Vaanahaa is a Education Start Up working extensively to create employability while reducing the cost of recruitment for companies. It was founded by Satadru Chowdhury. Satadru Chowdhury has helped over 15000+ students across India and Globally. He has successfully conducted over 250+ training/motivational session for students at the premium institutes like IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, IIT Varanasi, IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, NIT Srinagar, NIT Warangal, NIT Trichy. Lets get to know more about Vaanahaa and its success story.
Vaanahaa Education and Innovation labs started with a vision of Transforming theoretical geniuses into practical engineers by making Learning and Networking Super Easy! India is a country with almost 10000+ Technical Institutes and 5000+ management school with appx 15lakh students graduating in a year.Our research says India is currently with 70million+ students and this fig going to increase almost 50-55% by the end of 2022.With this many students where my country is supposed to be the workforce of world’s engine but struggling provide enough opportunities for this young learners.
Key Reasons for this Initiative:-
- Students are Theoretical Geniuses
- Lack of Practical Exposure
- Lesser Industry relevance Consequence :-
- Less job opportunities
- Less Salary
- Unhappy Recruitment
- Organizations spend a huge sum of money for recruitment and just to train
Vaanahaa is trying to address this problem by providing an end to end solution under a single roof by providing a complete marketplace for young learners. Vaanahaa was incorporated on 28th May, 2018 as a private limited entity and within one month it managed to acquire its first 100 customers.Since then Vaanahaa has been associated with over 30+ institutes across India and helped over 3000 students to get Industry Ready and that too within a year.
Here are some feedbacks Vaanahaa received at IIT Guwahati – https://youtu.be/R1BCFvPmlHc
Starting from nowhere Vaanahaa is now one of the most favourite portal for Engineering and Management students.The business model of Vaanahaa also got recognized and appreciated by Nasscom India,Kolkata Venture and Technopreneurs Surrogate Ventures an initiative taken by Techno India Group.
Using lean startup methodology, from zero money to 2-3Lakhs per month Vaanahaa is growing super fast both financially and as a brand and we are thankful to our incubators – Nasscom 10K Startup Initiative Kolkata, Kolkata Venture and Technopreneurs Surrogate Ventures an initiative taken by Techno India Group.
Tell us everything about your Education company, what does it do? What were the challenges of setting up and scale? How did you overcome them?
Vaanahaa is a comprehensive Education Platform and a collaborative learning environment. It is the place for everyone to find the Inspiration, Knowledge, Resources, Innovations & countless contingency they need at their best. With our vision intact we wanted to use technology in education to bring forth a disruptive positive impact, to no-vitiate Theoretical geniuses into Industry Experts, to make Quality education more accessible.
This is precisely the motto with which Vaanahaa have started a new endeavour. We went about inducting like; minded individuals, who are passionate about technology & education; and see the transformational power of it.
Limitless risks, limitless rewards! Most entrepreneurs are risk takers by nature. When choosing this career path, you leave security as a wage earner behind as well as extra time to spend with your family, all in order to create something new. Entrepreneurs should expect a tremendous number of bumps along the road of the unknown. In order to learn, you may have to make some mistakes, which typically entails planning on losing some money along the way. Although luckily till now Vaanahaa didn’t have to go through the roller coaster. With enough drive, however, Entrepreneurs have the privilege of building companies they believe in while reaping the fruits of their labor, which can be a very rewarding experience.
Give us a background of your core team along with the total strength of com.
Vaanahaa is a brainchild of our founder Mr.Satadru Chowdhury who is an Engineer with a vision of an entrepreneur to take up challenging and strategic leadership role to unlock the potentials with the strong commercial acumen and analytical skills While I have a comprehensive background, my emphasis is on rehabilitation and renovation. The motto of his life is to “Educate,Train and Develop students to make them capable of exploring themselves in better manner to perform regular tasks efficiently and effectively in extra extraordinary way to create wonderful working and living opportunity for them and society” He formed a team with a group of young (Freshers) who has no clue of how to startup but passionate about doing and changing the learning ecosystem of India. 2018 May,Satadru along with his partner in crime (life partner) Nabonita and younger brother Rup started a new journey to change the learning ecosystem of India.
