Preston business aims to drive change

Today, we do most things online or via our mobile phones. From ordering meals to dating, there’s not much we can’t do with a few clicks of a button.

Something as simple as finding a driving instructor is more difficult than it needs to be. Learners or their parents need to call multiple driving schools in order to acquire information and make purchases.

In the UK, over 90% of young adults own a smartphone, and spend two hours a day surfing the Internet. With no free online service offering learners the ability to search, review and book a lesson, a rethink for how students connect with instructors was needed, this is where Oppima steps in.

Aleks, founder of Oppima, originally came up with the idea when looking for driving lessons. He needed to find a teacher quickly, so he went on to Google, and called them one by one. Aleks was only met with unavailability and a lack of answers. He had to call around 10 different schools and instructors, spending 10-20 minutes per call. Wouldn’t it be easier if it were all in one place? Fed up with the experience, Aleks decided to start working on his idea for a platform so that no other learner had to go through what he did just to book a driving lesson.

Aleks approached the guys at Blush Digital to create the software due to Blush Digital’s extensive knowledge in mobile app and software development. After many discussions and a lot of market research. Blush Digital took up the option of teaming up with Aleks to create Oppima.

Daniel Fisher of Blush Digital said: “When the opportunity arose to get involved in Oppima, I grabbed it with both hands. With it, we can create a customer-orientated business that eliminates the stress of finding a decent driving instructor. We get asked regularly to get involved in projects and we almost always turn it down, but with Oppima, we see its true potential and ability to disrupt the current thinking in the market. There are 7.7 million provisional drivers in the UK, of which a total of 750,000 get a license every year. Additionally, the market grows by about 230,000 new students annually. That to me is very appealing.”

Aleks, founder of Oppima continues on from Daniel; “The way we’ve approached this problem is by creating the Just Eat for driving lessons. Now learners can search for instructors based on their specific needs such as availability, price, gender, transmission type and most importantly, user ratings. Learners can book lessons and use the conventional method of paying cash-in-car, with the option to securely pay online if they so choose.

From our market research, 67% of learner drivers would prefer to use an online booking system rather than the traditional methods, with 78% more likely to purchase a lesson from instructors with good reviews.

Younger generations prefer doing things online, avoiding any time spent unnecessarily calling. By providing users a simple-to-use messaging system, learners and instructors are able to co-ordinate and arrange bookings through our software eliminating any communicative barriers.

We’re not just a listing, booking & lead generation platform, we’ll be releasing a theory practice section specifically aimed at supporting learners through the process of studying for their theory tests. “

Having completed a successful soft launch in the north west, Oppima have started a UK-wide marketing campaign and are soon to be looking for investment to further develop the software and to create a mobile app for learners and instructors. Oppima envision becoming the first market leader to disrupt the industry by creating a service that brings value to all users. There are many countries on their radar and the UK is just the beginning. Oppima are already in talks with international partners and plan to take their service into other English speaking countries such as Canada and the US.