The Climber: Helping students 'climb' the wall of success

At a time when startups are dotting all possible sectors, the education sector does not seem immune to the trend as well — that too when it comes to doing things unconventionally.

In 2013, when five college undergraduates — Mohammed Zeeshan (CEO), Sameer Ramesh (CPO), Ruhan Madni Naqash (CMO), Fatema Hussain (Creative Director), and Asad Dhamani (CTO) — started ‘The Climber’, they never knew they would come so far ahead.

The Climber is an EdTech company, incubated in IIM Bangalore, claims that it helps students discover and pursue their passions. The main product of the company is MyCaptain — an online youth mentoring platform where they connect school students and college graduates to young achievers in their fields of interest. “These young achievers, who are under the age of 25, guide them in a month-long online mentorship programme,” says Naqash.

For its contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to education, MyCaptain was recognised as one of the Top 50 youth-led solutions in the world by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in its report. “In the long run, MyCaptain will enable students from different nations to share ideas, learn new skills, and not only become employable, but also turn entrepreneurs who can solve the issues their societies face and generate employment for others,” the UN Report says.

Naqash reminisces that it was a hostel room discussion just a day before an exam that the idea of starting The Climber came into existence.

“In India, graduate unemployment is a big problem. This is mostly because there is saturation in certain sectors and students are coerced into taking these career paths up. This has also led to mental health problems and general dissatisfaction among the youth who would rather have made informed career choices if given the right avenues,” he adds on what they are trying to address through this startup.

The startup, which has a total team of 18, also has a student organisation with a strength of 300 students, spread all over India.
Claiming to have impacted more than 40,000 students all across India so far, the company has mentored more than 4,500 students so far. “We are not into career counselling, just mentorship, and we believe the latter is more viable than the former as a solution,” Naqash says.

The startup, which has been bootstrapped till now, is not looking to raise in the near future either. “We were in talks with investors for seed funding, but we chose to go the traditional bootstrapped way because it helps us explore opportunities more,” Naqash adds.

The company is also looking at targeting school students specifically and creating impact from the grass-root levels itself now.