Naz Nankali: Founder of Powertutors,

December 7, 2024·29 min·2 clips

Naz hid parent evening invitations until her mom found out she was failing every subject.

This episode features host Elliot Moss interviewing Naz Nankali, founder of the UK tutoring agency Power Tutors. Nankali shares her journey from struggling student to successful entrepreneur, driven by her own experiences with dyslexia and the transformative impact of a tutor. She details moving from Iran to Ukraine at age two in 1991, where her family faced discrimination for looking different. A pivotal moment came at age ten in Ukraine when her mother, discovering Nankali was failing all subjects, hired a maths tutor named Maria Sakovna. Nankali credits the tutor's individual attention and belief in her for sparking a love for maths, transforming her from the bottom of her class to a top student. She later moved to the UK at 15, initially placed in a year below due to language barriers, but excelled in maths. After university and a stint at Bloomberg, Nankali started several failed business ventures, including renewable energy and a pencil company called Banana Ninjas. She began tutoring in 2016 after her father suggested it, specifically connecting with neurodivergent students who had conditions like dyscalculia, autism, and ADHD. She launched Power Tutors that same year, which grew significantly during COVID by offering online "shorter school days." The agency now supports about 300 students with a network of 120 freelance tutors, focusing on children with Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) who are out of school. A key insight is Nankali's view that her business growth of roughly 100% year-on-year is not a formal strategy but a result of simply "doing the right thing" and being purpose-led. She describes forcing herself to read despite dyslexia, often needing to reread pages five times as a form of "mental training." Nankali attributes her fearlessness to her mother, who started a food business in a Ukrainian student dormitory out of necessity. Through the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women Accelerator, she learned from female founders with businesses worth hundreds of millions, which expanded her perception of what is possible. The tone is conversational and inspirational, blending personal narrative with business lessons. Listeners interested in education, entrepreneurship, or neurodiversity will find this episode compelling. Those seeking a highly technical business case study might find the strategic discussion less detailed.

As heard by us

A founder story shaped by one early maths tutor and a long route into tutoring.

Naz Nankali's story works best when it stays close to its starting point: a child who needed help in school, then found maths through a tutor and later built Power Tutors for people facing similar struggles.

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Why you'd press play

You want a founder story that starts with dyslexia, debt, and a maths tutor.

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