Interviewing the founder of CampusMate Inc
CampusMate is an all-inclusive student engagment and crowdfunding platform that was developed by U of G alumni, Abdul-Rahman El-Sayed. The Ontarion interviewed El-Sayed about his work as he promoted his product to students in the University Centre last week.
Anne-Linn MacHielsen: How did you come up with the idea for CampusMate?
Abdul-Rahman El-Sayed: I finished my undergraduate [degree] in mechanical engineering and I did my Masters in engineering systems and computing at Guelph. Since my first year at U of Guelph, I noticed that universities lack a system that streamlines the student’s educational day to day needs; so after graduating, I wanted to give something back to the educational sector in general and to University of Guelph in particular.
I noticed that students transitioning from high schools to universities found it difficult to connect with other students. Social Media platforms offer a social engagement, but what was missing is the educational engagement. Statistics showed that students that study in groups are more successful. So CampusMate is now available to let students connect with one another for every course.
University of Guelph students use Facebook which is a social media platform to share course material. However, Facebook is social, not educational. So we designed a platform that has the database of all courses offered in universities, and in each course, we gave students the ability to:
- Chat with one another.
- To buy and sell course notes.
- To offer tutoring or get tutored.
AM: What makes CampusMate different?
AE: CampusMate has each university as a closed marketplace. Which means, no student can join that university marketplace without having that specific university’s email ID. Most of the tutoring and note-sharing platforms are open to worldwide audiences, so if you are looking for a tutor or for notes, you might find a tutor from a different country or course notes from another university which is not 100 per cent catered towards what you are looking for at your campus. CampusMate is like a closed community for each university. With CampusMate, we can make campus communities stronger and smarter.
AM: How do you get enough tutors and students?
AE: We have built a nice user interface design for CampusMate app to solve the chicken and egg problem. Each student has the ability to list himself as a tutor for that specific course. So in every course tutoring section, you can be a tutor and set your hourly rate, or you can add subjects that you need to be tutored in and you can request other tutors. Same for the notes, in each course you can purchase or offer course material.
So with CampusMate app, you can make good money off tutoring your classmates or younger students. We found that CampusMate app is great for graduate students; where they can list themselves as tutors for most undergraduate courses, and this way they can make money especially if they couldn’t get a teaching assistant position.
CampusMate wants to provide students with the best experience ever, that’s why we give the ability for any student to rate other students’ tutoring skills and notes. This will help students choose the best notes and the best tutors for help. We provide a seamless experience with a user-friendly mobile app, that will be truly event student’s “campus mate.”
AM: Why does CampusMate have crowdfunding feature?
AE: Crowdfunding platforms are so broad; there is no crowdfunding platform that is campus specific. We added a crowdfunding and event module feature for students to fund events, clubs, new ideas, and even research. We plan to connect students with funding organizations for research. What makes us different is that using CampusMate app, we gather a lot of information about students, like students’ majors and their current years, which can help us market campaigns to the right students.
Photo by Alora Griffiths/The Ontarion
This article has been edited by Abdul-Rahman El-Sayed due to errors and inaccuracies in the print version of this article. The Ontarion apologizes for these mistakes.