From Local Serendipity to the Global Stage: How Nejma Belkhdim Built the World’s Most Promising EdTech Startup

Nejma Belkhdim, CEO of nolej

When Nejma Belkhdim walked onto the GESAwards stage in front of a global audience of EdTech leaders, investors, companies and startups, she wasn’t just representing her company, Nolej. She was representing a journey of grit, vision, and the audacity to take risks, even when the odds weren’t in her favor.

“I never imagined I’d be here,” she says. “I didn’t go to business school or an Ivy League. I wasn’t a top student. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do. But I’ve always had one compass: impact.”

That compass led Nejma from nearly accidental entrepreneurship to global recognition, as the CEO and co-founder of Nolej, the company that claimed first prize at the 2023 Global EdTech Startup Awards (GESAwards), recognized as the most promising EdTech startup in the world. 

A Spark at a Startup Booth

Many founder stories begin with an incubator or long nights perfecting a pitch deck. Nolej took a different path, in a small booth in Paris, with a casual conversation, and a browser extension.

Back in 2018, Nejma was exploring the intersection of AI and cognitive engagement for a possible PhD. She came to Learning Tech Paris in search of a tool that could automate content and assessment generation at scale. This was long before Chat GPT, and solutions of this kind were hard to come by. “VR was all the rage back then. No one was looking at content generation,” she recalls.

That’s when she stumbled upon Philippe, her future co-founder, who demoed a tool that took a web article and, in seconds, generated a full set of quiz questions using AI models he’d trained himself. Nejma was astonished. “This was my a-ha moment. I thought: this is it.”

She told Phillippe she would research this solution and started collaborating with him. Six months later, they decided to build something bigger. Something teachers could use. Something scalable. Something with purpose. “Sometimes you meet some people,”  she says, “and those people just change the course of your life."

The Birth of Nolej: a Trailblazer in AI Solutions for Education

Today, Nolej is a Paris-based EdTech company that transforms any educational content - text, video, audio, web pages, into interactive, engaging learning materials in seconds. The platform tailors quizzes, flashcards, timelines, interactive videos, and chatbots to individual learners based on content provided by educators.

In other words, Nolej is like ChatGPT for education, in a safe, secure and relevant learning environment of your choice. The platform integrates with Learning Management Systems like Moodle, Canvas, Microsoft Teams, and Google Classroom, and offers a first-of-its-kind Moodle plugin to generate AI-powered content directly inside the LMS.

With over 170,000 users in 20+ countries, Nolej saves time, boosts learner engagement, and helps education teams focus on pedagogy rather than production. It is popular across higher education, corporate learning, and K-12 environments where teachers often struggle with time-consuming content creation, and was able to reach a significant footprint in the French education system. 

The Nolej team has built it all relying on robust AI research, while keeping user privacy at the core and offering secure, sovereign hosting (EU or on-prem), ensuring full control over the content, with no external dependencies.

The Unexpected CEO

Despite the traction, recognition, and product-market fit, Nejma still hesitated when she was asked to step in as CEO after raising their €3 million seed round.

“I didn’t ask for it. I was still learning. But then I realized—so is everyone. Now I will just have to learn much quicker.”

What followed was a crash course in leadership, resilience, and letting go of perfection. Nejma recalled: “You invest in people, ideas, time. Sometimes you make mistakes. That’s okay. You acknowledge it, course-correct, and move forward.”

She also learned to lean on others. “Our head of sales for example. I learn so much from him. I’ve learned to say ‘I don’t know’ and ask for help. I’ve learned to listen, to everyone. Every single person I meet teaches me something.”

Learning to Fall and Respect your Rivals

Outside the boardroom, Nejma returned to a childhood discipline that once felt like a chore: judo. “My dad forced me into it as a kid. I hated it. But today I see the value, and I went back to it. It’s where I get my energy. In judo, the first thing you learn is how to fall. That’s what entrepreneurship is. You fall. You thank your opponent. And you get back up.” Nejma used to avoid risk out of fear of failure. “If I didn’t try hard, I had an excuse for losing. Now I crave the fall. That’s where growth happens.”

Winning GESAwards: The Beginning of a New Journey

When Nejma pitched for the GESAwards international judging panel and finals events in London, she was determined, with only one thought in her mind: “We have to win this.”

And they did.

The impact was immediate. “Deals that were stuck in discussion closed within a month. Suddenly, everyone took us seriously. Journalists were pitching us. Our users were proud. France was proud.” She even used it as an icebreaker when meeting the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. “You don’t know us?,” she asked him, “we just won the prize for the best EdTech startup in the whole world! We brought back the highest medal representing France in the Global EdTech Startup Awards.” And it worked. The President and his staff were deeply impressed. 

Beyond the press, partnerships, new customers and global recognition, the win unlocked something deeper. “That pitch opened a door in me that had been closed. I remembered I was capable of great things. If I can do this, I can do anything.” Nejma recalls. 

Advice for the Next Generation of EdTech Founders

We asked Nejma to share her advice with those applying to the next GESAwards. Here are some valuable tips she shared: 

• Don’t skip the workshops. “The GESAwards bootcamp is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You will meet people, learn from speakers, and calm your nerves before the finals.”

• Keep it simple. “Don’t try to say everything in your pitch. Be clear. Be bold. Focus on one message that will resonate.”

• Show the business. “It’s not enough to have an impact. You need a model that scales and you need to show how you plan to reach your goals.”

• Bring energy. “Even if you’re introverted, like me. Even if your English is shaky, like mine. The vibe matters, and your passion comes through.”

• Remember why you’re doing this. “We’re all here because we believe education can be better. So show that to the world.”

Sometimes All You Need to Do is Show Up

For Nejma, winning wasn’t about beating the competition. It was about remembering her own power and helping others believe in theirs.

“You don’t have to be the loudest. Or the most polished. You don’t have to be perfect. But you do have to show up. And if you do, if you go into that room with your energy, you will walk away with something: connections, clarity, confidence. Maybe even an award.”

And if you are truly fortunate? You might just change the world.