When I started Unitors, I genuinely just wanted to fix a problem I saw every day in Dubai — students struggling to find a good tutor they could actually trust. I never thought we'd be standing in front of a panel of judges at the UAE Hackathon, competing against over two thousand other teams across the country.
But that's exactly what happened in March 2022.
What is the UAE Hackathon?
The UAE Hackathon is one of the most competitive startup and innovation competitions in the region, organised by TDRA — the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority. In 2022, the competition drew 2,061 applicants from across the UAE, spanning categories from sustainability to healthcare to education.
The Entrepreneurs category was for teams building real businesses with real traction. That's where Unitors competed.
The Result
The official TDRA press release announced: "In the Entrepreneurs category, the HCMS.ai team won first place, while the second place went to the Unitors team, and the Dakher team won third place."
2nd place. Out of 2,061. I still can't quite believe it.
What Unitors Was at the Time
At the time of the hackathon, Unitors was just getting started — an online tutoring platform launched out of the Incubation Centre at Amity University Dubai. We were matching students in the UAE with expert tutors for IGCSE, A-Level and IB subjects. The idea was simple: every student deserves a tutor who genuinely gets their curriculum and their learning style.
The recognition from TDRA and the UAE Hackathon gave us the confidence — and a bit of the credibility — to keep building.
Where Unitors Is Now
Since 2022, Unitors has grown into Dubai's most trusted private tutoring service. We're now MoHRE licensed, have taught over 8,000 lessons, serve 100+ families across the UAE and GCC, and hold a 4.9/5 rating on Google. We've expanded from online-only to home tutoring across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and we now serve students in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman online.
That hackathon night in March 2022 was one of the moments that made all of this feel possible. Grateful for every family that has trusted us since.
— Vamsi, Founder of Unitors
Source: TDRA official press release — UAE Hackathon 2022 Winners