Tajik Entrepreneurs Launch Corporate Learning Startup and Hit $200K in Revenue
After studying in the US, Lutfullo Tagoev and Suman Abdumanofova returned to Tajikistan and launched Smarthub. The project initially started as a marketplace for online courses, but the co-founders later shifted their focus to corporate learning. The company now has around 20 clients, and its revenue since the start of 2026 has reached roughly $200,000.
As part of its joint project with Astana Hub, “100 Startup Stories from Central Eurasia”, Digital Business spoke with Lutfullo and Suman about how they help companies turn employees’ knowledge into educational products, where AI fits into the process, and when the startup plans to hit $10 million in revenue.
“Developing an educational product can cost up to $50,000”
– How did Smarthub get started?
Lutfullo: – I completed my master’s degree in the US in 2020, studying instructional design and development at Syracuse University. I worked in the field in the US for a little while, but after graduating, I returned to Tajikistan. Suman and I had already known each other for several years. She had also studied in the US, at Green River College in Washington State. Once we were back home, we saw that the EdTech sector in Tajikistan was still largely undeveloped. So in September 2022, we decided to launch Smarthub.tj together as a marketplace for online courses.
We launched more than 70 practical courses covering programming, design, marketing, languages, and other areas. We attracted around 10,000 students and became cash-flow positive. About a year ago, though, we decided to shift our main focus. Today, around 90% of our attention goes to large B2B projects and AI solutions for corporate learning.
– Why did you decide to shift from B2C to B2B?
Suman: – When we started looking at how to scale the business, we realized the B2C model could only take us so far. The course marketplace was mainly built for Tajikistan and neighboring countries, and expanding into English-speaking markets would have meant going up against much bigger international platforms.
Suman Abdumanofova
B2B also comes with much bigger contract values. Developing a single educational product can cost up to $50,000.
That said, the B2C platform is still running. We’re now preparing to sell it and are already in talks with several potential buyers.
– What exactly does Smarthub offer corporate clients?
Lutfullo: – We build a tailored learning solution for each company. Our main strength is instructional design: figuring out what employees actually need to learn, how to structure the training so it works, and how to measure the results.
Suman: – I’d go even further and say we use training to solve real business problems. A company leader might come to us and say, “Guys, I don’t understand why our sales team just can’t seem to sell properly.” We look at what’s going on, analyze the situation, and come back with a solution.
The topics can be completely different. For one company, we might create sales training; for another, it could be about internal processes or how to use a specialized product.
And it’s not just about the methodology. We’re also building out the tech side. We give companies access to an LMS, where employees can take courses and tests, while the company tracks their progress and results. We also have a TMS for managing the corporate training process itself, as well as an AI Course Builder that helps create training programs and materials faster using the client’s own content.
“You can generate a complete course in about 10 minutes”
– So the training topics can vary quite a bit from one client to another. Where do you get the subject-matter expertise you need to build these courses?
Suman: – We get the subject-specific knowledge from experts in the field, and quite often they already work for the client. For example, if a bank needs to train employees on a particular product, we speak to the relevant expert, capture their knowledge, and work with them to turn it into a course or training program.
– Then who evaluates the quality and usefulness of the material? You’re experts in creating learning products, but you may not be experts in the subject you’re teaching.
Lutfullo: – Our work doesn’t stop once we’ve gathered the expert’s knowledge. First, when the course is ready, that same expert goes through it and gives us feedback on the content: whether the information is accurate and whether we’ve presented it correctly.
Second, we always test the course with a selected group of users. We look at how people learn, compare the results, and measure how much their knowledge has improved.
– How long does it usually take to create a course?
Lutfullo: – If we’re talking about developing a single training program, it used to take us two to three months. Now we’ve cut that down to around two weeks, thanks to new technologies and our AI instructional design tool, AI Course Builder.
– How exactly do you use AI?
Lutfullo: – AI Course Builder is an AI tool that handles part of the instructional designer’s work when creating training programs. It’s built on several existing AI models, including Claude and GPT.
Say a company is paying a substantial fee for a custom solution, but it already has a lot of internal content, like long-form text, PDFs, and webinars, and wants to quickly turn that material into bite-sized lessons for employees. In that case, it can subscribe to our AI instructional design tool.
A user logs into the system and might say, for example, “I want to create an onboarding course. Here are the materials, our team structure, and who we want to train and on what.” The model first analyzes the target audience: who these people are and what they already know. It then builds the structure of the training program before creating the content itself, including short video lessons, tests, quizzes, and presentations. Once the course is ready, employees can take it directly through our own LMS, or learning management system.
Suman: – So in about 10 minutes, a company can turn the materials it already has into a complete course. And if needed, it can also bring in publicly available information from the web.
– Do you double-check what the AI creates? Hallucinations are still a real issue, and in your case, mistakes could be costly.
Lutfullo: – AI doesn’t replace us entirely at this point. It’s more of a tool that gives the team a first version, a draft to work from. I think one of the reasons companies trust us is precisely because it’s not just ChatGPT generating the whole product on its own. Our team and expertise are still behind the final result, so the client ultimately gets a course that has been reviewed and checked.
“We went to the US Embassy in Tajikistan and secured $50,000 in funding”
– When did you land your first B2B clients and start building out corporate sales?
Lutfullo: – Our corporate business was there almost from the very beginning, running alongside the marketplace. One of our first major clients was the US Embassy in Tajikistan. We went in and explained that we wanted to put the knowledge we had gained in the US to use in the local market. They suggested we apply for a competition for alumni of US educational programs. We secured $50,000 in funding and joined the National Tech Accelerator, a program run by the US Embassy and the American Spaces network for young people in Tajikistan. Participants learned modern tech skills and then put them into practice. For the program, we developed five online courses covering design thinking, artificial intelligence, digital security, and mobile app development.
