BW EDUCATION SEP 2022

AWARDS

Funding For A

Brighter Future

Mayank Batheja, Co-founder, Credenc, took a plunge into education finance to
enable students with potential to fulfil their career dreams

Having and further adds that it’s
done easier to get a loan for a
BCom car — 70 per cent of cars
Honours purchased are on loans.
from
Delhi Stringent conditions
University’s constituent like collateral also affect
college Ramjas in 2007, students from weak-
and having been part of er backgrounds. The
the global student organi- team wanted to change
sation AIESEC (including that narrative and back
holding crucial positions students who have high
at Delhi University and potential, even if they
All-India level), Mayank are from less privileged
Batheja had corporate families. “We would like
stints in India and Moroc- to bet on them early on,”
co before he realised that he says.
“working in large compa-
nies in not very exciting”. Credenc started as
a platform connecting
With his return, his financers with students,
entrepreneurial journey and everything was
started. He first founded processed digitally. The
Letsintern.com, which time taken came down
has helped lakhs of from two to three months
students get appropriate to 10 days. Gradually,
internship experience. they managed to develop
After selling Letsintern partnerships with banks
to Aspiring Minds, and and NBFCs to co-own the
working with Lenskart and Car Dekho successively as process.
part of the management teams, he then ventured into Thanks to Credenc, students now can get loans up
education finance, “an unexplored area in India”. to Rs 50 lakh, for courses ranging from online courses
to a masters abroad. While the focus currently is on
The premise on which Batheja and co-founder STEM courses (other professional courses being han-
Avinash Kumar started Credenc in 2017 was that the dled on case-to-case basis), it has catered to almost
banks so far have been doing a limited job and that one lakh students. The growth happened organically,
the banking system does not have focus on educa- with colleges seeking support in getting their students
tion loans. All the banks put together give Rs 18,000 the required loans. The one big marketing initiative
crore a year as education loans, which is a small that Credenc has indulged in has been sponsoring an
amount considering the student population, he says, IPL team — Lucknow Super giants team.

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 151 WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWARDS

Zeal To Educate

An interactive, comprehensive, multilingual, visual learning edtech platform founded by
Moitreyee Goswami, ‘Zucate’ holds the trademark for the word ‘ZUCATE’ derived from ‘Zeal

to edUCATE’. The firm’s philosophy, in consonance with the term, is focussed on the needs
of the students

Zucate has de- By Upasana
veloped tech-
nology-based term recovery of society and
learning ex- that there is an opportunity to
perience and leapfrog towards powered-up
Artificial Intel- schools. A powered-up schools
is a public school system
backed by effective partner-
ligence-based analytics that ships that have proven them-
provides customisation suited selves to be robust during the
to the student’s intellect and pandemic. We need to have
grasping ability. allies in the education system
The founders — Moitreyee that reinforce, complement
Goswami and Roli Pandey — and bring to life learning
are experienced business pro- experiences in and outside the
fessionals who have been run- classroom. It would recognise
ning profitable ventures. They and adapt to the learning that
serve as mentors and advisors takes place beyond its walls,
to various startups under In- regularly assessing students’
stitution’s Innovation Council skills and tailoring learning
(IIC) and have coached poten- opportunities to meet students
tial entrepreneurs for bodies at their skill level.”
such as AICTE, ESIC, IIITs The most important learn-
and other institutions. ing Goswami has had during
“The Covid-19 pandemic has her startup journey and espe-
resulted in at least one positive cially after the pandemic is to
thing — a much greater ap- go with the flow. She under-
preciation for the importance lines, “It’s important to plan
of public schools. As parents ahead but it’s also very impor-
struggle to work with their tant to understand that things
children at home due to school might not fall into place even
closures, public recognition of after meticulous planning. It is
the essential caretaking role schools play in society important to believe in yourself and understand that
has skyrocketed. We all have already seen the way the hard work pays off. It does come to fruition sooner
entire education system has shaken and fallen. It’s the or later. It is important to give reasonable amount of
right time now to chart a vision for how education time to yourself. It is important also to understand
can emerge stronger from this global crisis than ever that this reasonable amount of time is very subjective.
before and propose a path for capitalising on educa- I am more of a realistic person. The thing that helps
tion’s newfound support in virtually every community me continue walking is that I walk considering it a
across the globe,” states Goswami. marathon. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast but the
She further adds, “Strong and inclusive public edu- most important thing is that I walk until I reach the
cation systems are essential to the short- and long- winning post.”

