Creating a language school start-up - Daria Nowak (MA Education TEFL)

Daria Nawak completed a Masters in Education (Teaching English in a Foreign Language) in
2020 and has recently set up a language school called Becomelia.

Daria: We provide private ESL (English as a second language) lessons - currently online and soon on-site too. It's an alternative for EU migrants living in the UK who do not want to learn ESOL (English as a Second Language) at college with a native speaker, for various reasons. We then offer free of charge career support and help our students to get on level 2 and level 3 courses. We currently have Polish tutors working with Polish students and we want to expand to work with Romanian, Bulgarian and other communities. We would also like to get the British Council or Cambridge English accreditation in the near future.

How did you come up with your business idea and when did it all start?: 

I have always wanted to have my own language school. I was considering many locations, in the UK and EU. There are plenty of private language schools in Poland where I'm from; several in every city. These, surprisingly, don't seem to be as popular in the UK.

When I lost my job in learning support at the beginning of 2021 due to COVID-19 budget cuts, I've decided to take the risk and start my own business.

What are the best and worst aspects of running your own business?:

The best part about running your own business is definitely the independence and the buzz you get from chasing your own dreams. The worst aspect is how anxious it can be to deal with paperwork, Companies House, HMRC etc when you don't know much about it and have no mentoring.

What has been the biggest takeaway from your experience?:

Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.

The Becomelia is currently in production but will be avaialble soon. Visit Becomelia's Instagram page here for updates.