In the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, online schooling saw an abrupt and significant surge. Lockdowns across the world led teachers to use technology to go on with their lessons and engage with students and youngsters. Even if the majority of traditional educational institutions have already reopened, the ease and broad appeal of virtual learning have drawn attention to brand-new potential in the industry. That is the need which Hub71-backed educational technology start-up Ostaz hopes to fill.
The online private tutoring site, co-founded by Audrey Nakad, currently has 60,000 learners on its platform with more than 1,000 teachers offering tuition to pupils in British, French, US and UAE national curricula.
“The potential of private tutoring in our region is huge,” says Ms Nakad, who started the company with her sister and another colleague in 2018in Beirut.
“It’s estimated to be around $8.9 billion. Now, with online learning, the potential is even bigger.”
The company has since expanded its operations to the UAE, where it is now headquartered, and Saudi Arabia to meet growing demand in the region.
“If you will look at the landscape of the Arab region and the Middle East and North Africa region, you have the youngest population … and you have a lot of dynamics changing, for example, in Saudi Arabia [there is an] appetite to learn more”, as a large number of women and others join the workforce, Ms Nakad says.
Job creation is one of the key objectives of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 agenda, which aims to overhaul its economy and reduce its reliance on hydrocarbon revenue.
The participation of women in the labour force in Saudi Arabia rose to 35.6 per cent in 2021 from 33.2 per cent in 2020, a recent report by Jadwa Investment found.
“Higher participation from Saudi female [workers] is being driven by a larger number of first-time job seekers,” the report said.
Not many schools are being built in the region that cater to the growing education needs of the young population, Ms Nakad says.
Nearly half of the Mena population is under 24, with one in five ages 10-24, UN agency Unicef says.
“For instance, in Egypt, you have a huge gap [for schools]”, which is boosting demand for online learning, Ms Nakad says.
“We are leveraging our supply of qualified teachers to teach … our vision is to be the number one online learning platform in the world and boost our presence in the region.”
However, there is competition in the market and one of the factors that differentiates her company from others is “personalisation”, she says.
Having worked as a private tutor while studying at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada before embarking on the venture, Ms Nakad says her experience gave her proper insight into the industry.
“Our courses are live,” she says. “So we really study the learners’ need, we do an assessment test, after this assessment test, we propose a learning plan … we guarantee results.
“Second, we have a first mover advantage. We are the oldest in the ecosystem, so we learnt a lot.”
Another advantage the start-up has over its peers is that it is the “only player in the region that established so many partnerships that are big. For example, we worked with Taaleem in the UAE, we worked with the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority [in Dubai], American University in Dubai and others”, Ms Nakad says.
The company has big plans to boost growth and aims to expand in the region.
The EdTech sector in the Middle East and Africa is set to grow to Dh26bn ($7.07bn) by 2027, as the shift to digital education accelerates because of the pandemic, a study by Report Linker showed.
The widespread adoption of smartphones, interactive displays and other digital learning tools is expected to drive growth in the next few years.
Ostaz is looking to raise $1.5 million to “accelerate our growth”, especially in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, Ms Nakad says. It has secured more than $2.8m since its inception.
Being part of Abu Dhabi technology start-up centre Hub71 is helping founders “advance their international ambitions by connecting them to the right corporate partners to investors and funds, because this is … very crucial for the growth of our companies”, Ms Nakad says.
Hub71 is a flagship initiative of Abu Dhabi’s Dh50bn Ghadan 21 economic stimulus programme and was founded in 2019 by the emirate’s government, Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi Global Market, Microsoft and Japan’s SoftBank Group.
It helps entrepreneurs build tech companies with global outreach to support the emirate’s economic diversification plans.
Hub71’s start-ups have so far raised Dh1.5bn in investment through the tech ecosystem’s corporate partners, according to data released this year. The companies have been responsible for creating 1,000 new jobs.
“At Hub71, as a founder, you can make the impossible possible and they let you dream and you get the right push,” Ms Nakad says.
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