We added the project to our portfolio and got recommendation letters, which gave us something concrete to point to when talking to new clients and helped build trust. That’s also how we started working with the International Organization for Migration. We pitched them an English-language training solution, got great feedback, and came away with another recommendation.
– You started out working with nonprofits. How many clients do you have now, and what industries are they in?
Lutfullo: – Today, we have 20 clients, with another six deals currently in the pipeline and close to being finalized.
Suman: – Our clients come from all kinds of industries. What matters more to us than the industry itself is the ICP, or Ideal Customer Profile. That could be a company with a large workforce, a business that has just gone through an M&A and needs to get new teams up to speed quickly, or any other organization facing large-scale training needs.
– Which markets are you focusing on right now?
Suman: – Tajikistan is naturally still a key market for us since that’s where we started. We also work with clients in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, France, and the UK.
– How does the business make money?
Suman: – We use a hybrid model. Clients pay separately for the development of the training program, so that’s a one-off fee for creating a course, training program, or another solution built around a specific business need. On top of that, they subscribe to our technology, including the LMS, TMS, and AI Course Builder. Subscriptions start at $500 a month. For larger companies, we offer an Enterprise plan, with pricing and terms agreed individually. Most of our contracts run for a year, although with some clients we sign multi-year agreements.
– How much revenue has Smarthub generated so far?
Suman: – Since the start of the year, we’ve generated $200,000 in revenue, and our MRR has reached $28,000.
Lutfullo: – We’ve been cash-flow positive since the start of the year. But we reinvest everything we make back into the company, as any sensible startup would.
– You’re reinvesting your revenue back into the company now. How did you fund Smarthub before that? How much did you invest yourselves, and how much did you raise from investors?
Suman: – We initially put in around $100,000 of our own money. We also raised $200,000 in investment: $50,000 from Uzbekistan’s IT Park Ventures and $150,000 from Accelerate Prosperity.
“The team hit their targets and took a trip to Vietnam together”
– Who else is on the team?
Suman: – Smarthub currently has around 10 full-time employees, including developers, instructional designers, and salespeople. On top of the core team, we have a community of more than 50 people, mostly graduates of our courses, who we bring in from time to time to help with project work.
Every summer, we also bring in 10 interns and train them for free through hands-on experience. If someone shows the right skills and potential, we start involving them in real projects and may eventually offer them a full-time role.
– You invest time and resources in training them, even though they may not end up joining your team. Is it worth it?
Suman: – Yes, because there are still very few instructional design specialists in our market. Not everyone who trains with us ends up working at Smarthub, and that’s fine. What we’ve built instead is a community of people we may be able to work with in the future. For us, it’s both a way to help grow the market and to build our own talent pool.
Lutfullo: – We tried a few times to hire people straight into the core team from outside, but getting them used to a startup environment turned out to be harder. For key roles, we need more than just professional expertise. We need people who are highly involved, ready to take ownership, switch quickly between tasks, and treat the company’s growth almost like it’s their own project.
– You expect a high level of commitment from the team. What do you offer in return to make Smarthub feel like more than just a job?
Suman: – For key employees, we offer the opportunity to earn a stake in the company, typically 0.5–1%. We’ve set aside 20% of Smarthub for this.
We invest in team-building too. For example, in 2025 we set a number of annual KPIs, including entering new markets and hitting certain financial targets. The team delivered on those goals, so we all went to Vietnam together for a holiday.
We’re currently taking part in the Silkway Accelerator run by Astana Hub and Google for Startups. We’ve already noticed that after three or four months of working remotely, it starts to affect how connected the team feels. So we decided to bring everyone together in Almaty. We want the team to see what we’re working on in the accelerator and get a clearer sense of where Smarthub is heading next.
“The goal is to reach $1 million in ARR by September”
– You’re well past the idea stage now. Smarthub already has a product, clients, and revenue. Why did you decide to join an accelerator at this point, and what are you hoping to get out of it?
Lutfullo: – Getting into the Silkway Accelerator was really important for us because one of our goals is to enter the Kazakhstan market and then scale globally. We already knew some of the mentors and had a good sense of the kind of support Astana Hub provides. We also knew that having a program backed by Google for Startups on our track record would carry weight, so we prepared specifically for the selection process.
When we got accepted, we were in the US and had actually planned to stay there for another few months. But we changed everything and came to Kazakhstan specifically to take part in the accelerator.
We have very specific KPIs. First, we want to fully validate the B2B model. Second, we need to find a repeatable sales channel, so the pipeline works consistently and the operational side is properly set up.
And one more goal is to get ARR to at least $1 million by September. We already have three potential clients, with deals worth more than $200,000–$300,000 currently under discussion.
– Where do you see Smarthub a year from now, and what are you ultimately aiming for as founders?
Lutfullo: – By summer 2027, we want to have around 100 major clients in our portfolio. We’re also aiming to reach $10 million in revenue.
At the same time, we want to automate more of the business: grow the subscription model, the LMS, and other technologies so the company can keep scaling without the founders having to stay involved in day-to-day operations.
At the same time, we’re also looking at entering the US market. We’re planning to be in San Francisco from September and are currently considering an offer from the Alchemist Accelerator.
Suman: – Long term, we don’t see ourselves running the same company for decades. At some point, an exit could definitely be on the table.