Name: Paulo Batista
Title: CEO
Company: Aliquest
Website: www.aliquestedu.com
Founded: 2017
Headquarters: USA
Description: Aliquest is a Brazilian social impact company dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible education for all ages, focusing on foundational learning and socioemotional skills to drive personal and professional growth.
Aliquest: Redefining Education for a Smarter Future
Paulo Batista is the CEO of Aliquest, a Brazilian education startup aimed at addressing the country’s severe literacy gap along. He is dedicated to addressing the critical issue of literacy in Brazil and beyond. With a diverse background in law, investment, and banking, as well as experience managing a dental center, Paulo brings a unique perspective to tackling education challenges. His passion for educating children drives Aliquest’s mission to equip individuals with essential skills, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to society and improve their quality of life. Under his leadership, Aliquest is working to bridge literacy gaps, empowering communities and shaping a brighter future.
In an interview, he speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:
Conception of Aliquest
Paulo Batista’s journey into education started unexpectedly at 17 when he volunteered as a test prep teacher for underprivileged students in São Paulo. “I was shocked to see that 90% of my students couldn’t actually read and understand the questions,” he recalls. This experience planted the seed for his lifelong mission. After a successful career in finance and founding Dental Cremer, a pioneering e-commerce platform later acquired by a multinational, Paulo turned his focus back to education. He discovered that only 3% of Brazilian students graduate with essential knowledge, and even in the U.S., that number is just 25%. Realizing that “education is broken, and governments alone won’t fix it, he founded Aliquest —a scalable, affordable, and effective solution to combat learning poverty and empower millions.
Revolutionizing Education with AI-Powered Learning
Aliquest has built a proprietary methodology that assesses every student to determine their interproximal learning zone and establishes personalized activities to maximize their learning. The organization selects and trains highly qualified teachers while leveraging a proprietary management model and AI tools to ensure high-quality education at a low cost. Today, Aliquest is the most advanced use case of AI in the field of education outside of China, driving a new era of tech-powered education.
Scaling Education with a Market-Driven Approach
Aliquest is tapping into a massive market potential, with its three products—early childhood centers, afterschool centers, and labor reskilling programs—serving individuals of all ages. “With a target audience of 140 million in Brazil alone and essentially no competitors,” says Paulo Batista, the opportunity is vast.
By leveraging three synergistic distribution channels—B2C, B2B, and B2G—Aliquest ensures sustainable funding for education from multiple revenue sources. “When you prove yourself to be able to fix a problem as important as access to education and employment, it tends to go viral,” Paulo adds, highlighting the company’s growing reputation and impact.
Blending Socio-Emotional and Cognitive Learning
Aliquest seamlessly integrates socio-emotional development into its curriculum, recognizing its essential role in cognitive growth. “Our secret sauce is to have the same teacher leading cognitive development also leading socio-emotional development,” adds Paulo. The company has developed a proprietary assessment tool to guide this process, enabling teachers to naturally incorporate socio-emotional skills into learning activities. This approach makes lessons more engaging and powerful, fostering both academic success and personal growth in students.
Partnering to Bridge the Education Gap
Corporate and public-private partnerships are crucial to Alicerce’s mission of providing quality education. “After the underprivileged person, the victim per se of the lack of equal access to education and opportunity, companies are the next most impacted entity,” notes Paulo. Businesses struggle with a shortage of qualified labor and limited consumer markets, making them invested in solving this problem for both employees and communities.
As industries become more technology-driven, even traditional sectors like agriculture and mining require skilled professionals. With governments unable to fully address the crisis, companies are increasingly taking action, gaining a competitive edge in the process. While government is part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution. Alicerce collaborates with progressive officials who recognize their limitations and seek innovative partnerships. “Political pressure is and will continue to make this more and more of a priority topic, and that’s where Alicerce can grow very fast,” Paulo notes, emphasizing the accelerating demand for educational transformation.
Trust, Transparency and Growth: The Power of Recognition
Every award Aliquest receives is a result of rigorous due diligence and deep assessments, reinforcing its reputation and credibility. “Education is based on trust, and being open to external audits is something that we have always done and has helped us grow.” Aliquest strongly believes in governance and transparency, ensuring its commitment to delivering high-quality education with accountability.
Leadership Traits
At Aliquest, servant leadership is at the core of its culture. “We manage as teachers, and our best teachers are promoted to managerial positions”. Leaders are expected to guide and develop their teams like educators, mapping their needs and setting personal development goals. “Be of service to the team, not be served by the team,” he emphasizes.
For emerging EdTech entrepreneurs, Paulo highlights that innovation alone isn’t enough. “The biggest challenge is not in technology or innovation, but in implementation.” Many startups avoid direct execution, leading to poor outcomes and low customer retention. Success in education requires hands-on involvement and a commitment to execution.
Aliquest: Taking Its Transformative Impact Global”
With its launch in the USA, Aliquest is poised for global expansion, aiming to bring its proven success in education to the world. “I would like to highlight how Aliquest is the most exciting story in education worldwide and will have a transformative impact in the next 10 years.”
As Aliquest continues to scale, its mission remains clear—to revolutionize learning, bridge educational gaps, and empower individuals with high-quality, scalable, and AI-driven education solutions. The future of education is being redefined, and Aliquest is leading the way.