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 152 WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWARDS

Medium Of
Empowerment

Hello English, founded by Nishant Patni, is democratising education by

way of providing accessible English language teaching to millions

ABTech in electrical engineering from including pronunciation and vocabulary are covered
IIT Bombay and an MBA from North- in the course. An online dictionary in English to mul-
western University Kellogg School of tiple languages (not just Indian languages but Arabic,
Management, Nishant Patni is trying Chinese, Nepalese and Turkish too) is an additional
to solve the quintessential language advantage.
problem of Indian students, through
his venture Hello English. “English is a fundamental The platform has a large number of corporate cli-
need in today’s world as it drives employability & ents too. For example, Taj hotels has launched Hello
literacy. We’ve built one of the best-known brands English’s hotel industry courseware across its flagship
on English learning which has scaled to 50 million+ properties in India, as per Hello English website.
users globally and in 23 vernacular languages, in line Among other clients are Wipro, Walmart, IndiGo, Dr
with our mission Reddy’s Foundation, Bajaj Allianz and Flipkart. The
to enable learning
for the next billion.” Hello English course-
This will be done by ware has empowered
way of leveraging several youth and
AI, voice and mobile enabled them to be
technology. more effective at their
workplace.
Hello English and
Hello English Kids Proud of the contri-
are self-learning bution he is making
apps for English to the society, he says,
which are scien- “We are democratising
tifically proven to the way the next billion
improve English in the world will learn.
outcomes four times It flips the classroom
faster than tradi- and empowers people
tional approaches. to learn right on their
These platforms are mobile devices.”
accessible (beyond
location, gender, Overcoming the
language or age challenge of internet
barriers), afforda- penetration and data
ble, equitable and consciousness in tier
effective. All aspects 2,3,4 cities, the team
of English gram- has used technological
mar, conversations, innovation and ena-
spoken English, bled 95 per cent of its
app experience to work
offline even on basic
phones.

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 153 WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWARDS

Get The Product Right

Aakash BYJU’s digital product enhances the classroom experience
in a digital format; content of Aakash Education is delivered by the
Aakash BYJU’s app in interactive manner, informs Business Head
Nitin Golani

By Upasana

Nitin Golani leads any business is to get the product other resources between industry
the digital busi- right. He shares, “The magni- incumbents has become rampant.
ness at Aakash tude of right product magnifies Our continuous focus to build and
BYJU’s. He was multifold in education sector as retain teams is to foster an envi-
part of the core it impacts careers and lives of ronment that sparks innovation,
team that led aspirants who are preparing via where teams feel empowered, and
the ~$1 billion BYJU’s buyout of the product.” are self-directed to work towards
Aakash Education. He focusses on to common objective.
improving learning outcomes for Discussing some of the chal-
JEE/NEET students and supports lenges that he came across, Aakash BYJU’s digital is an
millions of aspirants nation- Golani says that building and organisation of more than 2,000
wide in their learning journey to retaining talent has been biggest employees built in last one year.
become doctors and engineers. challenge in the last year. “As the Today they have above 500 educa-
For him, the key to success of market competition intensifies tors, over 400 student experience
for edtech, poaching faculty and associates and more than 100
BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 154 technology and product teams to
keep delivering and innovating on
the existing products. The compa-
ny has recently collaborated with
NITI Aayog, to provide digital test
prep learning programmes to over
3,000 students from 112 ‘aspira-
tional districts’ across India.

On being selected in the power
list of ‘40 Under 40’, Golani ex-
presses, “I am glad to be selected.
BW Education specifically focuses
on the education sector, recognis-
ing unique ideas and people em-
powering them. Having followed
the journey of such ideas, I have
been a keen admirer of 40 Under
40 club. I look forward to inspir-
ing next set of leaders to bring
more advancements and ideas to
transform the education sector.”

WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWARDS

Chasing Goals

Pallavi Rao Chaturvedi, Executive Vice President, AISECT Group, describes the challenges
she faced while setting up the organisation. She speaks to BW Education at lengths about the

venture, its USP and the journey of building it. Excerpts:

By Upasana

What are your thoughts on what the core of our work. preschools across the country, as
also provide parenting coaching
we have achieved in education Can you brief us about your cur- and consultancy services.

so far, and what do you believe rent venture? How do you distinguish yourself
Our organisation Get Set Parent
should be the goal of education? is a parenting and early learning from other players in the sector?
I am thrilled by the National resource organisation. We offer My approach has been to work
Education Policy, 2020. If a wide range of products to towards building a holistic
executed well it could change the stimulate learning in children platform for parents and their
landscape of Indian educational between 0 and 6, a chain of young children – the Brainy
ecosystem drastically, where Bear Preschools chain, Brainy
the approach is more about Bear Publications, a product line
inculcating higher order thinking with over 100 learning aids, a
skills (HOTS), reasoning, problem parenting social media presence
solving, innovation and hands of over half a million followers,
on learning rather that the rote curating a one of a kind Children’s
learning system we as a nation Literature, Art and Music Festival
have been criticised for thus far. – all of these cement my passion
Our job as a generation today is and commitment to the field of
to prepare our children to analyse learning in young children.
and solve problems of the future
that we may not even be able to Underline a few difficulties you
imagine right now.
have faced and how you over-
What changes are you keen on?
I am a firm believer that education came them?
will be the single-most defining, Pushing innovation, speed to
game-changer for a nation. I also market, marketing execution,
believe that formative education dealing with competition,
during the early years will become managing resources and talent are
increasingly crucial to amplify all challenges I, like most people
learning, to unlock potential, to in business or entrepreneurship,
bring in problem-solving ability face. There are huge lessons to
intrinsically and develop a lifelong be learnt in how we overcame
love for learning. Working with unprecedented problems during
young children and their families the pandemic and still managed to
through our products and services stay afloat.
to achieve our overall mission is
WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM
BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 155

