“How did Satya Narayanan of Career Launcher build a global corporate from a one man startup”

From laying the foundation stone of Career launcher to venturing into K-12 and vocational education market, Satya Narayanan R, Chairman and Founder, Career Launcher (CL) has grown successfully from a one man start-up to a global education corporate.  In an interaction, he tells Franchise India about his vision ahead and how franchising model is beneficial for company’s growth.

The trend of diversifying into other business segment is catching up fast. So, what was the reason behind diversifying into K-12 business & vocational training market? Do you have any further plans to franchise in both the business segments?

India is a 125 billion dollar education segment (app.) comprising K-12, vocational, higher education, coaching and publishing. Test prep alone is about 4 billion business. From a long term perspective, we wish CL to be a scalable business and without presence in vocational and K-12, it is impossible to visualize us to be a billion dollar company. In India, there would be a few large-cap education service companies in the coming decade.

I visualise CL as one amongst them. CL has always believed in business models  that have entrepreneurship embedded in it. Franchising is just tech avtaar of such a model. We already work in various ways of entrepreneurship (franchising included).

What are the major challenges in running the test preparation centre and what steps have you taken to overcome the same? What kind of precision goes into maintaining uniformity of services at your franchise premises?

It is a myth that excellence and innovation happen only at a company-owned location. On the contrary, if the franchise chosen has potential, passion and endurance, a franchise centre run by an entrepreneur is likely to run better in every aspect. The value additions by CL, the parent comes in the form of continuous academic R&D (research and development), technological and product innovation, broad strategy formulation, academic and other training, certifications and finally, the backbone or platform on which each centre is able to rely and come back.

How do you think technology is empowering you to grow your franchise network?

Without technology that is scalable, franchising in test prep is impossible. Tech supports all aspects of business,  including operations, reaching out to new prospects, servicing existing students and acts as a backbone to prompt and effective customer service. Moving forward, it will become even more central to us.

What kind of a franchisee profile are you seeking and what criteria do you follow for selecting prospective franchisees?

We look for young and energetic professionals with a passion for entrepreneurship and education.

There is a rigorous and uncompromising six step process, used to select a franchise including:

• Step One -Academic Aptitude Test
• Step Two -Business Aptitude Test
• Step Three -Core Value Test
• Step Four -Demo session of either teaching or seminar/workshop taking skills
• Step Five -Board Member interaction
• Step Six -Signing

Factors that affect franchise decisions include:

• Centre location
• Infrastructure
• Branding and visibility
• Counseling, student service and support

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