MBA Startup Aims to Revolutionize Online Language Learning

Two MBA alumni have launched a new online language learning platform that they hope will reduce the need to sign-up for expensive language courses.

The MBA startup, named, Airuup, is the brainchild of Aigul Serikbayeva and Rupinder Chahal, alumni of Nottingham University Business School. They say were directly inspired both by the international feel of their MBA program and of their own experience of learning a second language whilst based at NUBS.

The two co-founders said, “The exciting feeling of knowing another language engendered in us a strong desire to share this feeling with people around the world. Whether for academic purposes, for career prospects or simply for the freedom and enjoyment of travelling around the world, we want to help people speak additional languages fluently. This is how Airuup was born.”

Online Language Community Designed by MBA Alumni to Connect People across the Globe

Whilst the online language learning certainly isn’t a new idea, what is new about this MBA start-up is the number of options for community building that Airuup aims to provide. The site is intended to attract students of all abilities, as well as professional teachers and language schools, to take online classes or simply to engage in informal conversation.

Whilst professional teachers or language schools registered on the platform charge a fee for their classes, everything else on Airuup is free. In this way the MBA alumni hope to lessen the need of students having to sign up to expensive language courses, especially for those who would have to travel in order to do so. 

However, Airuup does still focus on the value of communicating with first-language speakers as the best way to take your language skills to the next level. The innovative idea behind the MBA start-up therefore is simply to remove the need to travel overseas in order to reach them by creating access to a global pool of speakers through their online platform. Plus, by taking an online course with one of their registered language schools, students can even secure a certificate of achievement.