Okuuchu. How two women from Bishkek built a digital platform for modern language teachers

Aemilia Ydyrysova and Asyl Sulaimanova share the story of how they created a platform for language tutors — and how the Russian language sometimes stands in the way of learning foreign languages in Central Asia.

Asyl Sulaimanova, Bishkek, co-founder and CEO of Okuuchu
Aemilia Ydyrysova, Bishkek, CPO of Okuuchu, education expert, English teacher

How it all started

Aemilia. I have been teaching English since my university days, when I launched my own IELTS preparation course online. One summer, I saw an announcement for a hackathon and decided to give it a try. I reached out to Asyl to learn more about how to participate. As we talked, we immediately clicked and started coming up with ideas that could form the foundation of a future product. That is how we decided to start this project together.

Teaching a few students one-on-one is one thing. Building a tool that helps teachers work more efficiently with 25–30 students is another. That idea became the core of our startup, which has since evolved into the platform we have today.

Asyl. I work as a product manager and have been increasingly aware of the structural problems in Kyrgyzstan’s education system.

When Aemilia told me about the challenges independent language tutors face, I realized I wanted to help solve those problems. That’s how we began developing Okuuchu together.

Team

Through accelerator programs and user interviews, we discovered that teachers lacked the right tools. After building our MVP, we knew we wanted to take it further. The team came together naturally — as a group of people passionate about solving a real-world problem.

Incubation programs

Aemilia. Our first experience came through the Prosperity Cup incubator, which lasted seven intense weeks. I had no startup experience before, so I learned a lot in a short time and tried to share that knowledge with the team. We made it to the top 30 and successfully completed the program.

Throughout the process, we refined our idea, identified the core problems we wanted to solve, and clarified the platform’s key features. We also conducted customer development interviews with teachers and received valuable feedback.

We are now exploring ways to expand our audience — for instance, by partnering with language schools and offering corporate plans. That vision started taking shape thanks to the fast-paced, collaborative environment of the incubator.

After the program, we received a few investment offers. However, we’ve chosen to remain independent for now. We want to fully shape our vision and product structure before bringing on external investors. We know that accepting funding means accountability — and we’re not ready to compromise on our decisions just yet.

Target audience

Asyl. Right now, our platform is designed for private English tutors and freelance teachers. In the future, we plan to add more languages. Our audience includes teachers who want to manage their schedules more efficiently, structure their lessons, and create quality learning content.

Challenges

Asyl. One major challenge is the urge to include too many features before launching. It is hard to strike the right balance between functionality and simplicity in the early stages.

We wanted to keep the platform lightweight while still solving core user needs. Another challenge is spreading the word about what we do and showing our value. But so far, I think we’re managing well.

Aemilia. One more difficulty we have noticed is the lack of a community for language tutors. Right now, our main audience is freelance teachers, and they don’t really have a shared space to exchange ideas or access collective resources.

It is hard to gather insights during customer development — we have to collect feedback one person at a time. But that gave us an idea: our platform could eventually become more than just a tool — it could grow into a community hub.

Achievements

Asyl. It may be too early to talk about big achievements, but we are proud of what we’ve already done. We’re actively developing the product, posting Reels on Instagram, and growing a long waitlist of future users.

Aemilia. Our biggest success so far is building a strong team — a diverse group that works efficiently and flexibly. As Asyl mentioned, we’re excited to share more updates with you soon.

Plans

Asyl. We are aiming to scale not only within Kyrgyzstan but also across Central Asia and the CIS. We want to add more tools for teachers and go beyond language learning. One of our top priorities is to fully adapt the platform for the Kyrgyz language.

Aemilia. We also want to make it possible to learn English without relying on Russian. Many Kyrgyz-speaking learners believe they need to know Russian first — and that creates a barrier. This issue affects other languages, too.

Our plan is to remove that barrier, starting with Kyrgyz and expanding to other Central Asian languages. We see this as a regional challenge, and moving into the broader Central Asian market feels like a natural next step. We are also planning to apply to accelerator programs from Astana Hub and MOST in Kazakhstan.