Between the pandemic business boom and an international award, 2020 has been a big year for online learning company GoSkills.
Started in 2013 by former University of Otago student Bhavneet Chahal, University of Otago economics Professor Paul Hansen, and Franz Ombler, it now has 400,000 monthly users around the world.
Its success was recognised earlier this month when it won an EdTechX Global All Star Startup Award.
Ms Chahal, at present based in California, said the idea for the company first started growing when she was working for Groupon in Sydney.
She realised online courses were a growth area, but those on the market were not of high quality.
Deciding to give it a go herself, she developed a Microsoft Excel course that ended up selling "like hotcakes".
Since then the company has grown significantly, offering 76 courses ranging from public speaking to financial modelling.
That growth has surged this year as Covid-19 forced people to start working and learning from home.
While many businesses were previously reluctant to try online courses for their employees, the pandemic had made them see the value in them, Ms Chahal said.
"We did see quite a large surge in demand."
The University of Otago was an early adopter, coming on board in GoSkills’ first year and sticking with it ever since.
They were thrilled with the award, which was one of several that honour the fastest growing and most innovative education technology companies around the world.
Prof Hansen said awards such as the EdTechX award were beneficial to companies as they brought huge attention to their work.
"It’s a great pat on the back."
