Learning goes Experiential with venture LearnBiz, Hitesh Bhagia shares the gameplan

Hitesh Bhagia, co-founder of LearnBiz, left his comfortable job at Citibank India, to start a Business Simulation Games platform that would help MBA students by making their learning of subjects more dynamic and experiential. The idea of Simulation Games is popular in Western countries but did not have a presence in India. Being an MBA student himself, Hitesh could relate to the challenges faced by students in India and along with two other friends, Aakash and Akshit, developed this platform to help out students in need.With 50 registrations from different parts of the world without any direct reach-out effort within a month of launch of the site http://www.learnbizsimulations.com, Hitesh has big plans for LearnBiz moving forward. At YourStory, we spoke to Hitesh about his journey till now and what he aspires for LearnBiz and the MBA students’ community in India.Tell us about LearnBiz

At LearnBiz we make Business Simulation games for MBA students. These online games help make the learning process more dynamic and experiential. It’s an extremely cost effective solution for a B-school that is willing to innovate its teaching methodology towards making it better and interesting.

How did the idea for ‘LearnBiz’ come about?

While pursuing our MBA at IIM Kozhikode, we played some simulation games as part of our course curriculum. We realized that such experiential tools are being used at top B-schools across the world; however, their usage is restricted due to high price-points (~ Rs. 2-3k per student). Barring a few inherent issues with regards to the scope of learning, the student and faculty feedback proved it’s a brilliant way to learn.We analyzed the product gaps and saw a strong case to jump in - to build a highly affordable solution which would benefit the entire MBA community - leading to LearnBiz.

Business differentiator of LearnBiz?

LearnBiz is the first Indian player in this domain and our offering is unique because, our games focus on individual subjects as opposed to the existing broad based strategy games – where the core learning gets diluted. Though there are not many players who have entered this segment, some other players are StratX, Capstone and Gold Simulations.

LearnBiz is also the first in this domain to create automated players based on Artificial Intelligence. Students can compete online against these players and hone their learning. Finally, the icing on the cake is that our products cost a fraction of our competitors’ price points; primarily due to localized development.

How have students / teachers and other target group of LearnBiz accepted your idea?

So far we have received extremely positive response for our product demonstrations. We are currently in talks with a prominent management education body in India to use our games. We are also having a preliminary discussion with a Community college which wants to use our games as part of its distance learning programs in Sri Lanka and Philippines. There is a lot of motion, but still very early stages.

What is LearnBiz's revenue model?

LearnBiz is an online business, where institutions may directly interact with us and purchase game licenses. Additionally, students may register on our site and participate in tournaments where there is a small fees and prize money associated. The prices are low and our focus is on driving volumes.

What is your prediction for simulation based learning and ‘LearnBiz’ in India?

Simulation as a learning tool is a new entry in the Indian market. It will surely take time for the B-schools to realize the value add which these games bring onto the table. We can compare it to what Educomp’s animation based learning as a concept was - a few years back. Today when schools have understood the value of their product they are just lapping it up. In coming 5 years, LearnBiz would reach out to 20% of the 4 lakh (students passing out from MBA programs each year) strong MBA community in India. In addition we would also like to set-up a global foot-print.

How is it to be an entrepreneur?

Last week we noticed that a few students from Germany created a game account on our website. That was so thrilling for us, we were on the cloud 9,these are the small joys that gives you company on the day’s when nothing is going right! It is an exciting roller coaster and the challenge is to keep riding it.

Tell us about the team at LearnBiz.

We are three founders along with a small IT team. Two of us, Aakash and I, are MBAs from IIM Kozhikode and Akshit is from Delhi College on Engineering. We are handling Game Development, Marketing and Online Delivery respectively. Currently, we are looking to hire people to refine our IT capability

What are you expansion plans?

As of now the focus is on large institutional tie-ups. The end result is to reach out to the 2000 B-schools in India.

LearnBiz, will it get champions across management campuses in India? Lets wait and watch. What we can say for now is that the entrepreneurs behind this venture are the young "go-getters" who will push every boundary to make their dreams come true.

Watch this space to get more updates on the LearnBiz story.