Meet Peter Nicholson Co-founder & CEO Baobabooks Education Sàrl

Please tell us about Baobabooks Education Sàrl

Baobabooks is an award-winning EdTech company that partners with educators to engage and empower young learners to express their unique voices while improving their writing skills. Our AI-supported platform leverages teacher-friendly technology to support classroom-based and remote learning in a fun and engaging way for students.

Our founding team has a diverse background.  Soukeina is a lifelong educator with experience teaching in four continents and multiple languages.  Rey is a creative developer with a demonstrated track record of turning ideas into products that engage users in a fun and compelling way.  Olivia is a talented business professional with the ability to pursue different business channels and establish meaningful corporate relationships.  I am somewhat of a serial entrepreneur.  We all came together to make a difference by creating Baobabooks as a safe and supportive environment for students to express themselves, both creatively, and also in their schoolwork, while at the same time addressing pain-points for teachers to help them better engage learners and accomplish their pedagogic goals and curricular activities in the classroom or remote settings.

Tell us more about your plans for 2024 and what is your long-term vision.

We recently launched our AI-support commercial version, v4.0 and are raising seed financing to help us scale into the market.

What has been the biggest success that you have achieved in your startup?

Baobabooks addresses the widely recognized writing literacy skills deficit aligned with the UN’s SDG #4 related to quality education. We have recently launched our AI-support commercial version, v4.0 and are raising seed financing to help us scale into the market and seek to become the pre-eminent writing literacy platform targeting K-12 schools.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently? What are your biggest learnings?

While focus is admirable, being flexible and adaptable to the market needs is of critical importance for success. We could have been more adaptable, earlier, and be further advanced toward reaching our goals.

What motivates you to continue your business every day?

The notes of encouragement and appreciation we get from teachers, students and partners sustain us during challenging times and motivate us to do more.

One piece of advice for someone who is just starting out with their startup?

Follow your passion, no one knows what you do. Listen to advice but trust your instincts.

What does it mean to you to be a member of the Swiss Startup Association? 

Being part of the local community is invaluable, particularly given I grew up in California and am relatively new here and without an established network.

Would you recommend joining the Swiss Startup Association? Why?

Building a network in Switzerland can be challenging so joining this group is a real boost!

Is there anything that we haven’t asked you that you would like to share with us/the community?

When are we meeting up in Lavaux?