Kamal Nayan Sharma: Committed To Providing World-Class Education & Producing Influential Leaders In A Wide Range Of Fields
Kamal Nayan Sharma
CEO
Preschool is essential for children because it provides them with the opportunity to acquire important social, intellectual, and life skills that will serve them well throughout their educational and professional careers. A child's sense of self worth develops here from an early age.
The importance of one's own identity, family, and friends is taught to a young child. Every child develops his or her communication skills with instructors and peers in the preschool years. Nayan Sharma, foreseeing this need, founded eduMETA Edutech India with the intention of providing the greatest education to the largest number of children possible.
eduMETA is a well established company that opened 20+ locations in its first year with the intention of democratizing access to high-quality, low-cost, innovative education. Nayan thinks that students do best when they have a firm grasp on both the how and the why of their education. By proactively establishing high standards for social contribution, responsibility, and accountability to a larger good, eduMETA is differentiating itself within the education industry by demonstrating a new way of doing business that benefits our students, families, and schools.
Nayan, who has varied educational expertise, offers a superior educational platform at an affordable price for kids. Instead of sitting for standardized exams, eduMETA participates in an intelligence-building program developed just for children. eduMETA is a product line with the aim of improving children's lives by increasing their intelligence.
The iMATH and iKID programs are the two main offerings for kids aged 4-14. Knowledge is vital, but eduMETA also thinks children's ability to be creative is crucial. The educational approach used here not only equips the student with facts but also encourages him or her to think beyond the box.
Below is an excerpt of Nayan’s exclusive interaction with CEO Insights magazine.
What factors influenced you to establish eduMETA Edutech India? And what drives you today?
In 2018, we launched eduMETA EduTech India, and in response
to rising demand we introduced a franchise model. Although we were a new firm, my 17 years of expertise in the education field proved beneficial as we opened 10 to 15 franchisees in various locations before the pandemic hit.
As a result of the positive feedback, we received after the COVID and the success of our online education initiative, we have expanded our reach throughout the whole country of India and even beyond to other nations such as the US, Japan, and Germany.
Thanks to the enthusiastic support of Indian parents and the influx of inter -national students, we've expanded to 300+ locations around the country and have a presence in 23 states.
While preparing to launch our company, we discovered that many other brands already exist in the educational sector; however, the issue is that they charge the franchisee, and the franchisees are actually not surviving due to the loss of expenditures and fees.
In Tier-II cities, for example, the fees might range from Rs. 30,000-40,000, which is a significant burden for most families. To address this issue, we launched eduMETA Edutech India on a modest budget, and we don't take a cut of the profits.
And that is the forte at heart: Zero Sharing Franchise model on which our institutions are founded. That's why we're eager to roll out our education platform to as many families as possible: to make quality education more convenient and affordable.
Highlight the responsibilities you have to handle as a CEO. How are you leading eduMETA EduTech India to address the present gaps in the Indian education segment?
In my role as the Chief Executive Officer of a young company, I am fully prepared to shoulder the weight of our collective responsibilities. The eduMETA family has grown to 62 members this year, from just 15-20 the year before. We have all the standard divisions, and although I am sometimes tasked with assisting in other divisions, I am mostly responsible for managing innovative ideas.
Regarding the gaps that eduMETA addresses, there are two major shortcomings that we are addressing. As a result, despite the fact that our students come from a wide variety of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, we provide each of them with the same comprehensive set of academic support services.
A student focused strategy, to be precise. Second in any online learning environment, students who miss classes are expected to make up the work on their own time or just not complete it at all. However, we do not take this
As a result of the positive feedback, we received after the COVID and the success of our online education initiative, we have expanded our reach throughout the whole country of India and even beyond to other nations such as the US, Japan, and Germany.
Thanks to the enthusiastic support of Indian parents and the influx of inter -national students, we've expanded to 300+ locations around the country and have a presence in 23 states.
In my role as the Chief Executive Officer of a young company, I am fully prepared to shoulder the weight of our collective responsi- bilities
While preparing to launch our company, we discovered that many other brands already exist in the educational sector; however, the issue is that they charge the franchisee, and the franchisees are actually not surviving due to the loss of expenditures and fees.
In Tier-II cities, for example, the fees might range from Rs. 30,000-40,000, which is a significant burden for most families. To address this issue, we launched eduMETA Edutech India on a modest budget, and we don't take a cut of the profits.
