ApnaCourse, a training certification platform with a revenue model around add-ons
Satish Rajagopalan and K R Rajagopalan are two experienced professionals having worked across domains. Based out of Bangalore, the duo came across a problem with working professionals with respect to certifications and decided to come up with a solution for it. Giving the flexibility that classroom training doesn't offer, the team decided to go the MOOC way (will massively online education work in India?). Targeting working professionals primarily, the aim is to offer a trainings and certifications online which will help employees gain skills climb up the corporate ladder.
The Certification domains include Financial Management (CFA, FRM, CFP etc), Project and Quality Management (PMI-PMP, ACP etc), IT Services and Security Management (ISTQB, CISA, CISAM etc) and was founded because of a personal pain point. "“My friends used to apply for the CFA and FRM exams every 6 months and could hardly find the time or the comfort of attending classroom training on the weekends. They had to forego many a classes due to work commitments. This fuelled an idea to start something in online education. It was further supported by the fact that most of the classroom trainings are done by not-so qualified faculties. If my online platform could rope in the best in the industry, then not only would it provide the comfort but also the quality aspect," says Satish.
There are other players in the field like the funded Edukart and Simplilearn but ApnaCourse wants to take a different route by making their certifications free. The model then raises a few questions about the authenticity and it's extra work to build the trust factor but it'll certainly help to get more adoption. And to form a revenue model, ApnaCourse will bank add-ons. "These include Course completion certificates, webinars with the faculty, extensive online question bank, flash cards as quick reckoners, support from subject matter experts for doubt resolution and more," says Satish.
The company has gone live in August and it is yet very early days in the course of the startup. You can find more details about ApnaCourse or get connected to Satish here.
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