A Private tutor has turned his teaching talents to an innovative concept which allows people to share their skills through social media.

Sam Naef, 26, is behind iSKILLu, a social enterprise start-up based in Brighton.

The idea is to make education accessible regardless of wealth under a sharing economy.

Through the system an impoverished Indian could be taught astrophysics in return for sharing a skill of their own.

Everyone’s time is equal, with users giving ratings to teachers who receive virtual tokens for lessons.

The idea came about after University of Sussex graduate Mr Naef realised only well-off families could afford to pay £30 an hour for physics lessons.

The ambitious solution has been three years in the making, after a developer dropped out due to illness, and Sam was forced to start from scratch.

He has enlisted part-time volunteers from around the world and the dream is now weeks away from becoming a reality.

Mr Naef, of Brighton, explained: “It’s a time economy, so one hour will give you one credit.

“Once I had the idea I was fascinated by why the system wasn’t already there.

“There are similar concepts like Time Banking but it’s not based around education and it is too complicated to scale up. We’re giving people the power to choose. It’s a social network so you can find the profile of people you like. People review each other so bad teachers go lower down the search results, it’s self-regulated.”

He has the backing of esteemed Sussex economists and the Princes Trust enterprise programme. The organisation’s South East head coordinator said: “In all our 27 years of the Enterprise program, we have not seen such an ambitious and well-thought out project.”

It is recommended people use iSKILLu to connect and have face-to-face lessons. A Skype-style whiteboard will enable to users to connect worldwide.

As well as helping the pupil, teaching helps the teacher with self-confidence. Mr Naef said: “Sharing what I knew improved my confidence. It really gives you a stronger voice.

“But at £30 an hour its part of a monetary system that only the rich can afford and you’re just increasing the inequality of knowledge.”

The social enterprise, which is seeking funding, is part of the sharing economy movement.

Mr Naef added: “People can share anything from languages to information about lucid dreaming.

“Nothing can beat a personal lesson. I’d love it be a success, the vision is to have 1000s of lessons a week.”

For more information visit  www.iskillu.co.uk or to support he crowdfunding campaign go to www.buzzbnk.org/iskillu