Aisha

I've been tutoring kids in my neighbourhood for free for years. Maths, English, whatever they needed. I care about education inequality more than almost anything. But I was broke, working retail, and getting burned out from doing free work on top of paid work.

I drew The Torch. The shadow section said "A torch that burns itself isn't lighting anything. It's just on fire." That sentence changed how I thought about my volunteering.

The plan didn't tell me to stop caring. It told me to build a sustainable model: charge families who can afford it £30/hour, and use that revenue to fund free spots for kids who can't. A tutoring social enterprise.

Day 7, I had my first paying student — a Year 11 preparing for GCSEs. Day 14, I had three paying students and £200 in the bank. Day 25, I'd set up a simple model: for every 3 paying students, I take on 1 free.

Month 1: £1,200. Not much by business standards. But it was the first time I'd earned money doing the thing I actually care about. And for the first time, the free tutoring felt sustainable instead of self-sacrificing.

Month 3: £2,800/month, 12 paying students, 4 free spots. Growing slowly, on purpose.