Today's Entrepreneur: Nathalie Richards

Yanna Chen · June 9, 2014 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/3745

Top 3 lessons: Test all assumptions; Find, retain & motivate great people; No stone unturned

Nathalie RichardsToday's Entrepreneur is Nathalie Richards, CEO of EduKit. Edukit is an online platform that will help young people by evaluating their needs and identifying programmes run by charities and social enterprises that can help their personal development.

Richards completed her MBA from INSEAD, her MA in Ethnicity & Culture from Birkbeck, University of London, and BA in Economics from University of Leicester. Here's a look at her entrepreneurial background.

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Companies I work or worked for:
If you are an entrepreneur, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

uberVU, Twitter, Groupon, Apple

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

It's very hard work in every sense of the word but one. It's long hours, it's physically and mentally challenging and it's very stressful. But it's never boring and I'm always excited about what tomorrow will bring.

What's most rewarding is seeing your idea take shape. We are now a team with an innovative product, strong values and a clear mission. Seeing us become an established entity, able to positively impact the lives of the next generation is hugely rewarding.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?

Not testing each and every assumption that they have made.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Test all of your assumptions, no matter how sure you are that they will hold. You will often be surprised (both good and bad surprises are a regular occurrence!
2. That no entrepreneur can be successful without an amazing team behind them. So a key part of my role is to find, retain and motivate great people
3. Not to leave any stone unturned - opportunities often present themselves when you least expect it.

Full bio

I am a former a management consultant / IT project manager (Accenture, Autonomy, Apple). I studied Law & Economics at uni and have an MBA from INSEAD.

I am a board advisor at Generating Genius and a school governor at Beckmead School in Croydon. I’m really passionate about helping students locate and make the most of all the great, fun opportunities out there.

At EduKit, we try to lead by example. We think back to when we were kids in order to better understand the opportunities and challenges ahead for the young people that we are trying to help. It's been an eventful 2 decades since I was at school and I'd never have dreamed I'd be the CEO of an IT company. In fact, when I was younger I'd initially wanted to be a lawyer because I fancied Blair Underwood from LA Law. Then a journalist due to a crush on Dexter Fletcher from Press Gang. But don’t worry, Michael Gove MP is safe for now!

(To be featured, you must have your Vator entrepreneur profile filled out, including your school. If you want to be featured, email me your profile URL as well as your Vator company profile URL. You can reach me at yanna@vator.tv) 

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EduKit

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EduKit’s Innovative Education Marketplace helps schools identify and measure the impact of life-changing programmes for pupils from low-income backgrounds.

Youth  Service Providers spend over £350m per year on ineffective marketing to schools. The EduKit opportunity is to increase pupil take up on these vital programmes, and be the place where a significant proportion of that £350m is spent annually.

EduKit's innovative custom built online platform will:-

  1. analyse information provided by the student and their school to build up a profile of their needs 
  2. automatically identify local programmes that are suitable for each student 
  3. track and evaluate student progress during and after programmes

EduKit has no direct competitors as typically no direct competitors as there is currently no online site where schools can locate support for pupils. Instead, schools:

- Use internet search engines to arbitrarily look for support

- Depend on word of mouth

- May see marketing materials from providers or attend events or exhibitions, although these typically have a very low conversion rate

- Unaware that support exists, simply do not offer pupils external support and / or make do with the wrong type of support. 

But now, for the first time, schools are able to search a database of a thousands of programmes for pupils with endorsements from other senior staff in schools who have used the services before. We enable schools to build up a picture of how pupils progress during each type of intervention not just at their own school, but also at schools across the country. This approach has gained huge support from teachers and industry experts and we recently won an innovation award from the Department for Education. 

EduKit is a unique concept that will revolutionise procurement for schools in the same ways Just Eat, Air BnB and Uber have revolutionised their respective sectors. 

EduKit can be replicated in any country with acute social inequality and a large, fragmented youth support sector. Markets of immediate interest include US, South Africa, Brazil, Canada and Australia.

EduKit is a disruptive, scalable, global opportunity that will generate significant returns for investors whilst also increasing outcomes for all pupils from all backgrounds.  


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Nathalie Richards

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CEO of EduKit. Passionate social entrepreneur. MBA (INSEAD), former management consultant and IT project manager. Extensive experience working with and advising youth charities. Fluent in French and Italian.