AWARDS

Education: Powerful
Engine Of Growth

TagHive, incorporated on April 25, 2017, is a Samsung funded education technology
company with headquarters in South Korea and an office in India; Pankaj Agarwal,

Founder & CEO, describes the company’s thrust area

By Upasana

Making learn- as per Pankaj Agarwal, Founder Saathi. Most, if not all of them had
ing more & CEO, TagHive. “Covid-19 has already worked with some other
personalised exacerbated the already significant education technology solution and
and relevant learning gaps that set back a sig- were always of the opinion that it
so that our nificant number of students and would be an additional burden.
students can the biggest need is to ensure that However, since the solution is
be ‘future ready’, is the need of all students receive an education designed to empower rather than
the hour in the education sector that helps them live a better life,” disrupt, we had to do multiple
Agarwal said in a recent interview conversations with all stakehold-
BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 156 with BW Education. ers to help them see that it will
only help them,” informs Agarwal.
The company’s solution, Class
Saathi is a classroom clicker based She believes that education
solution designed to pair with a can serve as a powerful engine of
smartphone app that can work in growth for any nation and that the
schools with no internet and no quality of education in a nation
electricity. The implication is that determines the extent of partici-
schools do not need to upgrade pation of its citizens in the growth
their infrastructure to use Class progress. One of her other beliefs
Saathi. Thus, the solution offers is that technology can help im-
government schools in the country prove education. According to her,
an opportunity to leverage tech- instead of deploying expensive
nology that does not need major and infra-heavy technologies in
investment or infrastructure schools, we should come up with
upgrades. more pedagogically effective and
affordable tech solutions.
“Building the product for the
context of government schools The company’s future plan for
was not easy. We did extensive growth is to expand into more
research to identify the needs states by forging partnerships
and come up with design choic- with foundations, governments
es for Class Saathi. One of the and other organisations catering
biggest challenges was to show to schools.
stakeholders like teachers and
administrators the value of Class WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWARDS

Persevere, Innovate
And Collaborate

Mindler, founded by Prateek Bhargava, is revolutionising
the career guidance landscape by focussing on both the
demand and supply side of the career guidance problem; its
ability to persevere, constantly innovate and its philosophy of
collaboration allows the company to stand out

MBy Upasana Career decisions have been influ- tionary career guidance products
indler is enced by stereotypes and hearsay which are in sync with the edu-
breaking the and we at Mindler are working cation reforms and changes we
barriers in towards making scientific career can see happening in the world of
career deci- guidance accessible to millions. work,” underlines Bhargava.
sion-making
for the youth The company’s ability to per- He further states that in the
and driving them towards a more severe, constantly innovate and coming few years we are looking
informed future. The company’s its philosophy of collaboration at making our career guidance
career platform enables students allows it to stand out. These three solutions accessible to millions of
to leverage career discovery and values are core to what they do at students across the globe. “We are
planning tools and also enables Mindler and have helped them also developing a series of revolu-
career educators in using a SaaS through their highs and lows. “We tionary career guidance products
platform to provide scientific are building a comprehensive which are in sync with the edu-
career guidance to their students. ecosystem around career guidance cation reforms and changes we
“We have harnessed the power which is enabling us to empower can see happening in the world of
of technology through our career all the stakeholders in the career work.”
guidance tools & solutions and yet decision-making process which we
maintained the human touch by believe to be the secret to sustain- WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM
creating a huge base of interna- able success,” informs Bhargava.
tionally certified career coaches,”
says Prateek Bhargava, Founder & To shape the career guidance
CEO, Mindler, in an interview to landscape and become the brain
BW Education. behind all career recommen-
dations being generated and
Bhargava highlights the signif- to empower students & related
icance of choosing and pursuing stakeholders to take a scientif-
the right career path and believes ic approach towards decision
it to be one of the biggest pain making, is the firm’s vision. “In the
points for parents and millions of coming few years we are looking
students. “For years we have wit- at making our career guidance
nessed our youth pursuing career solutions accessible to millions of
paths which are not in sync with students across the globe. We are
their unique skills and abilities. also developing a series of revolu-

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 157

AWARDS

Enabling A Better
Overseas Experience

University Living, founded by Saurabh Arora, is providing a critical service to students
planning to go abroad for studies

