Sometimes a change in strategy and focus midway to drive an idea just may be enough for a budding entrepreneur to succeed. Hyderabad-based e-learning solutions provider, Next Education, proves this point.
Set up in 2007 by four IITians, the company withstood setbacks and reoriented itself to become a ₹160 crore company with 1,700 employees.
“I feel that learning from failures and re-adapting ourselves to market demands made us successful,’’ says Beas Dev Ralhan, Chief Executive Officer and one of the founders of the firm.
The founders decided on the field of business after much due diligence. “As retail, education, health and finance contribute 80 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, we zeroed in on these areas. We have a good technology background and know about the education system. Hence, we thought that a profound mix of the two will make a great business idea,’’ Ralhan says.
The first product, Learn Next, was launched after nearly two years but failed.
“This was the biggest challenge. We realised that students in India do not decide what to study. They are simply guided by the teachers. The focus of the company then shifted from the student to the teacher,’’ he says.
The second product, Teach Next, targeted at teachers, was a huge success and there was no looking back. It is a flagship product with over 6,000 schools across the country using it.
An enterprise resource planning product for schools and books from the pre-primary to the fifth standard have been launched and elicited a good response. “Now, we are a complete education solutions provider,” Ralhan says.
Turnover targetNext Education broke even last year with a ₹2 crore profit and hopes to close the current financial year with a similar profit and ₹200 crore turnover.
“Fortunately, we have not faced any problems and have invested ₹300 crore so far. The perception about start-ups has been changing positively. If a business idea is good, money will keep flowing,’’ says Ralhan.