And that is the forte at heart: Zero Sharing Franchise model on which our institutions are founded. That's why we're eager to roll out our education platform to as many families as possible: to make quality education more convenient and affordable.
Highlight the responsibilities you have to handle as a CEO. How are you leading eduMETA EduTech India to address the present gaps in the Indian education segment?
In my role as the Chief Executive Officer of a young company, I am fully prepared to shoulder the weight of our collective responsibilities. The eduMETA family has grown to 62 members this year, from just 15-20 the year before. We have all the standard divisions, and although I am sometimes tasked with assisting in other divisions, I am mostly responsible for managing innovative ideas.
Regarding the gaps that eduMETA addresses, there are two major shortcomings that we are addressing. As a result, despite the fact that our students come from a wide variety of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, we provide each of them with the same comprehensive set of academic support services.
A student focused strategy, to be precise. Second in any online learning environment, students who miss classes are expected to make up the work on their own time or just not complete it at all. However, we do not take this
tack, and we will instead take an additional session to reteach any student who has missed a class on the eduMETA platform.
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far. How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
We struggled mightily in the beginning, to establish a widespread profile throughout India due to a lack of publicity. However, during COVID we provided preschool education to around 3,000 kids in the first year and to 8,000 students in the second year. The exposure provided by our parents was crucial in overcoming this difficulty. The lack of access to funds was the second difficulty we encountered. The challenge of finding investors was equally significant.
How do you maintain the perfect balance between your personal and professional life? What is your success mantra?
My wife is now assisting me in managing the school network, therefore I am working around the clock with her. The two spheres of our lives, work, and play, are so very different, yet we do manage to carve out some time for ourselves. However, at the moment I am completely devoted to managing the preschool network we have, and I find that doing so gives me renewed vitality. This is more like playtime for me than work.
Going forward, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
The median age in India is just 24-26 for marriage, and most households have two kids at the most. In India where 70 percent of the population resides in rural areas, preschool was not previously well-known, but this is beginning to change. There fore, the top five players control between 9 and 10 percent of the market capitalization; these companies have a shown ability to succeed in the market, but they are 20 years old names.
What will be your advice for budding professionals and entrepreneurs in the education and training domain?
In each field, you have to either know why you're there or how to help the industry out. Focus on finding the source of any social problem and design solutions based on it. Anyone who follows these steps will eventually succeed.
Kamal Nayan Sharma, CEO, Edumeta Edutech India
Nayan has extensive expertise as both an entrepreneur and a professional in the field of education. He has two Master of Business Administration degrees, one in International Marketing from AIIMS Chennai and another in Finance and Marketing from IPS Academy Indore. He has also successfully completed the YEP from IIM-A. Nayan has competence in a wide variety of areas, including analysis, mentoring, trading, and strategic planning.
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far. How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
We struggled mightily in the beginning, to establish a widespread profile throughout India due to a lack of publicity. However, during COVID we provided preschool education to around 3,000 kids in the first year and to 8,000 students in the second year. The exposure provided by our parents was crucial in overcoming this difficulty. The lack of access to funds was the second difficulty we encountered. The challenge of finding investors was equally significant.
How do you maintain the perfect balance between your personal and professional life? What is your success mantra?
My wife is now assisting me in managing the school network, therefore I am working around the clock with her. The two spheres of our lives, work, and play, are so very different, yet we do manage to carve out some time for ourselves. However, at the moment I am completely devoted to managing the preschool network we have, and I find that doing so gives me renewed vitality. This is more like playtime for me than work.
Going forward, what are the changes in market behavior that you anticipate, and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
The median age in India is just 24-26 for marriage, and most households have two kids at the most. In India where 70 percent of the population resides in rural areas, preschool was not previously well-known, but this is beginning to change. There fore, the top five players control between 9 and 10 percent of the market capitalization; these companies have a shown ability to succeed in the market, but they are 20 years old names.
What will be your advice for budding professionals and entrepreneurs in the education and training domain?
In each field, you have to either know why you're there or how to help the industry out. Focus on finding the source of any social problem and design solutions based on it. Anyone who follows these steps will eventually succeed.
Kamal Nayan Sharma, CEO, Edumeta Edutech India
Nayan has extensive expertise as both an entrepreneur and a professional in the field of education. He has two Master of Business Administration degrees, one in International Marketing from AIIMS Chennai and another in Finance and Marketing from IPS Academy Indore. He has also successfully completed the YEP from IIM-A. Nayan has competence in a wide variety of areas, including analysis, mentoring, trading, and strategic planning.