The GUILD Academy: Meet Bahar from Azerbaijan
Her first-hand experiences traveling and living in different countries prompted Bahar Ramazanova to offer a solution for the most common legal issues when moving abroad.
Being a lawyer and a nonstop traveler, she soon found herself helping other people navigate the tricky side of traveling: reading the small print, understanding legal terminology in a new country, dealing with refunds and avoiding scams. By the time she joined The GUILD Academy in January 2020, she had a clear goal: change the way people perceive law and empower them with a tool easy to use in their trips.
Firstly, even if your business is at an early stage, what can you tell us about your company?
Tripproz is a platform to help travelers with their most common legal issues when settling abroad.
How did it start? What was your inspiration?
While I was doing my master's degree in Turkey, I went on an Erasmus trip to Germany but I couldn’t get the right help since there were language problems to even sign a contract to rent accommodation. Whenever I went to an immigration office, they couldn’t explain to me all the details to extend my visa. And so on. Since I couldn’t get the right answers in time from the trip coordinators nor the university, I realised that there was a gap. There were many other international students having similar issues and in some cases, some people were scammed.
After that international trip, I was back in Turkey to continue my studies there and even if I wasn’t a lawyer in that country I soon found myself helping everyone for free with their legal issues. That’s how the idea was born and once back in Azerbaijan I started working with local students that needed to prepare for their international exchange trips, mostly to Canada and Italy.
What are the main legal bottlenecks people face when going abroad?
Sometimes people go through online agencies but perhaps don’t get their visa to go abroad and they don’t get any refund for it. That’s a typical case. Many of these online agencies just disappear and scam travelers.
Another side of the problem is that most lawyers don’t bother with these cases because they are small issues and many times people can solve them by themselves with the right tool. That’s where Tripproz can help.
What stage is your company at?
At the moment, the idea is validated: we already have people that use our services. So I already have a prototype and I’m finetuning it to launch it in the upcoming months.
I’ve been working with The GUILD Academy experts on this to make sure I know all the possibilities and we don’t waste time developing features we don’t need. The key at the moment is to focus on a solution that will work for students from Azerbaijan going abroad but always keeping an eye on the long term strategy so we can expand to neighboring countries.
We’re four people at the moment, two lawyers and two part-time developers. Right now we’re reconsidering which features to add to the prototype we already have but keeping it very lean. One of the key learnings I took from the book ‘The Lean Startup’ is that it’s never wise to keep on changing things all the time.
How do you feel about running your own company?
I’m excited because I think people need this service and it will change their life in a good way. I want to run a company that also impacts people and do social good.
What’s is it like being an entrepreneur in Azerbaijan?
In Azerbaijan, we don’t have a big ecosystem and everything related to innovation and startups are still very new to most people. Most of the local startups that got funding are founded by men and I think there is a perception of men ‘never giving up’ that makes them, at the end, more likely to get opportunities.
Luckily, I got the chance to participate in several startup bootcamps and competitions, but it was always abroad. One of those programs, in Hungary, granted me a scholarship to start my business and when I interviewed with the director I was not surprised to see it was a woman. I also found very good opportunities in Turkey, since they have a good business environment with lots of entrepreneurs and investors.
What’s the current status of women entrepreneurs in your country?
I believe women here are very strong and manage good businesses. Unfortunately, they are not motivated enough and there is a gap. I hope in the future we can have more female VCs that can fund specifically women-led companies.
A notable exception is Reyhan Jamalova who is by far one of the most famous examples of women entrepreneurs in the region. In 2017, the then 15-year-old Azeri created Rainergy a device to generate electric current from rain. Her groundbreaking invention garnered her worldwide recognition.
What book do you recommend to other early-stage entrepreneurs?
If you are a fresh starter in business, Originals by Adam Grant would be a right fit to pursue. I read many pages about how women struggle when they voice their creative ideas and how they could change the status quo to their benefit. I appreciate this question, as I think lots of women don’t read many books and it creates some foggy notions as to how they might reach out. It’s always wise to take a firm step rather than dream only about something you love but for which you have zero vision. In this book, you will learn to conceptualize and experiment, and this is what I call “creating a new world”.
What have you just learned recently that blew your mind?
I realized that if at least two women come together to create a new thing… they have an impact and they truly raise their voice successfully. It was an education for the justice competition organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, when I, together with 12-year-old Zahrakhanim Agayeva, a girl, applied with our “The Art of Freedom” art project, which depicted children’s rights, and when we, in fact, won first place in Vienna. If we want to have a happy-ever-after life for women, we should leave all the ego-stroking, come together and help each other.
What’s your biggest goal for 2020?
I am working hard to explain to people that the law serves humanity. They should not hesitate to apply the legislation in every single issue that they are facing. Unfortunately, people have a very different view of rights and obligations, so I am testing how it could be better for individuals to solve their legal problems by themselves. Yes, I am not talking about lawyers, but individuals who don’t have a legal background but who also are not enough aware of their rights and obligations
How’s your experience at The GUILD Academy?
What I like about The GUILD is inspiration, motivation, critics, and support. The return is amazing, talking to other participants and sharing with each other is great. We talk every week, we motivate each other, if someone knows something is interesting to me it’s cool because I know they will send it my way and share their ideas with me. It’s always great to have so much support.
Learn more about women connecting with each other and becoming entrepreneurs. The GUILD Academy applications are open for the next batch. Check it out on https://www.letsguildacademy.com/
