Shantanu Prakash - Educomp Solutions

From blackboard to whiteboard and now to online content, the contemporary education system is ready to take off both teaching and learning has become more efficient and easier with technology enabled education system. In India, the trend was started by Educomp who implemented technology-enabled education services in schools for the first time. Shantanu Prakash, founder of Educomp, is the man who is responsible for bringing the much-awaited change in the Indian education system.

Shantanu Prakash, Educomp Solutions Ltd.

A first generation entrepreneur who has almost single handedly redefined the concept of technologyenabled education delivery in India, he commands immense respect across the business spectrum for his visionary impact on the education sector in India and across the globe. His successful journey has been chronicled in a book titled Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal. Prakash and Educomp have been recipients of many prestigious awards over the years.

Prakash conceived the idea of an education based business while pursuing his MBA at Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad, in the late eighties. He says, India represented a unique opportunity in education. The country despite being educationally focused, there were many challenges in this sector. For example education in India is still largely dominated by the Macaulays school of thought where children in schools were largely taught in the same way as was done 100 years back. Education was a field where qualitative advancement has been the slowest.He realized that IT-based education was the

way forward and thus founded Educomp in 1994 with a vision to transform the teaching-learning process through the use of technology. He started the enterprise with a seed fund of Rs 1 lakh.

When Prakash founded Educomp, computers had barely made an entry in the educational space. But he still went ahead with the belief that school children should be introduced early to computers. The first offering from Educomp was turnkey solution for outsourcing IT integration in schools where the hardware/software, maintenance and teachers training were all Educomps responsibility. This gradually became very popular and Educomp signed on many leading schools like Carmel Convent, Mothers International, Delhi Public School, etc. Prakash then scaled up this service and his company began participating in large government projects for spreading computer literacy in the earlier phase. Presently Educomp has a team dedicated to creating education content. Its pioneering products like Smart Class, Smart Assessment System, Mathguru, and Learning Hours are revolutionizing the way children study in classrooms and at home. Last decade and half has been a crucial journey for Educomp that has taken Educomp from a two-room operation to becoming Indias largest education company with market capitalization of over US $1.5 billion. The company was listed on the Indian stock exchange in 2006 and became the best debut scrip for the year. With few important acquisitions, Educomp is now closing in on its mission of becoming among the top 5 e-learning companies globally.

Fact Sheet Name of the Founder: Shantanu Prakash Education: Bachelors Degree from SRCC, Delhi University and MBA from IIM- Ahemedabad Company: Educomp Solutions Ltd. Year of Inception: 1994-95 Products: Smartclass, QuEST, Mathguru, WiZiQ, Learning Hour, Educomp Leap, LearnHub, Singalore Learning, Magikeys, Educomp O3, Pave, EduLearn, Wizelearn, Aha! Math, EasyTech, Aha! Science, TechLiteracy Assessment. Services: Professional Development, Edureach, Millennium Learning, System, EduSchools, Higher Education, IndiaCan

Key Clients: Government, Private Schools, Teachers, Educational Institutions, Student Community Motto: What Learning Can Be Vision: To apply innovative solutions to solve critical problems relating to Quality of Education and Access to Education for all. Topline: FY10 Consolidated Revenue Rs1041cr (~US$ 230 million) Bottom-line FY10 Consolidated PAT Rs272cr (~US$ 60 million) YoY Growth: FY10 Consolidated Revenue YoY Growth 64% FY10 Consolidated PAT YoY Growth 105% 5 Year CAGR Consolidated Revenue Growth 108% 5 Year CAGR Consolidated PAT Growth 110% IPO: 2000 Expansion Plans: The company plans to expand all its businesses like SmartClass, K12 schools, Higher Education, Vocational Education and Online/Supplemental Education Biggest Mistake: Rather than seeing any initiative as a mistake, it is better seen as an invaluable learning experience that helps us move closer to our goal Business Milestones Incorporation - 1994 Launched eCampus - 1998 Launched PlanetVidya.com - 1999 Conversion to Public Ltd. Company - 2000 Established Edumatics Corporation - 2002 Launched Smart Class Content solution - 2003 ISO 9001:2001 certification for ICT solutions - 2004 SM1- highest credit rating from CRISIL - 2005

 Launched first pre-school under Roots to Wings - 2006 Acquired Ask n Learn, Three Bricks E-Services, Savvica Inc & AuthorGen Tech - 2007 Educomp Tele-Education Network became operational - 2008 Entered a 50:50 JV with Pearson - 2009 Tied up with China Distance Education Holdings Limited - 2010 Formed a JV with Zeebo Inc. - 2011