Page 54 - EW July 2021 final

People

that our digital platform will provide
students easy access to age-appropri-
ate, student-friendly supplementary
content to enhance their learning
outcomes,” says Janknegt.
Future plans. Currently, the Wiz-
enoze team is working on introduc-
ing curated learning programmes to
meet the requirements of skills and
competency-based education pro-
posed by the new National Education
Policy 2020.
Swagatam!
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)
Online ed

innovators
Janknegt: Internet ocean searching
Wizenoze founder elhi-based NATASHA JAIN

and Agra-based SONIA
DAGARWAL BAJAJ are co-
IANE JANKNEGT is CEO ocean of information and identify founders of a new e-learning and
and co-founder of the content suited to every student’s skills development platform Whiz
DAmsterdam-based Wizenoze reading level,” explains Janknegt. League (estb.2021). Each course pro-
B.V. (estb. 2013), an edtech com- History. An alumna of the Public vides subscribers invaluable insights
pany which offers learners access University of Utrecht, Netherlands, from industry leaders by way of pre-
to education content and resources Janknegt has over 20 years of recorded lectures.
on the Internet commensurate with experience in general management, Newspeg. Since it was launched in
their age and reading levels. During business development, sales and April, this app has been downloaded
the past eight years since its incor- marketing. She began her career as by 15,000 subscribers. Whiz League
poration, the company’s products one of the first Microsoft employees currently offers four courses — hos-
— Wizeup and Web for Classrooms in the Netherlands and after a dis- pitality, culinary arts, films and
— have been integrated with learning tinguished career of 15 years stepped music. The programme leaders are:
management systems (LMS) of ma- down as director OEM in 2012. master chef Ranveer Brar, Bollywood
jor edtech companies in the Middle A chance meeting with Theo casting director Mukesh Chhabra,
East (Classera), UK (Pearson Educa- Huibers, a computer science profes- ace restaurateur Priyank Sukhija and
tion) and Netherlands (Online Klas). sor at the University of Twente, singer Guru Randhawa (Rs.800 per
Thus far, Wizenoze has favourably Netherlands, presented her an course).
impacted 2 million students around opportunity to transform into an History. Equipped with a Master’s
the world. entrepreneur. Inspired by a Euro- degree in industrial engineering
Newspeg. In February, the company pean Commission-funded report from the blue-chip Stanford Univer-
made its India debut with inaugura- that highlighted challenges children sity, Natasha Jain began her career
tion of its first Asia office in New face in finding relevant learning launching a fin-tech start-up Ruplee
Delhi. On the occasion, Wizenoze material on the Internet, Janknegt in 2014, which was acquired by an-
announced that its search engine and Huibers teamed up to promote other online payment platform Paylo
is now mapped with the syllabus of Wizenoze eight years ago. in 2016. Following that, she launched
the Delhi-based Central Board of Direct talk. “For most Indian schools, Bent Chair (2016) and a restaurant
Secondary Education (CBSE). the move to online education after Plum for which she was awarded the
“Wizenoze’s AI (artificial the pandemic is a first-time experi- Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
intelligence)-driven algorithms ag- ence, and most teachers and students Award (2019) by BBC Good Food.
gregate, verify and categorise content are unable to find online content and Sonia Agarwal Bajaj, a business
and information available on the resources suited to their syllabuses sciences graduate of Babson Col-
Internet. They fish the Internet’s vast and curriculums. We are confident lege, USA, began her career as an

54 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2021