Mohmmed El Sonbaty on the Birth of Educatly

Educatly’s CEO and founder, Mohamed El Sonbaty, walks us through how Educatly was born and became the world’s premier higher education network in an interview with Elsa Barbera.

Cofounded by Abdulrahman Ayman and Joan Manuel, Educatly is on a mission to enhance the higher-education ecosystem’s presence in the digital world. The founder, El Sonbaty, is here to share the process of the birth of Educatly.

When was your light bulb moment? When did Educatly pop up in your mind?

“At the age of 18, we have little clarity on where we’re headed.” El Sonbaty said. “Taking the first step with no clarity was just random. I realized something like Educatly is needed when I was looking for an opportunity to study abroad. I continued on my path, and luckily had the courage to learn from the experience, and I realized that I have the ability to discover what I am really meant to do. Discovering that was inspirational and it made me find my calling in life. 

“Do you know the feeling of having a call in life? This call can be found anywhere. It could be through a challenge you faced, a conversation you had, or just something you figured out on your own. It’s a call, just pick it up, take the first step, and follow the path to be a part of something impactful. For me, the struggle with studying abroad was just so personal. I felt like this problem was personal. It was calling to me personally, and it was the only thing that I believed I can help solve. 

“And you know, 73% of the global working force have jobs that aren’t related to their higher-education degree. That just shows how ineffective our global educational system is when it comes to preparing us to follow a career we love. It’s a problem that so many people spend so much time doing things they aren’t meant to or want to do for the rest of their lives. It stunts our potential and limits us as humans. It’s crazy to think about this number!

“So to solve that, my passion for entrepreneurship aligned with my calling and what I am doing in life right now,  and the company is a demonstration of this.”

It’s great that we’re here because of you, that you’ve taken the first and many steps, and that you’ve changed hundreds of students’ lives. Yet, I want to know, what were the steps that you took when you had your calling to create your company? 

“You know, one of the lessons I learned in my journey so far is to believe. Whenever you start something, the only thing you have is belief, and nothing else. If you got an idea, well, everyone has an idea. But belief… it’s the most important part. You know there’s a quote or a way of thinking that I really like and believe in. It’s that your beliefs shape your thoughts and ideas. Your thoughts and ideas shape your actions. Your actions shape your behaviour. Your behaviour shapes who you are. So I truly believe that if you focus on clearly understanding your beliefs, it will impact who you are as a human being.

“So the first step for me was to sharpen my belief and to make sure that I am doing something that I am passionate about, believe in, and believe that I can actually do myself. That affected how Educatly started. With belief, I reached out to people who might share it with me. I didn’t have money or anything to offer them, but when there’s a shared belief and trust, it helped to achieve our shared goal. 

“The second thing is to have clarity and a vision of what it is you want to achieve. You figured out there’s a problem or a need that people want to have met, that’s good, and there are so many problems in the world. But you have to think clearly about how you will add value or provide an answer. That’s what I am trying to do with Educatly. The company is trying to solve problems, and that needs an open mind someone who’s fast-paced and always keeping up with the world, and I try to do that.”

This is just a little bit of how the EdTech platform Educatly came to life! It’s always here to help you. So, if you’ve always wanted to study abroad, but don’t know where to start, you can just DM us. It’s completely free and there are more than 36,000 programs. Just send us a message on Instagram and we will support you every step of the way.

Don’t forget to follow Instagram for more on studying abroad.