Promoting education with a difference!

With the aim to provide professional education, Infoglobal came into existence and created    awareness among generations to deviate from the traditional means of education. In an interview, Mayank Bengani, Director, Infoglobal shares the inception, growth and success of the company.

Abha Garyali (AG): Share with us the inception, growth and success of Infoglobal.

Mayank Bengani (MB): Infoglobal was started in 1998 with the vision to improve the standards of the education sector. Initially we had only three centres in south India. At present, we have more than 50 institutes in south India covering cities like Karnataka, Kerela, Chennai and Hyderabad. We are also expanding in north India and have established our logisitics office in Noida. We plan to see more than 100 centres within one year.

AG: What inspired you to start Infoglobal? When and what motivated you to take the franchise route for expansion?

MB: The development of the education industry in India and internationally encouraged us to enter this field. We were positive to start all courses under one roof. We succeeded in it and therefore motivated us to adopt the franchise route as we were confident that we need to develop a network to expand our business.

AG: Do you face any competition as there are many players in the education sector? What strategies have you employed for handling competition?

MB: Competition has been the best thing to keep us going. It has definitely motivated us to work with a strategy to be different from other players in the same sector. We develop strategies to increase our standards for the betterment of our franchisees also. We provide best service to our franchisees. Moreover, we continuously up grade ourselves keeping in mind about the market trends.

AG: What are the various courses in the portfolio of Infoglobal? What is the USP of the company?

MB: We offer various courses like fashion designing, interior designing, and jewellery designing. We also provide vocational courses in taxation, computers (hardware and software) as well as in multimedia. We have courses with duration ranging from two months to two years.

AG: Do you think that franchising has played an important role in the success of the company? How it has done so?

MB: Franchising has and will always play an important role as we aim to have our presence not only in India but even overseas. We have done our homework so that we can confidently enter the foreign markets without any hurdles.

AG: How many franchisees do you have and in which cities in India? What are your future plans for expansion?

MB: We have approximately 20 franchisees all over major cities of India like Jamshedpur, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Kerela, Chennai, and Mumbai. We are looking forward for a State master franchisee for each State. I am confident to have more than 100 centres within two years. We have waited and studied the market to develop our aggressive expansion plans.

AG: What are the qualities and qualifications that you look for in your franchisees? How much investment is required by aspiring franchisees?

MB: We are basically seeking professionals as our business partners. Being professionals they can come up with quality in education and training in various courses. Investments required depends on the kind of model that a franchisee selects. We have two models: State Master Franchisee and Authorised Training Centre.

AG: What support and training do you provide to your franchisees?

MB: Infoglobal has a reputation for housing the best academic team since last 12 years of operation. Infoglobal assists its business partners right from recruitment to training of the faculty. All our courses are in the e-content form for Infoglobal. This not only helps standardise the delivery of courses, but also lessens the personnel dependency for the business partners. The franchisee gets promotional and PR support from the company on a regular basis. We also support our franchisees at the time of placement in the industry.

AG: What are the challenges that can be faced by a franchisee of Infoglobal? How can they overcome these challenges?

MB: One of the biggest challenges is to get well qualified and expert professionals as faculty. However, Infoglobal helps in recruiting and training the professionals for their business partners.