This NGO is offering free mentor-led entrance exam coaching for underprivileged youth

Twenty-two-year-old Aswathy VL from Kerala completed her graduation in 2023 and decided to pursue an MBA. However, she had little knowledge about the entrance exams or how to prepare for them. She admits that she didn't know much about the IIMs and was initially aiming for colleges in Tier III and Tier IV cities.

Thanks to OpenGrad Foundation, an NGO based in Bengaluru, Aswathy was able to find a mentor who provided her with study plans, practice tests, and continuous feedback, which boosted her confidence.

“My mentor was incredibly supportive throughout my journey. Whenever my mock tests didn’t go well, she encouraged me and provided valuable strategies for time management. The content was high-quality and easy to understand. And the best part was that all of this was free of cost,” she tells SocialStory.

Aswathy is one of the many students who are a part of the OpenGrad coaching programme. She cleared the entrance exam in her first attempt and secured a seat at IIM Sambalpur.

Founded by Sahil Sameer, Mohammed Shahid, and Amith Tony Joseph in May 2023, OpenGrad Foundation provides entrance exam coaching to aspirants with a special focus on underprivileged youth for free of cost.

The NGO aims to provide students with access to colleges in top cities by bringing together volunteers from institutes such as the IIMs to prepare for competitive exams. OpenGrad Foundation is incubated by Nudge Institute, NSRCEL IIM Bangalore, and India Welfare Trust.

“Through our community-driven tech platform, we aim to empower aspirants, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, with the opportunity to receive mentorship and study material from volunteers in Tier I colleges. This will help them achieve the benefits of elite college education and enhance their life prospects,” Sameer tells SocialStory.

A common cause

Sameer completed his undergraduate degree from a government college in Kerala and always wished to get into a college in Tier I city. His dream came true in 2020 when he secured a seat at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore.

At IIM Indore, he met Shahid, who was pursuing Marketing Management. During his time in college, Shahid co-founded an edtech platform for Integrated Program in Management Aptitude Test (IPMAT) with fellow students. Inspired by Shahid, Sameer also began informally training five students to get into IIMs.

After graduating from IIM Indore in 2022, Sameer went on to work with Samsung India, while Shahid began working at Memix, a meme text generator. However, their desire to do something for the community stayed with them.

Their shared passion led them to quit their jobs and build a community-led system to mitigate problems. Additionally, from their personal experiences, the duo recognised the systemic issues in the entrance exam coaching systems.

“The lack of relatable role models, clustered coaching centers in certain cities, and the high cost are some of the gaps in the present entrance coaching system,” says Sameer.

The duo joined hands with Amith Tony Joseph, who was actively volunteering with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Promotion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship community, to start OpenGrad Foundation in 2023.

Sameer claims that all the students he mentored while in college secured spots in the top 20 B-schools in India, which further strengthened their belief in starting an entrance coaching initiative.

Shahid explains that the preparation for entrance tests can be a lonely journey for an aspirant, and adds that the coaching culture is extremely competitive, which puts an additional burden on the students.

“There has been a lack of online communities that can provide the necessary support and assistance to these students. And this is what we are offering through our platform,” he adds.

Also Read

Food for thought: This organisation is bringing books to remote corners of India

Democraticing education

The NGO provides coaching for Integrated Program in Management Aptitude Test (IPMAT), Common Admission Test (CAT), Common University Entrance Test (CUET), and National Common Entrance Test (NCET).

It reaches out to colleges in top tier cities and collaborates with their social clubs, wherein the students want to work for the society. These social clubs then prepare the content, which goes on the organisation’s platform.

Sameer explains that the content is also cross checked by the volunteers on the platform before it is made available to the aspirants.

OpenGrad provides a one-on-one mentorship programme for underprivileged students. It conducts bi-weekly sessions wherein one volunteer is assigned to three students. The volunteers provide mock tests, video classes, and written notes to the students. They also engage with the students, addressing their problems, motivating them, clearing their doubts, and providing strategies and tips.

“We try to match the mentor and students based on their background, state, or language. This helps establish a connection between them and increases the relatability factor. Additionally, volunteers are often motivated to give back to people from similar backgrounds,” Sameer adds.

To reach underprivileged students, the NGO has partnered with non-profits like Bhumi, Eastern Himalayan Foundation (Darjeeling), Souramandala Foundation, Abhyudaya under SPJIMR from Maharashtra, PiFinity, Udayam Care, Maitri, and more.

“If students come to us directly, we conduct a background check on their income status and enroll them in the mentorship programme on a case-by-case basis,” says Sameer.

OpenGrad is currently offering courses in English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil, with plans to expand to other languages. It has 1,700 students, including 500 from underserved communities, and 250 volunteers.

The founders claim that in the first batch held in 2023, around 47 out of 80 students were accepted into institutions like IIM Ahmedabad, MDI Gurgaon, IRMA, and MICA.

In their IPMAT results, 4 students were interviewed by IIM Indore, which has a 1% selection rate; 3 students were accepted at St. Xavier's Mumbai; and others joined top-Tier 2 colleges or are preparing to re-apply.

OepnGrad is also launching its first Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) cohort in August this year with 100 students.

Also Read

How this Bengaluru non-profit is creating restorative justice models for women prisoners

Challenges

Sameer explains that one of the challenges for the organisation has been overcoming the perception that free services are inferior. However, the founders believe that with their impact and the support of many advisors on board, a trust factor has developed.

Moreover, their personal journeys of leaving well-paying corporate jobs to start an NGO have been challenging. Sameer and Shahid both recall that convincing their families was difficult. However, the duo does not regret their decision.

“For me, this work is more than just about money; it’s about the immense learning, freedom, and excitement it brings,” says Shahid.

Sameer says, “The people we meet and the impact we have, if measured in monetary terms, would be far more valuable than the money we were earning.”

In the same vein, they highlighted that funding has been another issue. Being a new organisation, it takes time for investors to trust them. Furthermore, many investors are already committed to for-profit edtechs, which creates a conflict of interest.

While Sameer admits there are no direct competitors, he says, “There are similar NGO models giving entrance coaching, but they don’t have the tech, hence can’t reach scale. They all work in small communities, but we are targeting pan India. For entrance mocks, it is very important for us to have a platform. Additionally, no organisation in India is making use of socially conscious volunteers from top colleges for something like this.”

The founders do not wish to monetise their work ever. However, they might plan to monetise their tech platform for other private tutors in the future.

They also plan to expand to courses like JEE and NEET, and focus on CUET. They wish to work with governments to offer their courses to students from government schools and from rural backgrounds.

“The idea to is to keep it as non-profit forever, and become India’s biggest entrance player, thereby attracting more philanthropic capital,” says Sahil.