Please tell us more about Telp and what inspired you to create the business?

I came up with the idea when I was a Mass Communications student at the American University of Sharjah. I had always been fascinated with education and loved to tutor friends and family, some of my friends at the university noticed this and recommended that I join the University’s “Writing center” which is a peer to peer tutoring center where ‘A’ English students can tutor other students of all majors in Writing. I was required to take a one semester course where we studied peer tutoring and were trained on different teaching techniques. I then taught at the center for two years and was truly inspired by the outcomes on both a personal level and on a larger scale.

On a personal level I was able to explore my passion in Education as well as earn an income, I tutored a wide array of students including those with visual impairment as well as master level engineering students. On a larger level, I saw the impact the center had on students, as it was a solving a problem which the majority of them face. I wanted to create a similar opportunity for ‘A’ students and graduates while simultaneously solving a widespread pain that students and parents face. So a year after I came back to Bahrain, I started working on the platform, I fully financed the launch myself by investing all my savings and the outcome has been outstanding!

What are the challenges that students are currently dealing with and how does Telp rise up to respond to this challenge?

Students and parents struggle to find qualified tutors at affordable rates. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find tutors in general and students and parents often end up booking lessons with tutors that they know almost nothing about. Telp makes the process of finding a qualified tutor at affordable rates much easier as bookings can be made in a matter of minutes. They are also able to research about the tutor’s background and check out the reviews of other students that have booked with that tutor before.

Your site is probably one of the few who cater to special education & learning difficulties. How important is it to look after these students in the context of modern education?

It’s extremely important to make our platform as inclusive as possible. It’s especially difficult to find tutors for special needs; we want to be able to help and cater to all students to the best of our ability including for different needs.

What were the roadblocks that you faced when you were setting up your own business?

It was a big challenge starting an Edtech venture as I do not come from a technical background. However I was able to overcome that by educating myself in the field and I have strong advisors that I could refer to whenever needed.

What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially in the Education sector?

Just go for it! Don’t overthink it, don’t question yourself, just launch a minimal viable experience that allows you to test your concept and validate your model. If you are thinking of getting into Edtech, always bear in mind that education is very sensitive and is based on trust. Your heart needs to be in the right place.