How a You Tube coach from a village in UP built a Rs 24 crore turnover edtech brand in Delhi

 

Vivek Kumar, which comes from a small village in Uttar Pradesh, fought many battles to build its brand that today plans to train thousands of young aspirants at government work ranging from prestigious civilian services to various positions Inge is the eldest amongst four siblings. He has a younger sister and twin brothers. His father is serving in Indian Navy as a Sinai and his mother is a farmer.

As a young boy, he would run away from school, but his grandfather ensured that his literacy and mathematics skills were excellent.“I studied in the village school till Class Eight. I was scared of attending school, because I used to get beaten up by teachers.“So I would bunk school, hide in the farms, roam around during school hours and return home in the evening,” reminisces Vivek of his childhood days in the pastoral settings of his village.“But my grandfather would teach me the subjects daily for two to three hours at home.

He taught me basic Math, reading, and to translate from English to Hindi and vice versa. Thus, despite not attending school, I would always score well. His interest in his studies has changed after his family moved it to an English school in the city of Bulandshahr in new class. Tech, focused on fulfilling his father's dream of getting a good government job. "I moved to Delhi to join a coaching center.

“But my grandfather would teach me the subjects daily for two to three hours at home. He taught me basic Maths, reading, and to translate from English to Hindi and vice versa. Thus, despite not attending school, I would always score well.”

In October 2017, I decided to teach part-time in the same establishment that I was preparing for", says Vivek, retracing his career as a teacher and then as a coach of YouTube. "I had to be thorough with my subject to dispel students' doubts. I started to love teaching and realized it was a noble way to give back to society. Meanwhile, in December 2017, the results of exams came out from the sub-inspector and Vivek canceled them. He decided to go back to his village to prepare for the physical exam, because there were large spaces where he could practice.

"In June 2018, I started making YouTube videos on important topics for the sub-inspector exam, and they became an instant hit with students while teaching the vernacular,” he says.“By October 2018, I decided to shift to Delhi, as I was experiencing connectivity issues in my village. By then, I had a 10member team with me, and we taught various subjects.

“Though it was an English medium school, the teachers taught in Hindi and I was able to cope up. I became active in co-curricular activities, and overcame the language barrier and honed my skills.”

In Delhi, an education portal invested Rs 5 lakh in the business, and they bought laptops, computers and high end cameras.“I invested Rs 90,000. They looked after the technical aspects while I handled the content. They rented an apartment in Indra Vikas Colony in Mukherjee Nagar on the outskirts of Delhi.“We used one room for accommodation, where about 15 of our teachers stayed.

“In the coming years, the internet will penetrate the villages of India, thus we can expect vernacular learning will be the need of the hour. In the next three years, 55 crore people will join the internet, and we are aiming at 5 crore potential students amongst them,” 

The other two rooms were used to record videos,” says Vivek. By January 2019, the channel got one million subscribers. That’s when he got the news that he had been selected for the subinspector post. He decided not to join and focus instead on his business.

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