Meet the Team
Tags: Meet The Team, Startup, Student Work, Gig Economy

Co-founder

Rohan:

Rohan Shah Co-founder and Strategy Director of StudentWorks

How did you and Sam, your co-founder, begin working together?

Sam began a one-year work placement at Reuben Sinclair which is a recruitment business. It was apparent very quickly that Sam was a bright, enthusiastic and hard worker who also had a winning personality.

What experience do you have in starting a business?

I founded my first company (Reuben Sinclair) at 24 with a few years of experience under my belt along with another co-founder. With just a phone, a computer and a broom cupboard, we managed to build a business to in excess of £1.2 million Turnover and still growing. In addition, I’ve founded two other businesses, namely PRogress — an exclusive private advisory and leadership development membership group solely for Leaders within the creative industries and RS Engage which is a subsidiary of Reuben Sinclair offering onsite recruitment solutions to fast growth business. Now I also have StudentWorks and I am putting all I’ve learned (particularly from my mistakes) to good use in creating the world’s largest student workforce available at the touch of a button for local people and businesses.

Where did your idea for StudentWorks come from?

My wife persisted at politely reminding me that our lawn needed cutting. Owing to the fact that I’d rather spend the time with my wife and two daughters I contacted local gardeners. The price was astronomical for what would be just under an hour’s work and a relatively simple task — maybe it didn’t help that it was towards the end of spring. Either way, I immediately looked for other, cheaper viable options, namely students. I searched the internet for some time and had no luck; and so the idea was born. With Sam being a student and a hard working one to, I put this idea and challenge across to Sam and the rest is history!

What is your role within StudentWorks?

My role is to ensure that the overall strategic direction of the business remains on track. With experience in business & partnership development, operations, marketing, recruitment and finances, I also have a responsibility within these areas.

How do you feel StudentWorks differs from other services out there?

We’re solely aimed at helping our students manage the challenges of simply living the life they want to live whilst at college or university, whilst also faced with the challenge of completing their studies. Flexibility and working at the right rate for them is key — we can’t see anyone else offering this level of freedom, with a platform that is so simple to use. Furthermore, we want to give local businesses and local people the opportunity to have their freedom, giving them easy access to a cheaper but just as reliable and credible workforce for what is notoriously hard to find — that is finding people to complete low skilled, irregular jobs, at short notice without having to pay extortionate rates. Again, I believe this makes us different to other services out there.

“Well I’ve been able to get my lawn mowed”

How has the StudentWorks platform benefited you as a customer?

Well I’ve been able to get my lawn mowed! We’ve also used our own platform to hire students to help us with the growth of StudentWorks from flyering to being stewards at charity events.

Where do you see StudentWorks going in the future?

Global!