Calling investors for career consultancy biz

Over 80 per cent of the Indian students end up making career choices which they regret later. Many students commit suicide each year due to academic pressures. Education is not the only gateway to success. In India, less than 10 per cent students undergo any type of career counseling before choosing a career. Almost 100 per cent market is untapped, thus offering huge business potential.

In India, the education counseling and career consulting industry is majorly unorganised. But due to growing awareness among students and parents, this industry is getting bigger and better. Career counseling and education consulting in India today is estimated to be around Rs. 1700 crore. A few players across the industry have taken the initiative to make this industry organised. Read on to know more about those brands:

Brain Checker Techno Services, established in 2007 is a revolutionary concept in the field of career and education counseling. Currently working with over 28+ international schools, 140+ franchisees and 32 master franchisees in India, it earns an annul turnover of over Rs. 5 crore. “Our holistic report, prepared for each child encompasses a 32 page detailed analysis of the child's inert abilities and recommended career options which provide a through point by point evaluation of the core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and potential,” says Karan Deshmukh, Executive Vice President- Business Development, Brain Checker Techno Services. The concept of Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT) is an amalgamation of two concepts, namely Dermatoglyphics which is the study of fingerprints as coined by Dr. Harold Cummins and Multiple Intelligence as coined by Dr. Howard Gardner. DMIT test is based on the principle that everyone has eight inert intelligences in varying degree. While some display extremely high logical abilities, others may display extremely good interpersonal skills. An IQ test evaluates a child's core potential by purely evaluating on just 1/8th of his/her available intelligence. However, Brain Checker DMIT conducts a holistic evaluation of a child or an adult on eight parameters using the non-manipulative technique of evaluating finger prints.

Indian Education Services (IES) was founded in 2008. It renders reliable and personalised services to parents and students. It provides scientific career counseling and admission guidance to students based on aptitude, interest and personality. The brand has a service called Brain Matrix Test which is a combination of DMIT and psychometric test. Brain Matrix Test employs scientifically approved and tested methods to map both inborn and acquired intelligences of an individual based on which suitable career is advised to the students. Raghav Mantri, Founder, IES says, “Since there are not many organised players we want to take it as an opportunity to at least capture 30 per cent market share.”

Career Placements is another player in the career consultancy. The brand provides guidance to job seekers across platforms and helps them in chalking out a career map for themselves. “We have been into operation since 1995. Through the medium of Career Placements, we wish to ensure that our customers are continuously moving in the right direction,” says Ravi Mirchandani, Director, Career Placements.

Franchising – a means to grow and expand

Franchising being a proven and viable means of growth and expansion has helped the brands in capturing this untapped segment of career and education oriented counseling. Mirchandani of Career Placements says, “We have growth plans and wish to take our presence to 100 cities. Franchising is apt for my brand as it is the best way to increase the team size without investing in salaries and employees.” Franchise route helps brands to reach out to a wider population. Deshmukh of Brain Checker Techno Services explains, “Counseling is a highly localised activity. Parents ideally prefer the counselor to be located within their city and preferably near to their locality. This creates a challenge for professional counseling services and franchising helps a brand dwell deeper.”

Training the right way

Mantri of IES explains, “Comprehensive training on complete services is provided to all the franchisees at their location. Training is given on different business aspects like operations, accounting, information technology, human resource, technical aspects as well as sales and marketing, which helps the franchisees to operate with ease in their territory and generate profits.” In terms of support,  IES provides assistance in site selection, office set-up and in initiation of operations. Apart from this, it helps the franchisees in designing and executing the national level marketing strategies, where in, it supports the franchisees in designing and implementing the local marketing activities required for their respective area.

Career Placements provides start up training and full technical support to the franchisees. Operational processes involving reporting formats, database management and incentives regulation is also offered. Ongoing business development guidance and continuous support throughout the operations is the brand’s key concern.

Risen and rising

In this coming year IES is looking forward to open 15 new franchise outlets in India. The brand is looking at tier II cities for expansion. Presently, it has a total of 11 outlets. Out of these, 10 are franchisee run and one is company owned. Brain Checker Techno Services is targeting 5000 franchise outlets and 500 master franchises in India by 2019. It is aiming to achieve 500 franchisees by December, 2014. Career Placements is present in Goa, Nashik and Pune. It has four franchise units and one company owned. It aims to grow its business in 100 cities and take the number of their franchisees to 15 by December, 2014. It has two overseas units and is targeting the US, Gulf and EEC countries.

A long way to go

Over the coming years this industry will be at par with that in the US and UK where education consultants are a part of decision making in every family. Also with the growing number of students coming from Asian countries in India for academic purpose coupled with large youth population and rising disposable income at domestic level, this industry which by nature is evergreen is expected to double itself year over year.

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