International education and as close to their campuses as and even book instantly.”
dream having really possible. We bring them the best The journey has been chal-
caught on in the Indian deals and discounts on student
society, there is a need accommodation at unmatched lenging yet enriching. When the
to find accommodation prices. We even help them with University Living started in 2015,
near universities abroad. post-admission services like overseas student accommodation
University Living is fulfilling guarantors, room essentials, forex, was uncommon. Few people knew
exactly that need. Incepted in bank accounts & much more. about it and even fewer knew how
2015, University Living is a global With customised, curated search- to go about booking. Arora says,
student housing marketplace. It es, they can compare properties “Though we had no competition,
helps students across the globe it took us some time to get the
find suitable and secure accom- message across that timely accom-
modation near their university modation booking was impor-
campuses. Founder & CEO Sau- tant. With gradual success comes
rabh Arora describes that students responsibility. The responsibility
can consult with a 24/7 support to ensure that there was enough
team of accommodation experts supply for the Indian market’s
to discover, compare and book preferences to keep our parents
value-for-money accommodation and students happy with what
based on their budget, desired they had.”
location, and other personal pref-
erences. The pandemic hit overseas
education especially hard and
He shares, “While student ac- Arora’s venture was bound to be
commodation is our core service, affected. He shares, “With a dip in
we are also focused on easing the student numbers going overseas,
entire student journey and making and safety concerns for students
it a seamless experience. We have on the rise, we saw a decline in
a host of value-added services that accommodation bookings. But we
enhance our students’ experience. did not let that deter us. We went
on to get our properties verified,
He further describes, “The ensured all of our properties were
team and I are constantly work- safe, secured and followed the
ing towards creating end-to-end Covid protocols. The team worked
overseas enhanced student expe- tirelessly and soon we were back
riences. We go all out to ensure on track. In fact earlier this year
the student gets what they want we hit 300mn GMV.”

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 158 WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWAPRDS artnership
To Power The

Degree

Shashank Shwet, Founder & CEO, ImaginXP, discusses what a degree
experience should be all about

An engineering graduate from Govern- in crisis, offering no industry exposure, mentorship or
ment College of Engineering, Aurang- high-quality faculty. Such a degree is of no use.
abad, and an MBA from Symbiosys
Institute of Management Studies ImaginXP has stepped in to fill that gap, and
(SIMS), Pune, Shashank Shwet wears partners with universities to offer a whole degree
multiple hats. experience complete with industry exposure and
His venture ImaginXP is a higher education B2B future skills in a whole range of areas like block chain,
platform for future skills degrees and for credit fintech, healthcare and UX. It has 1,250+ faculty and
subjects in partnership with 30+ universities. He also mentors, has devised an industry-led curriculum and
founded Fortune Cookie User Experience - a design offers placement assistance.
thinking-led digital consulting, and has personally
trained 15,000+ professionals on design thinking While not accredited university per se, ImaginXP
and UX design; he was has partnerships with a large number of universities
the youngest partner with
EY from 2018-20 and across the country. “Every
also led and published a 300 km you will find an
behavioural research study ImaginXP partner univer-
of EY on the theme ‘Life sity,” he says.
in a Pandemic’ which was
widely published by leading Creating a pool of
publications across the well-trained faculty and
country. He turned author corporate coaches that
with publishing A Practi- could train, mentor and
tioners Guide to Empathy absorb students was one of
and User Research. the biggest challenge for
ImaginXP. Getting oper-
Describing the rationale ation excellence in faculty
behind ImaginXP, Shwet recruitment and training,
says that there are about systematic and digitally run
4 crore students entering faculty development pro-
higher education, and only gramme and early partici-
15 per cent of higher educa- pation of the industry while
tion institutions offer high creating the curriculum
quality education. Remain- paved the way to solve this.
ing 85 per cent institutes,
including universities, are One of his ardent dreams
is to add 1 million+ future
skills qualified degree
students to India’s work-
force.

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 159 WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

ChangeAWARDS In The
Heart Of Mumbai

Having done BPharm from UCL Siddharth Shahani, Co-Founder & Executive
London, and Masters in Health
Policy and Economics from London President, ATLAS SkillTech University was
School of Economics and Political
Science, besides studying corporate bold enough to launch the university during
finance at London Business School,
Siddharth Shahani set about providing quality higher Covid. And the courage is showing results
education in India too.
2,500 students, and offers an intersection of design,
To launch a university in the midst of pandemic management, entrepreneurship and technology stud-
speaks volumes about the courage and resilience of ies, with the help of a team of 400 (both full-timers
an individual, and Shahani demonstrated that, by and part-timers). The university has also got mem-
launching ATLAS SkillTech University in the heart bership of the Association of Indian Universities. The
of financial capital, Mumbai. Today, the new nascent advantage of the launch happening at this stage is
institution, which claims to be “India’s First Urban that the university has managed to incorporate the
Multidisciplinary SkillTech University”, has over tenets of NEP-2020 in its DNA.

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 160 Among the early initiatives is global curricular col-
laborations with leading institutions to bring world-
class higher education to India, including Parsons
School of Design, New York, one of the top three
design schools across the world (QS Rankings) and
Institution of Engineering (INSOFE), Hyderabad,
South Asia’s largest faculty for data science. It has in-
itiated engagement with academics and officials from
over 45 leading universities in UK to foster collabo-
rative approach. It has also introduced the ‘SkillTech
Model’ for creating an industry-integrated learning
experience in India, and closing the job-skill gap.

