How Do We Get Such Great Results?

Our Story

David Meltzer founded Genius Premium Tuition in 1993 and was the company's very first tutor. After earning four distinctions in matric and studying engineering at university, he dedicated himself to building a more personalised complement to the school system, based on the belief that every learner deserves individualised support to reach their full potential.

Dean Cook joined as a Maths and Science tutor in 2015 and became an Education Manager in 2016. Years of leading programmes, families and teams - combined with his background in systems development - helped Genius build the people and systems needed to move beyond a single-manager model. When in-person programmes moved online in 2020, online tuition became an ongoing option for families in KwaZulu-Natal and abroad.

The Genius model developed through iteration, not theory. Across three decades, and especially over the past ten years, we have listened to students and families, studied where students did and did not improve, and changed the service in response. That experience showed us that one-on-one tuition is most effective when students are assessed before a programme begins, tutors are carefully trained and matched, and every programme has proactive oversight and leadership.

Education Managers have been part of Genius since 1993. What began as tutor scheduling supervision grew into something far greater: experienced, wise counsel for parents and families facing important - and sometimes difficult - decisions about their child's education.

Genius opened its Cape Town branch in 2021, and around 2022, we renamed the Education Manager role to Education Leader to reflect what it had truly become. These are not managers administering programmes; they are leaders guiding families through South African and international education.

Today, David and Dean run Genius as hands-on owners. They are involved in the work of the business every day - upholding the quality families expect, strengthening a reputation built over three decades, and making sure that what Genius does remains world class. It is work that matters to them personally, because it changes the lives of the students we teach and the people we employ.

Care and oversight: today, our Education Leaders lead the whole process and stay closely involved to ensure that:

• We build a world-class programme for your child
• We are course-correcting and adapting when necessary
• We are executing every lesson with care and attention
• Your child is invested in the programme and connecting with their tutors
• We are getting results