Mr. Azeroual's Mathnasium Empire
Eti and Leron Azeroual, owners of Mathnasium of Culver City.
Last year, Culver City High School said goodbye to Mr. Leron Azeroual as an Algebra 2 Honors teacher as he shifted his career to focus on his Mathnasium enterprise. He and his wife Eti Azeroual, another former teacher, run the Mathnasium franchise together.
“My wife and I decided together that we wanted to do a tutoring business,” Mr. Azeroual said. “We decided that buying into a franchise was better than starting one on our own.”
So, what is Mathnasium? Mathnasium is a tutoring franchise where kids are tutored by instructors, usually juniors in high school or older, on math for an hour at a time. It also provides a learning plan that helps kids learn the concepts they haven’t mastered yet and get ahead in school.
After teaching at the same school for 10 years, Eti and Leron Azeroual decided they needed a career change. After much consideration, they ended up going into the tutoring business. Luckily for them, the opportunity for a franchise soon came up, and they took it. They bought their first Mathnasium in El Segundo in 2016. After a couple of years, Mr. and Mrs. Azeroual were able to grow their business successfully and buy another location, and soon many more.
“She [Mrs. Azeroual] was able to grow the center successfully and thought she had a really good handle on the business.” Mr. Azeroual said. “Franchises are designed for you to have multiple and scale your business. So we knew that we needed a second location.”
As of 2026, they own 5 Mathnasiums located in Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, El Segundo, and Culver City.
When the Azeroual’s bought their first location, not everything came easy to them. Mr. Azeroual explained, “The hardest transition is planning your own hours and not having it already planned for you.”
When working at school, everything is already sorted out for you. Mr Azeroual explains, “[School provides you with] what needs to be done everyday, what is the priority sequence of what needs to be done first, second, third, and just, you know, running it.” This is an example of one of the many obstacles Mr. and Mrs. Azeroual had to face when adjusting from a school to their own business.
The transition from a classroom teacher to Mathnasium owner has allowed Mr. Azeroual to combine his educational experience with teaching and his business growth. By expanding to multiple locations, he has been able to reach more families helping students with math, while creating a pipeline where former students can return back as employees. The Azeroual’s have built a sustainable system of success that benefits students and families.
The program’s philosophy is to help students understand difficult math concepts by using understandable terms. Instructors are highly trained and passionate and create a supportive environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and making mistakes. One session usually has 1 instructor with 4 students. Instead of students just working on homework, Mathnasium assesses each student’s current level and creates personalized work according to their level. If the student is behind in math, they will receive extra support; if they are ahead, they are given more challenging work. The primary goal is to provide students with “an edge and a passion and love [for] math” said by Leron Azeroual, one of the owners. Unlike traditional school settings that rely on schedules and bells, Mathnasium allows for a more personalized pace that mainly focuses on comprehension. By helping students “find the fun in it, not just the struggle,” the method transforms how children perceive the subject quoted by Leron Azeroual. Ultimately, the philosophy is about moving away from being "tortured by math” and instead more toward “embracing and loving it”.
The impact of Mathnasium on the local community is best reflected by the countless success stories. Leron Azeroual shares that one of the most significant indicators of success for the centers is “having our own students become our future employees,” allowing them to “switch seats and give back to the community.” For students currently going through their math journey, Mr. Azeroual’s primary piece of advice is to “just love math” and actively seek out the enjoyable aspects of the subject. He believes that Mathnasium is the perfect tool for this because it “teaches it [to students] in a relatable way.” The goal for the centers is to become a “household name” that serves all students, not just those who are currently remedial or struggling.