Among the challenges that Shahani and his team
faced while launching the university was establishing
a campus in the heart of Mumbai that would allow
them to create an easy interface between the stu-
dents and industry through frequent master classes,
internships, guest lectures etc. However, this had its
financial challenges.

He says, “We worked on a sustainable financial
model to successfully implement our vision so we
could commit to creating industry-integrated learning
for young learners, and allow them to immerse in the
cultural diversity of Mumbai. In the process we have
been visited by top leaders of leading organisations,
including Apple and McKinsey & Company.”

Shahani believes in the capability of youth to take
on leadership roles in education in India’s quest for
knowledge economy, and believes that the Award
will “enable me to inspire young people to consider a
corporate to education career transition”.

WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

AWARDS Need For
Skill-based
The Financial Plan- Training
ning Academy works
in the domain of Financial Planning Academy, co-founded by Vishal Khushal
banking, financial Gada, is into the business of imparting skill-based training to
services and ac- students as well as working professionals
counting through
international certifications like By Upasana
ACCA - UK, CFA - USA, CMA -
USA, CFP - USA and CPA – USA tent delivery mechanism, the pool The firm’s philosophy on edu-
and conducts 2,500 investor of extremely competent faculties cation is that it should be able to
awareness programmes across and use of technology for smooth provide a livelihood to the bene-
India, working closely with BSE, execution of training, makes us ficiaries and use of technology in
mutual fund companies and finan- stand out among competitors in training delivery for masses must
cial markets regulator - SEBI. this sector. be prioritised.

“There has to be more practical There is a skill gap in the ed- The Academy plans to create
skill-based training imparted to ucation sector and the Academy geographical presence through
students to make them employ- is trying to solve this challenge right partnerships and create
able and to enable them to earn by providing the skill trainings, world class content to cater to the
their livelihood. This is the need of making students employable and global markets for international
the hour in the education sec- ultimately placing students in certifications and short-term add-
tor,” says Vishal Khushal Gada, the domain of banking, financial on programmes.
Co-Founder & CMO of the Acade- services and accounting.
my, talking to BW Education. On being listed in the ‘40 Under
Financial Planning Academy is 40’ power club of BW Education,
Speaking about the uniqueness amongst 11 companies selected Gada expresses, “It is a great feel-
of the firm, Gada states, “The con- by SEBI for conducting Investor ing. It is a recognition to the pas-
Awareness Programmes. The sion and dedication of the whole
BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 161 Academy is Gold partner with team. I am sure it will inspire us
ACCA - UK. It is working with to work harder and work smarter
more than 90 colleges and private across geographies of India and a
universities and 42 corporates few global territories also.”
from BFSI domain.
WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

THE PROMISING STARS structured his
own holistic
AWARDS growth.

Philosophy Shaped “My pen-
By Extensive Travel chant now
lies in creat-
Abhinav B Gogoi, Education Consultant ing a holistic
and Vice President - Business Development education
& Outreach, Inspirus Education, believes and career
in interdisciplinarity, internationalism and guidance
support
Veducation without prejudice system for the
alues such as interdisciplinarity, inter- children of
nationalism and ‘education without India, espe-
prejudice’, have been ingrained in cially in the
Gogoi in international environments North-East
at high school - Mahindra United of India. In
World College of India, as well as for the counsel-
higher studies in Marine Geosciences and Climate ling sphere,
Research at Jacobs University- Bremen and Univer- I could bring my personal experiences from Europe
sity Bremen, Germany. Travelling extensively around and across India, where I try to be experiential in my
the world, doing multiple research projects across strategies, work without any prejudice, be approacha-
the Arctic, Antarctic and the seas of Europe, working ble to my students,” says Gogoi.
extensively in the TESL, TEFL, GMAT/GRE Test “As the VP of Business Development and Outreach
Prep with multiple organisations, have shaped his at Inspirus Education, our goal is to create awareness
keenness to give back to the communities that have about the principle and ethics of counselling and pro-
moting holistic education in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as
well as regions such as NE of India,” he adds.

Making Education Loans Easy

AAvinash Kumar, Co-Founder, Credenc.com, describes the critical need that the team is meeting
n IIT Delhi graduate with expertise in electrical
engineering. Avinash Kumar founded Credenc.
com, a leading education lending fintech plat-
form, along with Mayank Batheja in 2017. “The
vision behind starting this venture was to ensure
deserving meritorious students in the country
are not starved for funds for higher education,” he says. In the
past five years, Credenc.com has partnered with more than
3,000+ colleges and institutes and disbursed more than 400+
crore in education loans, he further informs.
Credenc also plans to develop a college student-focused
neo-bank that will help both students & parents with credit,
accommodation, employability, savings, forex, and investments
through a mobile app. “To ensure that our products can meet the
requirements of aspirants at different phases of their lives, apart
from financing the higher education requirements of gradua-
tion and post-graduation students, we are also planning to offer
credit for K12 education. This will not just let parents provide
quality education to their children in the schools of their choice
but will also help schools reduce dropouts (caused by lack of
funds),” he shares.

