TeenTechEd — a startup that helps students get into foreign universities

Botagoz Zhuman, 31 years old, Almaty, co-founder of TeenTechEd, @zhumanah

How It All Began

TeenTechEd has three co-founders from various countries in the CIS region — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. We worked together and studied in the Emirates in three different fields — engineering, robotics, and education.

We had a shared idea about improving the quality of education in our home countries. To achieve this goal, we launched social projects focused on sustainable development of ecology and educating children in remote areas. For example, we created a mobile game that teaches children how to save water.

Then, we started receiving inquiries about studying abroad. At that time, we decided to create a company that would help students find scholarships and gain advantages for studying at foreign universities. We hired coordinators who assist students from different parts of the world. However, each of them could only work with 20 people at a time. Therefore, we developed Teena, an AI consultant. It can provide free advice to young people on choosing programs and admission requirements. Our database contains a lot of information accumulated over the years.

Team

Our team consists of experts in engineering, education, IT, and science.

We started working on the startup by testing concepts and hypotheses among various audiences. The first project was a chatbot that helped students find mentors. Then, we developed an AI consultant that answers clients' questions. Its responses are based on a refined script and database, which makes them different from search engine results.

Target Audience

Our target audience is students aged 16-35 who are interested in studying abroad. Our AI advisor is also useful for an adult audience because it provides information not only about bachelor's programs but also about master's and doctoral programs. Our client base consists of 15,000 people.

Acceleration Programs

We participated in the Scalerator program from Astana Hub and the IRA program from MOST IT Business Accelerator, through which we received a grant from USAID. Additionally, we were recognized as one of the top four startups in Kazakhstan at the Draper Show during Digital Bridge 2023.

Challenges

Being a female-founded startup in the CIS region is not easy. For some investors, this is a risky area. However, we are seeing changes in trends within the venture industry. We know of individual venture cases where women have received support. We would like to see more such programs in the region.

Achievements

The period from 2022 to 2023 was fruitful for us: we began working in Kazakhstan, and since then, we have actively helped students get into foreign universities and find international internships.

Additionally, we participated in various training programs, successfully launched the AI consultant, and organized several charity events.

Plans

We have big plans to complete and launch the platform, as well as to digitize the process of studying abroad.

Structural changes are taking place in the company: we are actively developing departments, collaborating with experts, and putting all our efforts into growth and further scaling.