‘Handling remote students was a challenge’

Mini Joseph Tejaswi TNN

Bangalore: They are truly an “enterprising couple”. The husband-wife entrepreneur duo, K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh, has struck gold again with their sale of Tutor-Vista to the Pearson Group. Ganesh had started the online tutoring firm in July 2005 with a funding of $2.15 million from Sequoia Capital. Now the firm has been valued at close to Rs 1,000 crore. In 1990, Ganesh set up his first venture, IT&T, with five partners from HCL, where he used to work. That company specialized in maintaining and integrating computer systems. It went public in 2000 and parts of it were then sold to iGate. In 2000, Ganesh and Meena floated BPO firm CustomerAsset. Two years later, it was sold to ICICI for around $20 million. Ganesh also backed startup KPO firm Marketics, which was sold to WNS for $65 million in 2007. He has worked with HCL, Wipro British Telecom, a VSAT company that became Bharti British Telecom. Meena has worked with NIIT and Microsoft and as CEO of Tesco India. Ganesh spoke to TOI after the Pearson deal. Excerpts:

Now that your company has a single majority owner, will you exit this business soon?
This is only the end of our first innings. It is just the halfway point and we are resetting the clock at this point to take TutorVista to a $1 billion company from $213 million now in the next five years. We still own 20% in the company and Pearson will have 76%. Our exit will happen after we reach the $1 billion milestone.

What was the level of business clarity you had when you floated TutorVista?
Five years ago, it was only a paper plan. We were getting into a business which had noparallel or existing model. So the risk was high. Level of clarity was quite low. We were pragmatic. We took an incubation facility at IIIT-B at Electronics City in Bangalore because we were not sure of paying up the 10-month rental advance etc. Neither did we want to make investments in furniture and fixtures.

What were the challenges you faced?
The biggest hurdle was related to handling “remote” issues. Remote students, remote market, handling remote tutors between remote locations, and the general remote nature of the business. But in the first 18 to 24 months, we could see the model working. We hit our firstmillion dollars in 2007. We saw us actually becoming the biggest B2C Indian company in the education space serving the US market, without even employing a single person in the customer market.

How happy are your investors now?
In December 2006, we got another $3 million from Sequoia; Lightspeed Venture Partners gave us $7 million while another $750,000 came from Silicon Valley Bank. Since then, our valuation, branding and reach have gone up significantly and all our investors including Manipal Education are happy. Now Pearson is going to give us further branding, positioning, resources and a global platform.

K Ganesh & wife Meena

Pearson takes control of TutorVista

UK Publishing Group Hikes Stake In Desi Education Co To 76% For . 577 Cr

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: TutorVista, an integrated education services company led by K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh, has sold a 59% stake to to UK-based publishing and media group Pearson for Rs 577 crore.

This transaction would give Pearson a total controlling stake of 76% in the company, making it the largest deal in the Indian education sector. Pearson already had a 17.2% stake in the company acquired in June 2009.

The development was first reported by The Times of India on Monday. The deal values TutorVista at $213 million (Rs 960 crore). TutorVista carried pre-money valuation of $4 million when pedigree Valley investor Sequoia Capital made the first investment in April, 2006. Serial entrepreneur Ganesh’s third blockbuster exit from a startup enterprise would make a clutch of financial investors in TutorVista happy as well.

This means Sequoia Capital, which invested $5 million in two tranches for a 16% stake, will take home around $35 million—almost seven times its investment—for a four year-old startup. Other investors—including Lightspeed Ventures and Manipal Education and Medical Group, which held 10% and 11% respectively—also walk away with four to five times return for their investments in the last three years.

The acquisition will bolster Pearson’s tutoring business as TutorVista provides English language coaching courses for university entrance exams and out-ofclass tuition to K-12 school children for SAT (scolastic aptitude/assessment test), ACT (American College Testing), AP and other exams. It also provides a full suite of services to K-12 schools anduses VOIP to connect instructors in India with school and college students in North America. It also reaches 3,300 classrooms by supplying digital content and technology platforms to private and government schools in India.

