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REN academies. proposition enthused Doreswamy
Direct talk. “LBE is not a competi- Nandkishore (Head of Asia, Ocea-
tion for teachers but an innovation nia, Africa for Nestle) and Sarfaraz
forum for them. The total number of Khimani (CEO, Performics) who
teachers in REN and RIGI aggregate provided seed funding to Kraftshala.
16,000. An ever increasing number With Satia (and Sharma) having
of them are innovating pedagogies acquired excellent marketing experi-
and best classroom practices that ence in two blue-chip FMCG (fast
have sharply improved students moving consumer goods) companies,
learning outcomes. With over 2,000 Kraftshala programmes are focused
teachers having participated in LBE on marketing and sales. Flagship
regional rounds and the finals over (online) programmes include a
the past decade, learning outcomes postgrad in Sales, Marketing and
of thousands of students have Business Leadership (open to gradu-
improved. Yet perhaps the most ates and final year students with “no
positive impact of LBE is that it has full-time academic commitment”),
created a new collaborative environ- Satia: bridging academy-industry divide and Digital Marketing and Emerging
ment for knowledge sharing among Talent Program (Plus Two gradu-
RIGI and REN teachers and fostered employed with blue-chip companies ates). Duration: 22 weeks (full-time
a healthy, competitive spirit among including Unilever, Nestle, Publicis course) and 11 months (part time
them,” says Thapar. Groupe, Nykaa, and Bajaj Auto. course); fees Rs.55,000-83,000.
Future plans. Encouraged by the Newspeg. A measure of the good Direct talk. “Our study programmes
popularity of the LBE initiative, reputation Kraftshala has built is are jobs oriented, practical and led
Thapar envisions strategic expansion that in March the company raised by industry practitioners. A full-
of the program nationwide. “We are $310,000 (Rs.26 crore) by way of time faculty of ten, and 50 industry
working on a plan to progressively additional capital from current and experts, deliver our projects-based
establish LBE in cities countrywide, new investors including Phanindra learning programmes. They are
building a network of participat- Sama (founder, redBus), Sujayath Ali supplemented by 80 hours of career
ing schools that will culminate in a (co-founder, ShopUp), Pallav Jain preparation to ready students for
national LBE event. This will enable (co-founder, Performics India), and placement through six structured
proliferation of innovative educa- Tie Nizamabad, among others. modules including resume build-
tional practices and enhance learn- History. An alumnus of BITS-Pilani ing and interview prep. This focus
ing attainments of children country- and Faculty of Management Stud- on employability-oriented study
wide,” enthuses Thapar. ies (FMS), University of Delhi, Satia programmes and rigorous career
Wind in your sails ! began his career at Nestle India in preparation has paid-off in terms of
Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) 2011. After a four-year stint with excellent placements for graduates.
Nestle, during which he acquired Thus far, over 2,000 of them have
Industry-focused valuable sales and marketing experi- been placed in jobs with remunera-
ence, he went solo with the promo-
tion ranging from Rs.5-10 lakh per
educator tion of Expertizo, an online test year. We offer a 60 percent fee
refund if students fail to receive an
prep venture that disappeared in the
crowded space of coaching institutes annual pay package of Rs.4.5 lakh or
ARUN SATIA is co-founder and shut shop. In 2016, together above,” says Satia.
of Kraftshala Pvt. Ltd with FMS classmate Eshu Sharma, Future plans. With the company hav-
V(estb.2016), an online ed- who resigned from Unilever, he pro- ing recently secured its second round
tech platform designed to bridge moted Kraftshala. of funding, Satia plans to “scale with
the gap between education and “In the corporate world, both purpose”. “Over the next two years,
employability. It bills itself as Eshu and I experienced a huge dis- we plan to introduce digital mar-
“India’s largest marketing and sales- connect between academic education keting, content strategy, and sales
focused higher-ed institution” and and industry expectation. The prime leadership programmes to 5,000
provides online sales, marketing objective of Kraftshala is to develop students, while continuously invest-
and business leadership study a new education model that equips ing in latest technology and signing
programmes. Over the past decade, graduates with skills to become em- up more industry partnerships,” says
it has mentored more than 10,000 ployable and hit the ground running Satia.
professionals, most of whom are after employment,” says Satia. This Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

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