BW EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 2022 162 WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM

THE PROMISING STARS

AWARDS

Well-rounded Education

Providing a well-rounded education to the learners that develops their spirit, body as well as

mind is the philosophy of education for Avneesh Singh, President, Shiv Nadar School

had the great fortune of attending
two of the finest educational insti-
tutions in the country - IIT-ISM,
Dhanbad and ISB, Hyderabad and

Ilike every other middle-class child,
went for conventional corporate jobs.
However, my family background in educa-
tion, with both my parents being professors
was the inspiration for me to contribute
to the education sector as well. Around a
decade back, this led to starting of a journey
in education first in Oakridge International
Schools as the Director, followed by Millen-
nium Schools and now Shiv Nadar Schools
as the President,” says Avneesh Singh.

Singh believes in creating an environment
for his students that challenges them and
helps them in discovering their inherent
talents. The next steps are both self–direct-
ed and guided learning. He keeps himself
updated in general on the self-directed side.
For guided learning, he attends education
and leadership-related developmental pro-
grammes and even looks forward to a per-
sonal leadership coach. At the same time, for
his next milestone, he envisions his growth
in tandem with the growth of the students
and the development of future leaders.

Aiming at International
Expansion

Digvijay Gagneja is CEO of Leverage Edu, in the

L study-abroad space
everage Edu is a one-stop-shop for all more than 10 global markets assisting students in
study abroad needs, assisting students in their higher education journey. Gagneja has also
their higher education journey. Digvijay led the international expansion of the technology
Gagneja’s mission is to spearhead platform as its UK Director, transforming student
company’s growth to a multibillion- admissions for UK universities’ using Leverage Edu’s
dollar unicorn with three core business proprietary AI-based technology.

offerings and also to do international expansion to

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THE PROMISING STARS

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Next Generation Hybrid Tutoring

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Dhruv Javeri, CEO and Co-Founder, Klassroom

SEdutech, spent over a decade working in IT before following his true passion in education
tarting the venture with his mother, Alka
Javeri and brother, Dhumil Javeri, Dhruv
Javeri launched Klassroom Edutech to provide
quality coaching classes for all. The family-led
business brought together Alka Javeri’s vision
of affordable, accessible coaching, Dhumil
Javeri’s experience running a successful coaching institute
and Javeri’s own passion for teaching and education.
Building on pillars of affordability, accessibility, flexi-
bility and accountability of learning outcomes, Javeri has
laid the foundation to build a next generation, tech-ena-
bled and hyper-scalable hybrid tutoring platform.
In the coming days, Klassroom Edutech plans to con-
tinuously evolve their learning methods to make sessions
more engaging using Klassroom technology. The team
also intends to have an impact on scale with mass educa-
tion, working with government to implement NEP 2020
and also expanding operations internationally into middle
east and south east Asia.

Belief In The Power Of Peer Learning
And deliberate Practice

Karthik Kittu, Programme Manager – Startup & Innovation, Karnataka Digital Economy
KMission follows his personal philosophy of learning being a continuous process
ittu has worn many hats State Higher Education Department as
in his career. Working for a Member of the High power Super30
corporates and multi-na- Committee on identifying & transform-
tional corporations, be- ing colleges in each district of Karnataka
coming an entrepreneur, and the Director of Culkey Foundation.
Kittu ran his own start- Kittu believes in the power of peer
up and continues to serve not-for-profit learning and hopes sharing his own
sector organisations. At his current journey can be inspiring to others just as
position as Programme Manager, Start- others’ stories have inspired him. Kittu
ups Innovation at Karnataka Digital sums up the pursuit of excellence to
Economy Mission, Kittu’s focus area is three ingredients - deliberate practice,
on start-up ecosystem development & motivation and coaching.
capacity building for state sponsored Kittu has recently joined the Advanced
centres of excellence, start-up incuba- Management Programme in Public Poli-
tors, start-ups and student aspiring to be cy (AMPPP), the flagship programme of
entrepreneurs envisioning to help build #InnovateKa- the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, ISB, to build on
rnataka and to build our Nation - Bharat as #Inno- his experiences and benefit from meeting new, diverse
vationNation. He also is working with the Karnataka people and learning from them.

