP address, browser type and error logs, needed to keep the service secure and working.
- Sign-in sessions, stored as secure tokens. We never store raw tokens in plain text.
- When you agreed to these terms, and which version.
We do not ask for payment card details or identity documents.
2. Why we use it
| Purpose | Legal basis (NDPA) |
|---|---|
| Create your account and run the service: matching, plans, checklists, interview practice | Our agreement with you |
| Connect you with an advisor | Our agreement with you |
| Keep the service secure, prevent abuse, limit AI usage | Legitimate interests |
| Fix errors and improve Smetase | Legitimate interests |
| Tell you about your account, for example when an advisor replies | Our agreement with you |
| Meet legal obligations | Legal obligation |
We do not send marketing messages. If we start, we will ask for your consent first.
3. Who can see your data
- Our team, to run and support the service.
- An advisor assigned to you. You can ask for an advisor with the “Talk to an advisor” button or
/advisoron Telegram, and our team may also assign one to help you. Advisors may be members of our team or independent education advisors who work with us. An advisor sees only the students assigned to them, including their study profile, plan and full conversation history with Smetase. - Service providers who process data only on our instructions:
- Render: hosting and database (Frankfurt, Germany)
- Cloudflare: website hosting and network security
- Anthropic: AI processing, to write chat replies and interview feedback (United States)
- Zoho (ZeptoMail): email delivery
- Sentry: error monitoring
- Google (sign-in) and Telegram (messaging), which also follow their own privacy policies
- People you share with. Anyone who has your Study Plan link can open it. Share it only with people you trust, such as your parents.
- Authorities, when the law requires it.
We do not sell your personal data.
4. The AI and advisors
Our AI helps you explore options and can make mistakes. Tuition, deadlines and entry requirements come from our stored school records, not from the AI, and you should confirm them with the school before you apply or pay. The AI does not make decisions that legally affect you. Advisors are not employees of any school or embassy, and nothing in Smetase guarantees admission or a visa.
5. Data outside Nigeria
Some of our providers are outside Nigeria, for example in Germany and the United States. When your data is transferred to them, we rely on the safeguards the NDPA allows, such as the data protection terms we have with those providers.
6. How long we keep it
We keep your data while your account is active. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, except records we must keep for legal, security or audit reasons, such as a record of who changed what. Server logs are kept by our hosting provider for a limited period and then deleted.
7. Your rights
Under the NDPA you can ask to see your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, get a copy in a portable format, and withdraw consent at any time. Email privacy@smetase.com and we will reply within 30 days. You can also complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission at ndpc.gov.ng.
8. Security
We use HTTPS, hashed tokens, short-lived sessions, role-based access (staff and advisors see only what their role needs) and an audit log of important changes. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects you, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
9. Age
Smetase is for people aged 16 and over. If you are under 18, you need your parent or guardian’s permission to use it, and you confirm this when you click “I agree” before using Smetase. If a parent or guardian wants us to delete a child’s data, email privacy@smetase.com.
10. Cookies
The Smetase app uses only the cookies needed to keep you signed in and secure. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies. This website loads fonts from Google Fonts, which means Google receives your IP address.
11. Changes
If we change this policy in a meaningful way, we will update the date at the top and tell you in the app or by email.
12. Contact
Smetase · Lagos, Nigeria · privacy@smetase.com