Allen Macuácua started his business at the age of 12. Today, while still in his prime, he runs First Education, a platform whose ultimate goal is to help students realize their dream of studying abroad.

It was out of the need to solve an existing problem in Mozambican society that Allen Macuácua decided to create First Education, a platform whose main aim is to help students realize their dream of studying abroad.

"I think that for most students it's difficult to deal with applying for a scholarship at a university abroad. It's stressful, a lot of documentation is required and there are many people who lack information, I've been an eyewitness to this myself," says the young man who saw these difficulties as a business opportunity.

"So I thought, what if there was someone who could take this burden off the students...in order to guide and help them.... it was in this thread of thought of solving a patent problem that Firsts Education was born," he explains.

His entrepreneurial streak proved to be a success shortly afterwards, with the launch of First Education in 2019. If at the beginning, four years ago, he had a computer with internet access and could only manage five students... today he's living a different story.

"We're here. We're already a growing agency in the market," he says proudly. "As First Education we provide four types of services: self-financing, online courses, preparatory years and scholarships, which can be complete or incomplete," he says, and then adds that "in essence we are a bridge between the student and universities in different countries."

"The whole process of obtaining a scholarship is with us. From the application process to the acceptance of the student at the university, including accommodation. Of course, all of this also depends on the budget the student has to spend," he says.

Allen told MZNews that in this whole process he has partners from various countries around the world. "We work with China, Spain, Malaysia, Portugal, Holland, Germany, among other countries."

"Now we're at a stage where we've seen a lot of support. We've managed to send an average of 100 students every year to various universities outside the country, something we didn't imagine we could achieve in such a short space of time," says the 'little' businessman, who declined to reveal his age.

How it all began

From an early age, Allen Macuácua has shown an interest in entrepreneurship and beyond. "When I was 12, I started as a reseller of various electronic products and accessories at the Mac Corporation," says the now entrepreneur.

Allen reveals that it all started because he wanted to satisfy some curiosity he had inside. "I think I've always been a young man who walks a little differently from others, my interests have always been a little different. At the age of six I was already reading, researching and seeing that there were many markets here in Mozambique that weren't being developed or explored. So out of this curiosity was born the desire to want to undertake, to want to do more research," he explains.

And it was this desire and curiosity that led him to the success that First Education is today. "You know, in the beginning there were three of us, now First Education has 11 employees," he says. Allen says that with the business he wants to make money, but the biggest goal as an academic agency is to make many students' dreams come true.

"Yes, being able to send as many students as possible abroad is one of First Education's main objectives," he says. As well as being an entrepreneur, Allen is also a social activist. Two activities that fall under a single objective. "Working on something that not only impacts me, but also the community in general, that's my greatest satisfaction," he says.

"And one of the ways I've found to do that is to combine the social side with the entrepreneurial side... First Education is a private institution, but it also has a social component and it's having a big impact on communities," he told MZNews.

"We've managed to send an average of 100 students every year to various universities abroad, something we didn't imagine we could achieve in such a short period of time," he says. ′small′ a businessman who declined to reveal his age.

For those who have the dream of being an entrepreneur, Allen has one piece of advice: "you need to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and the only way to do that is to work at it, researching, investing and reading," he says. Allen also says that "to do something different, you also have to be different".

"Immediate growth plans aren't dreams, they're goals," he warns. Allen hopes to send an average of 1,000 students abroad. "That would be fantastic, not just nationally, but also in Africa," he says optimistically.

African students getting scholarships through First Education may seem too audacious, but for someone who started out as a reseller of electronics accessories and has reached this stage, achieving this feat may not seem so unlikely.