Commenting on the deal, Marjorie Scardino, Pearson’s chief executive, said: “TutorVista is an innovative and effective education company that we have worked with and respected for several years. This acquisition signals our excitement about the vitality of India’s education sector.”

The company has 800 employees and a roster of 2,000 tutors. It provides coaching assistance to 10,000 students every month across a network of 60 centres in South India. Its different streams of operation include digital learning content, brick-nmortar tutorial centres and formal schools. The focus is on providing quality education to students in the US and the UK through voice-overinternet-protocol services. TutorVista hires teachers in India to teach students in these locations.

Ganesh said he had started TutorVista to provide affordable education services and content globally. “Together with Pearson, we can make this happen even faster and help millions of students achieve their educational goals,” he said.

Ganesh is said to have first thought of the idea of online tutoring when he found parents in the US and the UK criticize the education system. He had earlier founded a company called IT&T, which specialized in integrating and maintaining computer systems, and later, with Meena, founded one of India’s first BPOs, CustomerAsset, which they later sold to ICICI and is now known as FirstSource.

The Indian government invests $40 billion each year or 3% of GDP in education, while consumers spend more than $40 billion on private educational institutions and services. The US market accounts for 65% of Pearson's revenues from education.

Work experience must for IIM-B?

From 2012, Panel Suggests B-School Put Less Weightage On CAT Score

Mathang Seshagiri TNN

Bangalore: An internal committee of the IIM-Bangalore has proposed some radical changes to revamp the flagship two-year postgraduate programme.

The panel, headed by Prof C Manohar Reddy, wants the B-school to put less weightage on CAT score, make a 22-month work experience compulsory, summer placements optional and stress on leadership potential and ethical and social sensitivity. The recommendations, which will be finalized after receiving inputs from the faculty, may be rolled out from the 2012 session. At present, the classes of 2011 and 2012 have 23% and 28% of students, respectively, without work experience.

The committee also wants to increase diversity and has pushed for at least 10% of the batch to comprise international students within the next decade.

Its recommendation of making summer internships optional could face some opposition from the students. “Stop the practice of preplacement talks and interviews for the summer internship; instead, the selection of summer internship should be done on the basis of resumes, as was the case several years ago,” the report exclusively accessed by TOI states. The panel feels that placements should be taken away from the student committee and handled by the career development office.

Outlining the curriculum philosophy, the panel says the focus should not just be on “knowing”, but also on “being” and “doing”. It has mooted seven new modules/ courses, including a twoweek compulsory group social project, for induction into the programme. The future managers could be taught some new courses on responsible leadership, entrepreneurial thinking, integration, interpersonal skills and leadership. The panel also wants to do away with the norms of 75% compulsory attendance and online mechanism for course and faculty feedback.

New IITs hit by poor infra, says Sibal
Hyderabad: The eight new IITs that were permitted to set up in 2008 do not have the necessary infrastructure and are not up to the mark making it difficult for the country’s prestigious institutions to retain faculty, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said here on Tuesday. Sibal blamed the state governments for not allotting the required land for setting up permanent campuses for these institutions. “These new IITs are functioning in temporary campuses and unable to attract new faculties. Due to the same reason we are finding it difficult to retain faculties. We need commitment from state governments for at least 500 acres of land without any liabilities attached to it,” Sibal said. The ministry started these new IITs three years ago. Each institution should have at least 90 teachers from all disciplines. According to reports most of the institutions do not have the required number of teaching staff. These new IITs are yet to get permanent campuses and in some states like Andhra Pradesh, where land has been allotted, building and other infrastructure is not in place yet, the minister said. AGENCIES

MANAGING ENTRY

Recommendations of the IIM-B internal committee
Less Weightage On CAT score 22-month work experience Optional summer placements 10% international students within next decade Seven new courses with emphasis on leadership, social sensitivity Career development office to handle placements Doing away with 75% compulsory attendance Online mechanism for course and faculty feedback Innovation week for intensive course, special workshops & projects

