Introduction

SecureMyScholarship is a Dubai based edtech startup that connects students with scholarships at universities around the world. Launched in November 2021, SecureMyScholarship lists scholarships at over 400 universities from Dubai, USA, UK and Ireland on its platform, and has grown into the largest education platform in the UAE, accounting for over 10% of all private university enrolments in UAE annually.

SecureMyScholarship’s mission is to connect students with $100 million in scholarships, and change the lives of one hundred thousand students around the world. In its 2.5 years of existence, the Dubai based startup has disbursed over $9 million in scholarships through its platform to 1500+ students.

Founder’s Journey

In September 2017, Craig and Ian Fernandes co-founded Lock&Stock, a mobile app that helped students stay off their phones and pay more attention in class. In exchange, students received access to rewards, which they could redeem against offers, discounts, internship applications, and scholarships.

Within 2 years, Lock&Stock had become the largest student lifestyle platform in the UAE, with over 80,000 students on the platform connecting with over 1200 partner brands.

In 2021, the team took a decision to take the ‘Scholarships’ feature on Lock&Stock, and build this into a standalone platform, which eventually became SecureMyScholarship.com.

Craig Fernandes has been featured in over 50 media and PR publications, including CNN, Entrepreneur, Tech Radar, Mashable, and many more. In 2019, Craig received the Arabian Business Future Star award, and in 2023 Craig was recognized on the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 List by Forbes Magazine.

Business Model

SecureMyScholarship’s mission is to make education affordable and accessible for all students, and as such it is completely free for students. The platform connects students with scholarship opportunities along with a host of other services, including course selection, university application support, and visa application assistance, for completely free of cost.

From a revenue standpoint, the platform charges universities a performance based fee when a student secures a scholarship and successfully enrolls into their institution.

Which problem Startup is solving

The cost of quality higher education globally is incredibly high, and is rising every year. This sad reality means that for most middle class and working class families, access to top universities is unaffordable. Students might be aspirational, ambitious, and hard-working, but are denied their dreams simply because they cannot afford it. We do not think this is fair. Till September 2023, Startup has crossed $7 million in scholarships disbursed.

We believe that quality education is a right, and is the gateway to upward mobility. Our mission is to connect students with $100 million in scholarships, and change the lives of one hundred thousand students around the world.

Investors:

To date, SecureMyScholarship has raised over $1.2 million in capital from an early stage venture capital firm and a network of angel investors.