Profits @ Pal India

At Pal India Computer Education, it is believed that only quality teaching can widen the network of students. The institute doesn’t merely exist to teach, but to help its students learn, define and realise their dreams. Besides set-up program modules, it provides custom made courses to suit the requirements. In a tête-à-tête with Ekta Sharma Verma, Binal Rathod, Director, PAL India computer Education talked about the growth plans of her brand and how their programs are enriching learning experience of thousands of students in  India.

How your brand started and what was the inspiration?

Ours is Rs 0 Brand literally. Our belief is, with quality training success definitely follows.  We started, by taking over Vile Parle (Mumbai) branch from a friend, and then started multiplying. In just three years time, we were ten branches strong from where we decided on taking the franchise route.

What strategies you employ to maintain the standards of your company?

We never compromise on quality. Student’s satisfaction is of utmost importance to us. Pal – India means friend of India, we do anything and everything that favours our country. We have an infrastructure in place that keeps track of quality being provided, which is monitored now and again.

What are the future expansion strategies?

We wish to cater computer education, spoken English and graduation program to all our countrymen. By setting Master Franchisees for any particular district first and then setting local franchisee in that District, we wish to expand steadily. At this moment we are concentrating on Western Region (Namely Maharashtra, Gujarat & Goa).

What are the basic requirements to become a franchise partner?

The very first requirement from our partner is inclination towards providing quality education. Graduation in any stream with knowledge in the field of computer will be an added bonus.

How does the brand’s franchise model could benefit aspiring entrepreneurs?

We have a low-cost, high return model in place, which has proven its success from time to time. Our franchisee is a part of our family and we stand by him through thick and thin till the time he feels he is capable of running the show by himself.  We are looking for a partner, who can be our partner for generations.

What kind of opportunities and challenges are seen ahead in this sector, considering the franchise sector, which is getting bigger with time?

Computer Education is an ever growing field. Population of India is approx 125 crore and not even 5 per cent of the population is computer literate. Be it animation, software engineering, hardware engineering or financial accounting, specialisation for each would cost you approx Rs 35,000. The softwares are also completely revamped every three years. For e.g. people who were once trained in office 2007 will need to be re-trained for office 2010 or people who were working on CorelDraw X2 need to be re-trained for CorelDraw X6.

Kindly provide us your expansion plans for this year and coming years?

At this moment, we are looking to expand in Western Region by making Master Franchisee in each District of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. Other regions will be planned after two years.

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