How Knowledge Planet is helping shape edtech in UAE

During an informal get-together, bankers Monika Oli and Sachin Bharti Gupta sunk into conversations across the room. In one such conversation, a friend mentions to the couple that he was sending his son back to India to his hometown in Kerala to get the right coaching to ace entrance exams. 

This came as a surprise to them. The two eventually realised many parents shared similar goals. Driven by an intense motivation to ensure their children succeed, many of them would send their kids away to India for better training in competitive examinations like Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). This is when they decided to start Knowledge Planet. 

“Knowledge Planet fills a gap for these parents by providing quality entrance preparation just like they would expect in India while customising it for the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) mindset and requirements,” says Sachin. Besides NRIs, Knowledge Planet also trains students from 30 other nationalities who are studying in the British, American and IB curricula. 

It primarily offers after-school tutorials and competes with the likes of BYJU’S, Unacademy, and several others in these regions. 

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Building a test-prep business in the UAE 

Nearly a decade into operations, this Dubai-based company has a wide range of offerings from test-prep and enrichment courses to training across major competitive examinations like JEE and NEET. One of the biggest challenges for Knowledge Planet was finding the right teachers. Often, once they would select a candidate, they would be unwilling to leave their jobs in India to join the company. 

In a bid to convince them to join, Knowledge Planet would use ads that highlight the quality of life in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that teachers could expect here and the overall personality development associated with working in an international location as compared to India, Sachin explains.

“We had to work very hard to attract quality talent to the UAE and we made top-class efforts to retain that early talent. With the first few cohorts of teachers, we started getting known in India in the teaching community,” he says.

Besides teachers, the other part of running such a business in regions like the UAE was ensuring quality education, which requires adapting the courses to suit the perspectives and requirements of parents staying in the region. To this end, Knowledge Planet would take a closer look at each student’s career path and take into consideration their finances during enrolment.

Despite these challenges, Knowledge Planet which started with one centre and 25 students has steadily made a mark in the region. It currently has 13 centres across the Middle East imparting education to over 3,000 students annually.

“Nothing has given me more pleasure than being in a classroom and spreading the wealth of knowledge to young, curious minds and shaping the future generations,” says Sachin. 

Pending regulatory approval from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority of the UAE, tech infrastructure for edtechs can be made within a year or two for these startups, says Sachin. “But gaining a reputation in the test prep market takes at least 5-8 years,” he adds. 

The startup is bootstrapped and has over 100 employees with a core team that has been with the company for over five years. Sachin states, “For the last 7 years, each year the JEE topper from UAE has been a part of Knowledge Planet, the same stands true for the past 5 years’ NEET toppers from UAE.”

“Knowledge Planet has the distinction of sending the highest number of NRIs to Indian engineering and medical colleges for the last seven years running,” he adds. 

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Overcoming pandemic-induced hurdles

Sachin says that things changed for the company once the pandemic hit. While they had rapid growth before, a need to adapt quickly to evolving conditions arose. This included moving online—which brought along with it a fresh round of hires across videography, contention creation, and Information Technology (IT). 

Knowledge Planet wanted to keep the essence of a physical classroom despite having to move online. Teachers, therefore, continued to conduct classes online in the same way they used to offline—using materials like whiteboards to explain concepts. “This meant that students did not have to get used to a radically different mode of teaching, just to the fact that the teacher had moved into their computer screen,” says Sachin. 

The company also ensured that the same fee structure was maintained in online coaching as the one that had existed for physical classes. These quick, short pivots worked to Knowledge Planet’s benefit. “This allowed us to be the first education institution in the Gulf to hit the market,” he adds. 

Keeping profits in check

According to Sachin, what sets Knowledge Planet apart is its profitability. “We have a sharp focus on our bottom line, we run a very tight ship and the result of that is that we are significantly profitable,” he says.  

About 90% of Knowledge Planet’s new businesses have broken even within the first 12 months and its margins on most courses are also upwards of 40%, he adds. 

What’s next for Knowledge Planet?

According to a report published by global market research company ReportLinker, the edtech and smart classroom market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to grow from $3,565 million in 2019 to $7,626.1 million by 2027. It is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8% from 2020 to 2027. 

Aditya Mittal, Vice President Aramis Partners says, the Middle East, particularly UAE has recovered well from the COVID pandemic. There has been a significant uptick in the number of schools opening in the region, he adds. 

For FY22, Knowledge Planet is targeting over Rs 25 crore in revenue. As it grows, it expects to not be limited to the test-prep market as American and British tutoring and test prep will contribute to half of its revenue in the next five years. 

Besides this, it will look to hire and train teachers of Arab-origin teachers for UAE public school graduates in the next three years. These are for students who require tutoring with bilingual teachers. 

Sachin foresees a major opportunity for after-school education providers in the Middle East. With reports indicating international Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to be set up in UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, there is an even greater opportunity for edtechs in this region to capitalise on such opportunities. 

As such, Knowledge Planet is looking to open over 50 physical or hybrid learning centres. “The Gulf market is ripe for massive growth over the next few years not only for JEE and NEET prep but also for other international curriculums and international test prep tutoring. In the next three years, we see ourselves clocking Rs 175-200 crore revenue annually,” says Sachin.

(This story has been updated to reflect the correct name of the company in the headline, the founder's name in the picture, and correct the company name in the story)