Teachings from the masters of Indian education sector

At the Franchise India 2016, we witnessed many edupreneurs share insights at the education session ‘The rising tide of edupreneurs changing the future of education business’.

We’ve got 10 key takeaways from the session featuring an eminent panel with Shreevats Jaipuria, Vice Chairman, Jaipuria Group; Amit Agrawal, Chairman, Times & Trends Academy; S.K.Rathor, Managing Director, Sanfort Group of Schools; Dr. Narendra Shyamsukha, Chairperson, ICA Edu Skills Pvt ltd.; Atul Vohra, CEO, Reliance Education; J.P.Gaur, Director-Principal, MVN Schools. The session was moderated by Suchindra Kumar, Director-Advisory Services, EY LLP.

Almost all the education sectors in India ranging from pre-school to higher education run on fee-based model where the complete fee is paid in advance. So the positive working capital adds to the lucrativeness of this sector.

An evergreen sector for aspiring edupreneurs

Suchindra initiated the discussion by giving an overview of the session. He presented a broader picture of India’s education sector explaining that this is the only sector with positive working capital and immune to ups and downs in the economy.

Ample opportunities in education industry

Education sector has various sectors namely pre-school,, K-12, higher education, skilling and coaching. Suchindra briefed that even though the industry is regulated by high government regulations, this doesn’t deter people from working around the regulations.

Quality education to make a difference

When expanding via franchising, established brands strive to provide the franchisees a platform to deliver quality education making sure it is cost effective and investor friendly. The big brands are also planning to enter Tier 2 and 3 cities.

Teacher training a must

To set and maintain an educational brand image, its human resource should be upskilled continuously. Proper training and necessary skills should be provided to teachers to keep them updated with the current trends prevailing in the education market.

Content matters

As education industry is all about content, good quality curriculum should be formed by schools in order to provide students with high quality learning. Good content helps in forming a reputed image of the brand in market.

Out of comfort zone

Edupreneurs need to form a well planned strategy to start their educational venture. It is required for them to step out of their comfort zones to make it big in the industry.

Forming legacy

Building a school does not imply running a business for 2-3 years but a legacy for 25 or more years. Thus, an edupreneur should keep in mind that he’ll/she’ll be teaching generations to come. This factor also helps with marketing of the brand through word-of-mouth from alumni, parents and many more.

Learnings from China

Narendra Shyamsukha explained that to catch up with China’s fast pace of growth in education, we need to dedicatedly work on our curriculum and maintain consistent quality.

Don’t underestimate technology

With changing times we need to make proper use of technology for teaching purposes. As the younger generation is tech-savvy, neglecting technology in education would hamper the education brand.

So keeping in mind the points above, one should go ahead with their entrepreneurial venture and tap the bountiful opportunities present in this sector.