You can see the details here: https://vaanahaa.com/about-us-vaanahaa/
Advisors & Mentors ; We are associated with some notable Advisors and Mentors from the industry. They are
Mr. Avelo Roy, MD Kolkata Ventures, CEO & MD Nearify, 3-times TEDx speaker, Guest lecturer at IITs & US universities
Mr. Meghdut Roychowdhury, Director of Global Operations at Techno India Group, Founder of Technopreneurs’ Surrogate Ventures, Founder and Curator-in-chief of O6eat CCU
Pauline Laravoire, Head of social Innovations at Technoprenedrs surrogate Ventures, Founder at Y-East, Co-founder of AQWA
Mr. Ravi Ranjan, Entrepreneurship Evangelist, Startup Expert, 2 Times TEDx Speaker, Ex NASSCOM /IAN/ Ennovent
Mr. Neeraj Krishna, CEO of Kolkata Ventures
Prof. Saad Parvez, Associate Professor and Head of IIED centre, NIT Srinagar
Mr. Ehsaan Adil, Technical Manager at Sama Building Services, Former Head of the Department and Senior Assistant Professor of Aurora’s Technological and Research Institute
Dr.Sanjay Kr Agarwal, Author, Certified NLP Trainer, Strategic Interventionist, Corporate Trainer
You can see the details here: https://vaanahaa.com/about-us-vaanahaa/
What is the business model of Vaanahaa.com and how does it work?
The business model of Vaanahaa is very simple to Make Quality Education Accessible and Affordable to the students who are currently pursuing their engineering education or management education or may be to someone finishing their graduation and post graduation getting rejected because of not having the relevant skills.
The main motto of Vaanahaa is to reduce skill gap and increase employability by promoting Project Based Learning,Innovation and through Networking.This platform Vaanahaa.com is currently providing over 150+ courses from IOT, Blockchain, AI,Machine Learning to Robotics for schools. The USP and most lovable point for a learner is Vaanahaa doesn’t have any inhouse trainer, rather it takes Industry Leader who is either running a business or working as an executive level in an organisation as teachers for it’s training program so that students can develop most in demand skills directly through working on live projects.This industry experts further help us to provide Internship to all the students to apply their knowledge further. At Vaanahaa your overall development starts when you join Vaanahaa and ends when you got a suitable job or start a new business. Learners also get career guidance and 1-1 mentorship life long directly from the experts. On the other hand companies who were spending a huge amount of money on skill development now recruiting interns from Vaanahaa unlike recruitment agencies Vaanahaa offers first month stipend/salary of recruits to all the recruiters to ensure Risk Free Recruitment.
What is the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors and what’s your revenue model
Today’s world requires employees to solve highly complex problems which require graduates to possess skills like collaboration, critical thinking, understanding customer requirements, adopting newer technologies, solving multi-disciplinary problems and creativity. Preparing students for such an environment requires more than lectures and examinations. It is important for students to not only gain theoretical understanding of concepts but also to possess skills needed to work in Industry.
Vaanahaa offers
Ø Project Based Learning
Ø Project Kits
Ø Industrial Exposure: Internship/Job opportunities
Ø Nearby – Event Information Portal
…as a complete marketplace working hard to reduce the gap between conventional classroom learning and actual requirements of industry. Students undergo activities involving framing the problem statement, self-learning, collaborating with team members, designing solutions, working hands-on to implement the solution and presenting the solution. In the meantime Vaanahaa encourage students for innovations to make them future leaders via its different offerings. Vaanahaa converts students into life- long learners who can further progress in their careers and not just land in their first jobs!
Like mentioned starting from Zero and using lean startup methodology Vaanahaa has now 30 colleges as it’s associate and over 3000 students across India who has subscribed to our offerings and that further helped us to generate 2-3 lakhs revenue per month these days.
