Entry level talent Management!
Organisations also dealing with placements of students and job seekers are many in this market but Organisations building professional skills, gearing up the students for their first job are rare to see. One of which is PurpleLeap. PurpleLeap is the brainchild of Amit Bansal. YourStory had a conversation with Amit where he talked about his entrepreneurial aspirations.
What is PurpleLeap all about?
PurpleLeap is a Educomp-Pearson company and is into entry level talent management. Educomp, India's leading education experts and Pearson, world leader in education have strategic investments in PurpleLeap. PurpleLeap specializes in building professional skills amongst students gearing up for their first jobs. Going beyond skill enhancement, PurpleLeap provides multiple placement opportunities to these students by tying up with the leading organizations. All programs are delivered at the Career Centre's established by PurpleLeap at the college site itself. In a tech-enabled environment, students interact with subject-matter experts over satellite & internet.
What basic idea do you think purpleLeap follows?
There is a huge gap between the talent expectation from the industry and the talent that Indian academic system is producing. We are providing solutions to bridge this gap.
What sets you apart?
The big difference that they bring to the table is that, they set up Career Centre’s (at their own cost) inside each college that they have a tie-up with. These Career Centre’s have all facilities to train students within the college itself and get them ready for placements, typically in IT / ITES firms. The students have the advantage of getting industry ready while still in college and do not have to look for Training Institutes / Finishing Schools outside the college. For the College, it is like having a Finishing School as part of their campus!
PurpleLeap also has tie-ups with Companies to provide Hiring & Training services. They help companies acquire quality talent and reduce hiring and training costs. This makes it a win-win for both students and companies. Students get trained and placed while companies get access to industry ready talent. PurpleLeap also helps colleges that they have tied-up with, in having a far superior placement record by focusing on the three critical skills of Problem Solving, Communication and Technical Skills. Partnership approach with colleges and technology leverage to ensure that the quality does not suffer with scale.
What is your target audience?
The target audience is 3 million graduate students joining the workforce every year. Make Indian Students Employable - by the time the student comes out of the college, the student should be employment ready!
Why entrepreneurship and why not a regular job?
Entrepreneurship gives an opportunity to create business value that is manifolds higher than what a regular 9-5 job gives. The kick of creating an organization that can shape the future of education in India help us to stick on.
Any mistakes or challenges so far?
Education industry is quite heavily dependent on people. Attracting good people has been one of biggest challenges for us.
We keep looking out for people who have a passion for transforming student’s lives.
And the biggest mistake has been to rely heavily on a single product for too long.
What is the present scenario? And what are your future plans?
In a young company, the growth takes place by multiples (5-10x). We also have had similar growth trajectory. We are about 85 employees and 100 distribution points. I wish to see more than one lakh students getting benefit from our offerings.
What has purpleLeap achieved so far?
Every step in the organization is an achievement. The biggest achievement is that we are solving the problem of quality education in India through our services and solutions. We get recognized every day by our students and organizations that employ this talent.
What advice would you like to give to the coming entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurship is not a sprint. So, while it is extremely important that you run fast, be aware that you will need to run like this for long. Lot of people who think that entrepreneurship is all about creating something in 2-3 years and then move on, may feel disappointed in real. Capital is still quite difficult for start-ups. Most of the so called early stage VCs, are actually looking for companies that need stage 2 funding. Raising half a million dollar is more difficult than raising 10 million dollars.
YourStory wishes Amit Bansal and PurpleLeap all the very best for their future.
