The idea of starting the company germinated when a group of friends experienced high employee turnover in their engineering company. They had to pour a huge sum of money training their new staffs and make them fit for the work. But soon, after getting trained, the employees were switching for other organizations that paid a higher amount of salary. In the course, they thought of starting a training institute to later hire the trainees in their company itself. The very institute has now evolved to be a premier education marketplace in Nepal.
In that scenario, Edushala started with a mission to be a platform to share their expertise and work-skills to the educated graduates. At Edushala, they bring instructors and experts and prepare a package of a specific course on the basis of their core methodologies, and market it to organizations and individuals.
Kick-started on September 5, 2013, with a vibrant team from different skillsets ranging from education and content designing/developing to marketing and sales; they first conducted activity trainings for the school teachers by utilizing the portfolio and the resources available with them, which was a huge success.
“In the beginning, it was hard to sell the idea in Nepali market, as the courses don’t provide one with degrees or certificates,” recalls Ruchin Singh, the Managing Director of the company. “But soon, we focused on developing the brand ‘Edushala’ creating a buzz in the town, and, in the course, got to work with some big clients including ICIMOD and others, developing curriculum and contents for kids,” he shares.
Coming this far, Singh recalls how they had to go through a lot of pitfalls and face many speed breakers.
“The earthquake and the economic blockade last year hit us the hardest. We were about to work on a project by US Embassy, as part of which we were to deliver a weeklong soft-skills training session to the Kids in Gorkha and four other districts. We were just one month to go for the training when the earthquake happened. The economic blockade was the next speed breaker in the process. The programme that we were very excited for was making us to suffocate. We wanted it to end as soon as possible. The project that was to be completed in a week prolonged for almost a year,” shares Singh.
The other challenge in the organization was all the co-founders leaving from the organization. After that, four other team-members also left the company, causing a big void. Singh remembers this as the one of the most stressful moments in his life.
“Then, the formation of a new team happened. It brought new energy and passion in the organization giving a better output. As the saying goes, there is always sunshine after a rainy day and there is light at the end of the tunnel, they almost caused a magic, making the company thriving once again,” Singh shares the happiness on getting the vibrant new team.
Though they had mainly focused on social impacts and brand building in the beginning, they now have focused more on the revenue growth side. At present, they have actively been working with the corporate and international organizations, though still looking for growth as an educational marketplace, keeping that essence alive by conducting skills-improvement classes with instructors and experts more often. “Along with this, we have also prioritized on the branding part of the company and reaching the mass with various activities including monthly workshop series, and other programmes especially centered towards youths. These activities, though do not generate much revenue to the organization, have helped create a buzz, helping the branding,” Singh informs.
The organization is also launching a computer-based test system in Nepali market very soon.
Along with engaging the local audience, they are also planning to reach out to a global mass. For this, they have been busy making online videos, of the standards as set by Udemy, a marketplace for online learning. “We hope that the ‘Rock That Speech’, our online course on public speaking, that is going to be launched later this year on the Udemy platform, will help us reach a global mass, and take the learning process to a next level,” he expresses hopes from the next project of Edushala.
Entrepreneurship, as he says, is not a thing to try. “One needs to think at least for 10 times before starting anything. Startup is not an easy thing to do. Do a proper risk analysis. If the work is just a hobby for you, don’t do it. You need to be ready to face all the challenges lying ahead. Have all the skillsets and market knowledge before starting. Have an entrepreneurial mindset. Build a good team that works. Then only you can start. Most of the startups have failed. So, learn from their failure stories,” he suggests the emerging entrepreneurs.
Photos Courtesy: Edushala
Presented By: Basanta Kumar Dhakal
