On a nippy winter morning in 2012, the lobby of Manipal’s Valley View hotel looked unusually busy. The visitors seemed like students, armed with satchels and notebooks. Some engaged in animated conversations. Others, with all the gravity befitting an earnest student, pored over their notebooks. Ranjan Pai was intrigued.
The chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group learned from the hotel manager that some coaching class for management entrance tests was being held. That, this has been going on for a couple of years. That, about 800 students have been attending those sessions. That strikingly big number was enough for an astute businessman like Pai to sit up and take note. He went about looking for the person at the helm of the drive.
Pai vividly recalls minute details of his first meeting with Byju Raveendran that day. “He was humble but extremely confident,” says Pai.
That morning, over coffee, Raveendran sold Pai a story. A story of how a small-town boy from Azhikode, a coastal village in the Kannur district of Kerala, aced maths as a subject, kept acing the much-vaunted Common Entrance Test (CAT) as a hobby, and how his pedagogy became so popular in a few years that he was constrained to book halls and auditoriums to make space for his ever-expanding student base. Also, he ran a profitable show with an annual turnover of ₹4-5 crore.
The braggadocio apart, Pai had spotted a potential gold mine. By the end of the day, he made an offer to invest in the venture, only if Raveendran could figure out a way to move his business completely online.
In about two weeks, Raveendran came back with a plan, and a proposal for Pai to invest ₹50 crore into his company. “I literally fell off the chair,” he recalls. “I was expecting him to ask for about ₹10-12 crore. He was also expecting a high valuation. I told him the ask was too high for a company of his size.”
Bu hikaye Forbes India dergisinin December 27, 2019 (Richlist) sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Forbes India dergisinin December 27, 2019 (Richlist) sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Home-Cooked Meal Is Now Greatly Valued
The pandemic has also brought with it an improved focus on hygiene, use of technology in dining, rise of cloud kitchens and resurgence in popularity of Indian ingredients
Paytm 3.0 - Reaching Near Breakeven In Two Years
As of 2020, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s super app for financial services had run up losses in thousands of crores. Now, as digital payments gets yet another boost courtesy Covid-19, he’s hopeful of reaching near breakeven in two years
THE PANDEMIC HAS CAUSED WOMEN GREATER LABOUR PAIN
Covid-19 has shown that women are more likely to face the brunt of job losses than men, and find fewer opportunities when they want to resume. That apart, several have to deal with increased hours of unpaid work at home and even domestic abuse
LEADERSHIP WILL BE ABOUT SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE
Leaders must not only guard their teams first during a crisis, but also deal with stakeholders with respect and dignity. And apart from pursuing business goals, they should remain committed to our planet and the environment
PHILANTHROPY SHOULD BE HUMBLE, BUT NOT MODEST
Apart from building a flexible and resilient framework for the future, philanthropists, civil society and the government must work in tandem so that every rupee is absorbed on the ground
INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE, TECH WILL DISRUPT SECTOR
While clinical research will get a boost, having a skilled workforce and public spending on health care will be challenges in the near term
DIGITALISATION WILL HELP IN VALUE CREATION
As the pandemic brings technology and innovation to the core of business and daily life, the next decade will see about 150 million digital-first families in India
Industry 4.0: Climate Revolution?
Augmenting sustainability alongside digital capabilities is an economic, competitive and global opportunity for India’s businesses, but regulations need to reflect intent
EV Dream Still Miles Away
Electric vehicles have remained a buzzword in India for years. But not much has moved on ground due to high upfront costs, range anxiety and charging infrastructure
Living Waters
A virus has caused us to scramble for oxygen but our chokehold on the environment is slowly strangling the very waters that breathe life into us. The virus is a timely reminder: We are merely consumers, not producers of life’s breath on this planet