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Reviving Traditional
Education With Technology

With his two ventures, Dr Bhatia Medical Coaching Institute
(DBMCI) and e-Gurukul, Nachiket Bhatia is creating an
accessible and affordable platform but a competitive
environment within the student community

When DBM- helped turn DBMCI from an enterprise with a Rs 5 crore loss into a Rs
CI was at its 77 crore lucrative business enterprise in the 21-22 financial year.
lowest in 2015,
Bhatia rose to Having the edtech community buzz with the phrase ‘Bhatia hai to
the challenge bharosa hai’, Bhatia can see the faith he has gained amongst students
of reviving his as the biggest sign of success. By providing high-quality education
family business. Alongside this, being with a cohesive strategy and a scientific approach, Bhatia aims to
intrigued by the merging of technol- produce skilled and holistic professionals. His philosophy is simple
ogy in the sector, Bhatia went on to and direct - student success. It can be conventional coaching or using
launch his edtech, e-Gurukul, that educational technology to enhance pedagogy and enable students to
learn. Both options or a combination of these are made available with
Bhatia’s enterprise.

Future plans of expansion include introducing AR & VR in their
teaching pattern through the edtech venture, eGurukul. Moreover,
Bhatia plans to foray into new fields like nursing, NEET-UG, UP-
SC-CSE, and many more.

Reimagining The High
School Experience

Nandini Ramesh, Learning Pathways Enabler & to build the Pathways Counsel at Beyond 8.
Ramesh believes that education needs to pro-
Co-Founding Member, Beyond 8, aims to bring
vide for experiences that allow for the learner
together self-aware and self-assured life-long to know how they would make decisions with
conviction, stemming from their understanding
Alearners with her work. of their own strengths, needs and aspirations.
s an engineering student, Ramesh began her Additionally, it needs to allow for the individual
career working for corporates in the IT sec- to attribute their self-worth to how they deal
tor. While enjoying her job for a decade, she with their own challenges.
wanted to find her true passion and calling.
She would go on to teach at International WWW.BWEDUCATION.COM
Baccalaureate (IB) school. Ramesh found in-
spiration in the flexibility of the IB curriculum that allowed
her to explore, curate content, design unit courses and
deliver content delivery to her imagination. However, this
enthusiasm was not shared by students, who were worried
about exams and college admissions. Gaining perspective
from this experience, Ramesh went on to join co-founders at
Beyond 8 to reimagine high school and the learning experi-
ence for teenagers. Starting off as academic programme lead
in 2020, she is now putting together a programme and team

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THE PROMISING STARS

AWARDS

Overseas Education Made Easy

APiyush Bhartiya and his team mentor students applying abroad
dmitkard, co-founded
by Piyush Bhartiya, is
a mentorship platform
that has helped over one
million students in their
profile assessment and
enabled 5,000 students to apply to uni-
versities abroad from India.
Bhartiya’s aim is to be part of global
forums and organisations, to make in-
ternational education more affordable
and to spread the organisation across 10
countries with a team of close to 5,000
members.

Revolutionising Education

Pranav Kothari, CEO, Educational Initiatives, is working to transform K-12 education space.

Educational Initiatives (EI) is an edtech Kothari’s aim is to reach towards ‘Unicorn’ status
company that leverages cutting-edge re- by 2026 and to expand the company into interna-
search and technology-based solutions to tional markets in Asia and Africa. Also on his agenda
revolutionise how children engaged in the is conducting research to improve effectiveness and
k-12 education space learn. pedagogy in edtech.

Time to Remove Your
Insecurities

Pranshu Patni has co-founded Hello English and Hello English Kids self-learning apps for

P English, now used by over 50 million users
ranshu Patni’s goal in launching Hello courses and coding courses. Furthermore, she is work-
English along with Nishant Patni is to ing on enriching user experience on the app and the
serve the masses with scalable, affordable live platforms to reach out more and more learners in
educational solutions. She is now work- international markets.
ing on building LIVE learning platforms
‘Hello Learner’ for English speaking

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Addressing Learning Needs

Pritesh Chothani, Co-founder & CEO, HiVoco Education & Learning, is working in the

area of ADHD Pritesh Chothani, a corporate executive with a
considerable teaching experience at Manipal
University, Bennett University, IMT Ghaziabad
and IMI Delhi among other institutes, launched
HiVoco to address a specific learning need.
“Back in 2018, my daughter was diagnosed with

ADHD. The primary reason was her unmonitored and un-

filtered screen time. Initially many treatments didn’t work.

But eventually we found that storytelling and expressive arts

therapy made a big difference. She moved from being a nega-

tive outlier to a topper in her class.”

Learning from this journey, Chothani launched HiVoco.

He says, “Our endeavour is to leverage technology to make

mental and emotional wellness accessible and affordable for

every kid…. We want to leverage voice & vision based tech to

bring mental and emotional wellness to children.”

Chothani aims to make HiVoco part of the school curricu-

lum in 500+ schools in the next 18 months, including 100+

schools in South East Asia.

Price Of Education

Rohit Gajbhiye, Managing Director and CEO, Financepeer, points to the challenges of
improving the quality of education.

