MyCoLearn: This Women-Owned E-Learning Platform Aims To Promote Vegan Content Creators

MyCoLearn, an online vegan course network that aims to create a community for vegan professionals, is looking to go ahead with a July 2021 beta launch with backing from U.K. bank NatWest’s ‘Back her Business’ fund, which awards investment to promising women-led businesses.

Co-founded by sisters Alice and Lucy Johnson, and hosted by eco-friendly web-hosting company Green Geeks, London-based MyCoLearn is a membership-based e-learning platform that aims to develop the vegan economy by providing employment opportunities, income and learning support for vegan creators across the world. 

This plant-based version of Skillshare offers a new way for vegan content creators to teach and share their knowledge and skills. Whereas for members, it provides an opportunity to learn an unlimited number of things for a monthly fee.

Through MycoLearn’s Crowdfunder campaign, the entire vegan team aims to collect as much support as required for its beta launch this July. Recently, NatWest offered its support to the business through its Back Her Business fund that has been set up together with established provider, Crowdfunder, in an effort to reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship. By doing so, the bank has joined MyCoLearn’s other supporters like One Planet Pizza, Platewell, and Vegan Business Tribe.

In a press release seen by Green Queen, Alice, a trained microbiologist, who has featured in national scientific journals and BBC, said that online content creators get paid far less than they are worth. “What MycoLearn offers is a much fairer system and gives vegan creators the opportunity to passively earn money long-term.”

Online content creators get paid far less than they are worth. What MycoLearn offers is a much fairer system and gives vegan creators the opportunity to passively earn money long-term

Alice Johnson, co-founder of MyCoLearn

By joining this platform, members receive an opportunity to be a part of a growing online community supporting where vegan content creators can reach plant-based audiences, grow their brand, all while earning a passive income through royalties.

Lucy, also the founder of SHiDO, a vegan digital marketing agency, shared her experience of how she was registered for courses on Skillshare but never quite felt like she was reaching her target audience. “Plus, if a vegan paid for membership, I knew that their money wasn’t supporting a vegan economy.”

For the beta launch, the platform will initially present an exclusive group of 50 vegan content creators to share their skills and courses in areas including 3D illustration, videography, yoga, languages, cooking, how to start a plant-based business, and many more, and will open it up to more creators in Autumn.

Alice added: “My adage is that ‘education is the best form of motivation’. So we’re confident that the V-learning revolution will inspire positive change – who doesn’t want to invest in a green future?”

The crowdfunding campaign is set for a £3,300 (US$4,577) target, which will help cover the company’s outreach, social media, content and software costs. After reaching its initial target, further investment will help MyCoLearn reach wider audiences along with ramping up its development of a MycoLearn app. Apart from this, the company aims to become a B-Corp, partner with vegan charities and not-for-profits to provide online training, and will donate a percentage of its profits to rewilding and animal sanctuary charities.

My adage is that ‘education is the best form of motivation’. So we’re confident that the V-learning revolution will inspire positive change – who doesn’t want to invest in a green future

Alice Johnson, co-founder of MyCoLearn

It is heartening to see this women-owned business receive support from investors however, much more needs to be done given that a recent shocking statistic by the Vegan Women Summit (VWS), highlighted less than 3% of all investment dollars go to women founders with another research showing that 48% of female founders face bias in fundraising, while 30% – nearly a third – have experienced harassment or discrimination.

And this isn’t limited to the food tech world: a paltry 37 of the Fortune 500 list of companies are run by women. We need more investors and more consumers to come forward and support women, only then can we change these stark statistics.

To support the MycoLearn Crowdfunder or just learn more about what they’re doing, visit here.

Lead image courtesy of crowdfunder.co.uk/mycolearn.