Satadru Chowdhury What were the challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them?
Throughout the journey, we faced many challenges. Now also we are not fully successful as per our plan, we only achieved 10% success according to us. We have to cross 90% more. So during our first year, we have encountered so many problems; finances, what and how to do campaigns – because there were just too many people who say this and that and we got too overwhelmed. we don’t know how to build our customer lists and so on, the typical problems encountered by beginners. But good thing all of it ended when each member or pillars started to develop their own skills. Vaanahaa started with freshers who are having zero industry experience and as a leader it was Satadru Chowdhury who kept motivating and having faith in his team; also it’s a challenge for team to adapt new skills as well. They tried, tried hard, sometimes failed and learned from failures and fought back, eventually things are getting better everyday. This team is always ready to learn, unlearn and accept changes and challenges in business every day. They believe Knowledge is more important than money. Remember, lightning can strike you anytime, so be prepared is the only mantra for success. If you are in business, failure is bound to happen when you grow, no matter how well you plan. So be ready to face failure with grace, a person who never failed never tried anything new he is the biggest fool in this world. In the initial days of your business you need to work more physically and as you mature in business, you need to work more with your mind than body.
Satadru Chowdhury, How is your Education Start Up funded?
Although we are running bootstrapped but Vaanahaa has sponsored over 15 leading techno management fests across India worth Rs.14.5 Lakhs in last one year. Mentioning above to let you know Vaanahaa is an independent child now, who is capable of earning own bread and to create its brand without burning own pocket. So we are waiting for the right offer and the right people to join our board.
What are the services offered to the customers?
Direct Offerings:
- Project Based Learning
- Innovation Kits for Schools/Engineering Students
- Internship Opportunities
- Nearby Search for technical events/Seminars/Techfest
With all the paid services Vaanahaa offers end user support by providing a mentor and career guide who loves to work with students and would like to see them living their dreams.
What is your Future plan Satadru Chowdhury? And how do you see your Startup in the coming years?
“Aiming to be the Amazon for students”
Vaanahaa is all set to come up with its online offerings and to reach out to more number of students.Currently it is seeing growth of 2.51X comparing to last financial quarter but it’s just a beginning when you see such large numbers.
Our immediate next target to reach out to 100 colleges and on board students along with reaching to 10000 students by end of current financial year.
Finally Satadru Chowdhury your advice for Budding Entrepreneurs?
Focus on what problem you are solving. Don’t get carried away and start to add too many features & products to your business. Be crystal clear on the problem you are trying to solve and the best possible solution to fix the problem.
Listen to your users / customers. As much as possible, talk with your users: email, calls, skype calls. Get feedback about how they use your service, what could be improved, how to make a better solution for their problem. Understand their needs so that you can create something that adds value to them and therefore they won’t want to leave you.
Be relentless. Don’t give up as soon as something “doesn’t fit”, or “isn’t perfect”. You’re not going to make the right decisions all the time, sometimes you will make a mistake or make a bad decision. That’s fine, it happens! A true testament to a good entrepreneur is realising when you made a mistake, understand why you did it, quickly learn from it and develop into something else. Adapt. People and come to a brick wall or an outcome of a bad decision and give up. “well it wasn’t meant to work”, “the idea wasn’t good enough”, “the market wasn’t ready”. When in actual fact, the only reason why they won’t succeed is because of relentlessness. If you are 100% focussed on building your business then you will stop at nothing. If a problem occurs then you learn to get over it. Give your best shots and do whatever it takes.
Additional Information that you feel are relevant to describe your work / Company etc… (Between 300 – 600 Words).
To explore more about this start up (or) to get connected with Satadru Chowdhury, Mail – Startups@hrdots.com
Website: https://vaanahaa.com/ Linked In: https://in.linkedin.com/company/vaanahaa-education-and-innovation-labs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vaanahaa/
