The boss of a company that offers private tuition services has been able to keep going through the lockdown by diverting her moving online.
The Spark Academy provides after-school tuition for 7 to 18-year olds in Leicester and Oadby.
Former science teacher Mital Thanki, who founded the business in 2009, said when it was announced that SATs, GCSE and A-level exams were being cancelled, she lost 40 per cent of her business.
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But she said she had been monitoring what was happening elsewhere in the world, so was already planning a transition to online learning.
That included online group sessions, which have been taken up around the country.
She was helped by an advisor and the IT team at the Business Gateway Growth Hub, run by the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.
She said: “Cancelling exams left many parents and their children naturally confused and worried about their futures, which meant that we had to step up and ensure that we were there to support them.
“There were a few challenges going online initially as we had to teach both parents and students how to use the software, but this soon settled.
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“Normally our service is complementary to school learning, however, as the weeks went by, we found our students were relying on us quite heavily as some schools were not offering live online lessons.
“We also noticed more issues surrounding anxiety and lack of motivation with students.
“We decided to change our offering and as part of our corporate and social responsibility, we provide more free academic lessons as well as increasing the number of our well-being and holistic sessions.”
The business originally started when Mital was juggling university with offering one-to-one science tuition.
Mital and the team normally work face-to-face with small groups of young people to improve their exam techniques.
Building the confidence and independence of young people is also part of the service.
As schools closed Spark Academy also diversified its product offering with online group tuition – which has given the business national growth.
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It has partnered with a multinational ed-tech company to bring solutions to schools not equipped for online learning.
That would not have been possible under the company’s pre-covid-19 model.
Mital said she had been in touch with her Business Gateway adviser, Aruna Bhagwan throughout the crisis.
Mital said: “Aruna has been brilliant with advice on funding and other help that small businesses can receive during this time.
“I believe that her insight is pivotal and her proactive nature makes a small business owner like myself feel very supported.”
Aruna Bhagwan said: “Mital is a determined and tenacious entrepreneur and it’s wonderful to see her business adapting and succeeding through this crisis.
“Like many business owners it has been a very challenging time for her, but she has managed to turn things around by looking at the bigger picture and continually innovating.
“Spark Academy is genuinely concerned about its students and this, together with continually monitoring the changing environment, will help them come through covid-19 even stronger than before.”
As lockdown eases Mital will continue to offer online tuition as a route to national expansion.
She said: “Only time will tell of the true impact of this crisis but as we approach the end of the school year there is still a lot of adapting and continual analysis to do, I believe however, the transition to online services has helped significantly to save our business.”