Rohit Gajbhiye is an high school dropout rates, dearth
alumnus of IIT Bombay of skilled teachers, negligible R&D
and Stanford Ignite. He are some of the perennial problems
is a member of UNGSII, faced by the education sector. After
World Economic Forum. thorough analysis and delibera-
He is also an Ex-DBS, tions, I along with my co-founders
Singapore who worked in the Con- deduced that the root cause of all
sumer Credit Space. He is experienced these problems is the lack of capital
in Credit Risk, Commercial Banking, in the Indian education system,” says
Liquidity Risk and Management. He Rohit. “To address these issues at the
envisions a vision to ease out Global school and student’s level, we found-
School Fee Payments and boost the ed Financepeer. At Financepeer we
K-12 School/Education Ecosystem. pay the entire year’s fee to the edu-
cational institution in advance on
“Ever since my childhood, I have behalf of students and the students
been listening and reading about the can repay it in easy no cost EMIs,”
problems faced by the Indian education he adds on.
system. Lack of proper infrastructure,

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THE PROMISING STARS

AWARDS

Each Child Is Unique

Tanushree Narain Sharma, COO, Transform Schools, People For Action believes that children

deserve the opportunity to realise their full potential and thrive Tanushree Narain
Sharma is the
Co-Founder and
COO of Transform
Schools, where she
leads operations,
technology integration, developing
human capacities and organi-
sation development. Transform
Schools is an organisation which
embarked on a mission to address
learning and equity outcomes
in secondary school education
in India. In the past three years,
Sharma has been able to build
partnerships with the State Edu-
cation Departments and the or-
ganisations like Greenwood Place,
Michael and Susan Dell Founda-
tion, BT, British Asian Trust, JPal
South Asia, Shikshalokam and
The Nudge Institute.

Sharma has 15 years of leader-
ship experience in people, tech
and financial management. She
says, “I started my professional
journey by working as the HR
Executive for a leading data
recovery company, Stellar Info.
Post my stint with the corporate,
I transitioned to the non-profit
sector with UNICEF India where
I contributed to talent acquisi-
tion for the national-level senior
positions.”

At present, she is spearheading
the development of an open-
source pro bono edtech solution
and a machine learning-based
decision tool for the government
school system. This will impact
the learning and the lives of 20
million children by 2025. The
blended delivery model will
change the learning landscape for
the ultra-poor in the country.

By Vasudha Mukherjee, Upasana and Himanshu Ojha

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WINNERS

AWARDS

Education Leaders
To Watch Out For

NOMINEE DESIGNATION ORGNISATION

Abhay Chebbi Pro-Chancellor Alliance University

Abhishek Gupta Founder and CEO High School Moms

Akshay Gupta  CO Founder and COO luxury Connect

Chitranshi Tiwari Teacher The Plenum School

Devvaki Aggarwal CEO Instrucko

Dhaval Mehta TNI Career Counselling

Dhumil Javeri COO and Co Founder Fusion Klassroom Edutech Private Limited

Dr Kavisha Khurana Vij Director The Chintels Group of Schools

Dr Vivek Bindra Founder & CEO Bada Business

Gaurav Goel CEO & Founder Toprankers EdTech Solutions

Mr Neeraj Director- Training KR Mangalam

Naman Jain Director Development Silver Line Prestige School

Nandini Co-Founding Member & Program Lead Beyond 8

Pranay Jain Director Pathways School

Prateek Shukla Co Founder Masai School

Radhika Bhandari Director Western India Institute of Aeronautics Pvt. Ltd.

Siddharth Singh Director The Emerald Heights International School

Sonya Hooja Co-Founder / Director Imraticus Learning

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WINNERS

AWARDS

NOMINEE DESIGNATION ORGNISATION

Sumesh Nair CEO Board Infinity (Learner Ventures)
Tanay Pratap
Tejas Suma Shyam Founder & CEO Invact School Private Limited
Anish Singh Thakur
Ankit Sharma Founder The Education Journey
Charlene Farrell
Avan Goel Chief Executive Officer Coaching Institution
Kirti Gehlawat
Madhav Rao IT Head The Plenum School
Manmeet Kaur
Mitali Mukhopadhyay Counsellor/Life Skills Program Developer The Gera School
Pratham Barot
Rajat Singhal CEO | Business Head | Co-Founder Riam Eduten Edvour
RK Ajesh
Rohit Pandit Co-founder The Plenum School
Sahil Sheth
Dhruv Javeri Associate Professor IIIT-Bangalore
Vivek Gupta
Vaibhav Sisinty Co-Founder and Director Operations Transform Schools, People for Action
Saloni Jakhar
Seema Gupta Primary Teacher & Coordinator Lakshmipat Singhania Academy
Umang Darnal
CEO Zell Education

CEO & Founder Cyboard School

CEO Edumpus Portal LLP

Managing Director Peoples Group

Founder & CEO Lido Learning

CEO and Co Founder Fusion Klassroom Edutech Private Limited

Founder Hoodybaba Edutech Services Pvt. Ltd.

Chief Educator & Growth Hacker Vaibhav Sisinty

Exams Officer, Business Faculty The Plenum School

Owner/Principal Universal High School, Aurangabad

Cambridge Coordinator for the Plenum The Plenum School
School

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