[TechSparks 2020] BYJU’s and WhiteHat Jr. hired over 20,000 employees amid COVID-19; more than 11,000 women are teaching from home

In a virtual fireside chat with YourStory Media Founder and CEO, Shradha Sharma, Edtech entrepreneur and Founder and CEO, BYJU'S, Byju Raveendran said that his startup and the recently acquired coding learning platform WhiteHat Jr. has created over 20,000 job opportunities in the last six months.

The edtech platforms have been on a hiring spree, onboarding more than 11,000 women, all working from home. He said this is a great development especially gender disparity in employment is skewed and does not favour women.

“This is literally life-changing for most of these women. They are the unemployed and highly qualified women workforce,” Byju asserted in his chat, aired as part of the 11th edition of TechSparks, YourStory's immersive global tech-entrepreneurship event.

The entrepreneur claims that its product continues to grow with strong paid user NPS ranging between 60 and 70. This is also the reason many investors have shelled out money, after due diligence and research on thousands of paid users through multiple market research forces. 

Karan Bajaj, Founder, WhiteHat Jr, had also shared a similar sentiment on Day 2 of TechSparks, stating its women workforce enabled the platform to succeed with a one-on-one teaching model.

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Although such large-scale hiring comes at a critical time in a post-pandemic economy, Byju also addressed the criticism levelled against its platforms for running misleading advertisements. Addressing the issue, the entrepreneur acknowledged that hiring or other developments do not justify or correct their mistakes.

He said, "We are very self-critical. Even before some of the complaints started coming in, we reviewed consumer feedback on our marketing campaign and will look at our communication to make sure the messaging is right, which has to be based on creating the love for coding, math, and learning."

The entrepreneur said constructive criticism with good intent for improvement is always welcome. "The day you think there is no scope for improvement, the game is over," he added. 

For more information on TechSparks 2020, check out our TechSparks 2020 website. Sign up here to join the event.  

TechSparks - YourStory's annual flagship event - has been India's largest and most important technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship summit for over a decade, bringing together entrepreneurs, policymakers, technologists, investors, mentors, and business leaders for stories, conversations, collaborations, and connections that matter. As TechSparks 2020 goes all virtual and global in its 11th edition, we want to thank you for the tremendous support we've received from all of you throughout our journey and give a huge shoutout to our sponsors of TechSparks 2020.