growing up with my nani (grandma) in southall, west london i spoke a blend of languages that represented my family's migratory history - punjabi, urdu, english (each peppered with swahili words & phrases).
like a lot of second/third generation migrants to places like the uk, my teenage self gradually let english take over at home and school (especially after a fresh prince style move to greater london suburbia 😱)!
as an adult wanting to reconnect, i was fortunate to set-up and run apples & pears - a charity that built community projects with often overlooked groups across london.
engaging with migrant communities similar to the ones i grew up in brought me halfway 'home' and i was eager to complete the journey!
lacking the confidence to bring it up (or practice!) with my wider family, i started looking for online punjabi, urdu and swahili teachers as a way of revisiting my heritage and ancestral memory.
the process uncovered some uncomfortable truths:
these insights led me to start somos, a creator platform designed to:
we have ambitious goals for somos. in addition to developing a customer-centric product offering, we strive to be innovative in our recruitment, governance, community, and co-ownership approaches.
we've started this journey through pioneering partnerships with organizations like open door policy, where we recruit our refugee team members, and ownco, a groundbreaking co-ownership platform that helps us achieve our goal of offering teachers equity in the business.
if you'd like to find out a little more about how somos is managed, our team, plans for the future and approach, please see below.
thanks for stopping by!
- khawar | founder & ceo @ somos 👋🏽
you're welcome to connect with me:
linkedin | twitter | instagram | newsletter
we're a friendly bunch - come & say hello 👋🏽
leading somos with a focus on teacher wellbeing, language, migrant & worker rights.
music taste is getting worse with age but can make a variety of hot sauces... can't have it all!
mixed career background: law, m&a, insurance & community organizing. from london. building somos on the move 💚
learning a lot is necessary to stay connected as the world becomes more virtual than physical. exploring…
getting involved with all things finance and operations related at somos!
pursuing a degree in accounting & finance after studying health & social care online from the uk.
learning consistently will open up doors you could not imagine!
gaining experience developing content and social media at somos!
i enjoy playing soccer and learning new skills. i believe eq is more important than iq and am passionate about learning more about different parts of a business. 😀
"if its meant to be, it is up to me"
legal eagle with a love for chessy catch-phrases
lagos born londoner and a long suffering chelsea football/soccer fan
(feel free to judge me 😂)
at somos, we're proud to be community-backed! with 23 investors participating in our pre-seed fundraising round, we've built a strong foundation that values equity ownership for the team, teachers, and grassroots community organizations.
together, we're forging a future built on co-ownership and collaboration. 🌟
we're a creator platform on a mission to help language teachers earn & live well.
if you've taught languages online with platforms like preply, italki, and cambly, we'd love to hear from you!
help us build the teaching platform you want from the ground up. 🌍
Our excellent customer support team is ready to help.
