An education technology and social-impact startup, set up by UCL Maths alumnus Zubair Junjunia, is helping students access quality online education regardless of their background.
The business ZNotes has now helped almost four million students in 198 countries with free revision notes and other online content. This includes students at various stages of their education, from high school exams to university applications.
Growing up in Saudi Arabia, Zubair became aware of the “disparities and inequalities” in education provision. With this in mind, he began to share some of his revision notes online in an effort to help others.
Zubair started his master’s degree in Mathematics at UCL in 2016, graduating in 2020 with First Class Honours. During this time, he continued to run ZNotes.
In his second year of study, he approached UCL Innovation & Enterprise for help with evolving the ZNotes community, platform and branding. ZNotes is currently in residence at BaseKX, UCL’s dedicated entrepreneurship hub in King’s Cross, run by UCL Innovation & Enterprise.
Nearly four million people have now visited the ZNotes site to access content, and there are currently more than 160,000 active users.
In June 2021, Zubair received The Diana Award, one of the highest accolades a young person can achieve for social action. In December 2021, Zubair was one of just 20 young people globally to receive a Diana Legacy Award in recognition of his social and humanitarian efforts.
He comments: “For me the focus is on making education more affordable, accessible and inclusive. I want to use this amazing technology and leverage the greatest minds so that anyone anywhere in the world can get the very best education.”
Read the full story on the UCL Innovation & Enterprise website