New Directions We've Made Tech Our Business

These three entrepreneurs took the leap into the digital world – and haven’t looked back

- Marike Watson

‘ Our interactive platform was a game changer’

BARBARA MALLINSON, 39, lives with her husband Ennis, 42, and their two young children in Melrose. She is the co-founder and CEO of Obami, a digital learning-solutions company.

THE IDEA I’d been working in the UK for five years, doing marketing and website design when, in 2009, I pursued my entrepreneurial spirit and decided to start a company of my own. At the time, social-network platforms like Facebook were just taking off. I knew I wanted to create something similar, but with stricter privacy and security settings. So, I quit my job and hired a freelance developer to help create the first iteration of Obami.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT As Facebook grew, mammoth online platforms like Twitter also entered the thesocial-network arena and within a year, my small start-up crumbled. But, instead of throwing in the towel, I moved back to SA and changed Obami’s business model. Ennis joined me, and together we introduced Obami to primary and high schools as an online social learning platform where teachers and students can connect and follow personalized curriculums, as well as upload and download educational resources. We relied on savings and a loan to cover the costs of software development, which we outsourced to a local company. Ennis and I marketed Obami in person, traveling from school to school in both affluent and rural areas, offering the use of Obami for free. Word of mouth spread rapidly and, by 2013, over 500 schools were using it.