Turan won an award with his learning platform for nurses in training
Turan Tahmas graduated from Saxion in 2017 with an International Business degree. Now, he is the co-founder of Novaheal, a company that combats the dropout of healthcare personnel in Germany. They have developed an app to bring theory and practice closer together. With the startup, Turan and other founders of Novaheal won the prestigious Eugen Münch Award.
Hi Turan, where do you work and how did you get there?
"I am the co-founder of the start-up Novaheal. I noticed that I had a strong urge to learn more about entrepreneurship during my time at Saxion. While studying at Saxion, I was already responsible for increasing the number of leads per month at the start-up Belonio. This gave me many insights on how to scale up a software company. During my master at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, I had already started working on the Novaheal project. Novaheal is from three founders, I am the only one with a business background. Therefore, I am responsible for the finances and manage all sales activities."
Why did you start Novaheal?
"In Germany there is already a shortage of skilled healthcare personnel. Around 3.4 million people in Germany need care. The number of people needing care will increase by 50 percent by 2030. At the same time, there will be a shortage of about 30.700 full-time care workers in 2030, if current trends continue. The problem is that many nurses in training drop out of their studies early. The main reason for this is that theory and practice do not mesh well. This leads to great frustration and demotivation. Practical instruction is lacking and nurses in training are faced with complex care situations and psychological stress and are left alone with it."
What is Novaheal doing to combat student dropout?
"Novaheal aims to develop a digital learning platform for nurses. It is an all-in-one learning platform for nursing education. Through this platform, we bring practice and theory closer together. We offer different tools for interns, nursing schools, hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Novaheal contains a combination of proven learning methods and modern learning analysis. The Novaheal learning platform acts on the one hand as a digital search tool, on the other hand trainees are offered patient situations in combination with practice videos. The focus is on improving the theory-practice transfer within the training. In this way Novaheal contributes to attractive and high quality education for nursing staff and tries to counteract the high dropout rate."
You won the Eugen Münch Award with Novaheal, what was that like?
"The Eugen Münch award is one of the most prestigious awards in the health sector in Germany. It is a great honor to be one of the three winners out of more than hundreds of applications of top projects. The award helped Novaheal get a huge media boost, which isn't bad either."
Just try something different and escape from the boring daily life. Challenge yourself and dare to start a business
How did you qualify for this award?
"It was necessary to send a pitch deck, the project description, and the resumes of the founders. An excellent jury consisting of politicians from parliament and directors of hospital associations decided on the winners."
What did you win?
"With the Eugen Münch Award, our startup received €5,000 in prize money. More important is the great network of the Eugen Münch Foundation: a few investors became aware of our concept, which is of course a very nice bonus."
How did you experience studying at Saxion?
"Saxion is very practice-oriented, which I really liked. The International Business School in particular is more about learning about the practical application of the various theories. A lot of work is done in project work at existing companies. I remember spending many night shifts preparing reports and presentations for these projects. At the time, I absolutely did not like spending so much time on the projects alone, but I know how valuable this kind of preparation is for entering the professional world. I also loved the small groups in the classrooms (20-30 people) where you could communicate directly with the professors and exchange ideas."
Do you have any tips for students to make the most of their careers?
"Many people have a strong urge to start for themselves. Just try something different and escape from the boring daily life. Challenge yourself and dare to start a business. However, the step from a secure job to self-employment usually comes with a high risk. Only a few people dare to take that step. My advice is to start a company in addition to your studies. At Saxion you gain a lot of experience, with which you can continuously improve your company. Even if you fail at your first company, you gain a lot of experience for your future career."