JOIN USThrough a virtual journey
Remember the time when you were looking for the perfect course for your bachelor’s degree and couldn’t decide which institution to opt for? Or that other time when your cousin who topped scores in the Board exams was clueless about which stream to choose? Helping through this difficult journey of decisions and future plans, is the virtual online platform by three enterprising entrepreneurs — ‘Enrichexpo’.
The team comprising G S Sreekiran, former dean of Dayananda Sagar Institutions; Swati Bondia, a postgraduate student of management and the youngest entrepreneur in Karnataka (2015) and Jithin Sali, who has seven years of entrepreneurial experience, came together to give their vision a shape. Swati says, “We all have gone through this procedure, when things seemed uncertain and it was strenuous to take decisions on which institution one should study and which course to take. All of us, used to interact with educational institutions on a regular basis, and that’s when we realised the huge amount of money that is spent by these institutions too.”
Helping to cut down this kind of a huge expense was the primary goal and bridging the gap between the student and the educational institutions was the focus. “Sreekiran had a clear idea about how educational institutions functioned and this helped us to render to exactly what they wanted,” she says.
There are many students who seek admissions for engineering and medicine stream but drop out during the course of time or end up not getting a preferred job. “Students are often confused about selecting the right career and developing the required skill sets, which leads to alarming rates of depression etc,” she says. This was another challenge the team wanted to address to. Swati and her team aim to clear this air with their startup.
Under the banner of Next Best Solutions (NBS), this startup seeks to provide end-to-end support to students and even parents. “The platform aims to identify one’s capacities by a specialised centre called ‘Center for Learning and Advanced Preparation’ (CLAP) in Pre-University colleges, Plus 2 school and High School education. A unique ‘Career Potential Assessment Test (CPAT)’, an online potential assessment and career direction test, helps analyse one’s interest and capabilities. This is supported with 13 to15 workshops for students and parents, where parents are trained to become good mentors. We also provide counsellors and a counselling hotline for students and parents for daily support,” she details.
Once the potential of a student and his or her possible career path has been identified, the platform helps showcase possible institutions that fit one’s geographical demands across the country. “A prospective student sitting in Kolkata would be able to identify the best management or IT related course and institution for her in Bengaluru, with this space. The virtual education exhibition provides a student the option to directly interact with the institution through a virtual ‘Dynamic Smart Stall’ with faculty members, existing students and alumni, a virtual reality tour and even take a demo class,” says Swati.
The platform also provides options to check out scholarship programmes and other support options for students.
Moving to another part of the city or country can be taxing for the students and the parents.
The platform also provides solutions in respect to places of stay etc. “We interact with the alumni of institutions for suggestions of safe and ideal options one can go for,” says Swati. The trio go by guidelines, criteria, feedback and actual screening by the team, that helps sort the institutions and other affiliated needs for the students. “We want to make sure that a student’s journey is a smooth one to a bright career,” she says with a smile.