The co-founder of the online school Refocus, Roman Kumar Vias, explained the situation with the closure of the project. Together with project partner Alexander Solovyov, the Telegram channel “Kumar & Solo” was launched, offering group mentoring for entrepreneurs. Profits from the project will be used to pay off debt for employees, including teams in Indonesia and the Philippines.
In a post on social media, the businessman wrote that the company plans to pay off its debts before the end of the year.
Earlier it became known that the startup Refocus from the founders of Qmarketing closed due to financial difficulties and problems in attracting investments. The online school also encountered late payments by students. As a result, the startup received a significant drop in its revenue: from $1.5 million in January 2023 to $100 thousand in June.
In his post, Roman Kumar Vias takes personal responsibility for the problems faced by the startup. The businessman also writes that the project “Kumar & Solo” was in great demand and received the first criticism.
“Absolutely all profits from this project will go towards paying salaries to our former employees. It turns out that to pay off most of the debt, we will train more than 50 non-profit entrepreneurs and work for two and a half months for free. It seems like a fairly fair deal to me,” explains the businessman.
He also said that support for Refocus will resume next week. Students will be able to continue taking courses and completing assignments.
The founders of online marketing and design school Qmarketing Academy, of which Skyeng acquired 25% in November 2021, launched Refocus in early 2022. The online school operated in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
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