Battling exam stress

Present day school students are like soldiers going to a war, that's the level of stress that's felt in every home and school. It's time to find a way to keep this killing stress at bay. Ansy Austin offers some tips

No hanging out with friends, no TV, no Internet, in short, nothing else than the books - that isthe life of students who are to appear for exams. The visit to temples by the students and folks at home increases, probably a research would prove that maximum prayers are offered to God during this period. But indeed, apart from leaving it all to God, a lot can be done at an individual level to bring down those stress levels. Most importantly parents are required to be encouraging, supporting, appreciative and understanding rather than being followers of the race for the nineties. “I see to it that the environment at home is not tensed and keep joking around with my kids. But of course there is a fixed schedule for studying. I spend more time with them during this period, if they are too tensed I just shut their books and talk to them. I don’t push them too much and don’t keep too high expectations. They only compete with their previous performances.” says Sadhana Chawla whose three children have passed the board exams.

No need to fear
You fear going absolutely blank during an exam? Well that’s all in the mind. Well the mantra is simple, says Francesca Aranha, teacher, General Education Academy, “You only feel that you don’t remember, but it’s not so. I ask students to do deep breathing before they start writing, simple pranayam, following a timetable are ways you can stay away from exam stress.” Carl Laurie, principal, Christ Church School Byculla adds, “The question paper acts as prompter. It’s a scientific process. We have to reassure the students that though.”

Time for parents to de-stress
Unreasonably high expectations from parents, teachers, and society in general and an even higher level of competitiveness among the youth, brought on by pushy parents teaching kids to outperform their contemporaries, are the causes for stress and hypertension in today’s youth. “Parents must realise that ultimately everyone will get admissions and even if you fail you can still enter class XI (as long as you give the ATKT exams),” says Aranha. “They should be allowed to spend time with friends and watch television too,” she adds. Aakash Vasa, class X, Gopi Birla Memorial School opines, “High expectations from parents to top the class results in cramming up more stuff than what you are capable of. Add to that, the ever increasing workload and competition from peers, makes you succumb under the mental pressure.

Light diet, good sleep
“Eat well, have plenty of fruits as they make you feel fresh and not drowsy,”advises Dr Nirmala Rao, counsellor. “Students should sleep for atleast 8 hours,” adds Harish Shetty, psychiatrist. Pizzas, burgers and other heavy food items should be avoided; instead one should have lots of juices during this period. Harish also advices, “Drink lost of water and have a lightdiet with fruits. Clothing light can also make a difference.” He points out,

“Memory enhancing pills are absolutely useless, they don’t work. If you are well nourished and your hemoglobin is in the right proportion, there is nothing to worry.” It is vital to be mentally and physically healthy. For this one needs to play everyday for atleast 15 minutes, this could include screaming out or even cracking jokes during lunch and dinner.

Methods to adopt
“Keep telling yourself -’I will do well’. Visualisation is another method of keeping one’s mind relaxed and calm. We teach students this procedure, the mind works wonders. Be positive and believe in yourself,” asserts Nirmala. Apparently, if the student keeps telling himself/ herself, ‘I will get through’, then 50% of the tension vanishes. “A week before the exam don’t talk to people who are negative and also don’t talk to people who are too positive.Parents should talk less and smile more. Parents should not talk about the past, instead they should be cheerful,” says Harish on a serious note.

Be active, be regular
Pia Sutaria, class X, The Bai Avabai Framji Petit Girls High School asserts that she de-stresses with once a week dance class and music lessons. Dr Jyoti Nair, principal, New Horizon Scholars School, believes that the formative assessment in CBSE board has reduced exam stress to a large extent. “We conducts regular discussion on various topics in the form of objectivies and crosswords - doing this regularly reduces exam fear.” Neal A Iyer, one of the CBSE toppers from J H Ambani School, Lodhivali doesn’t believe in studying hard. “I decided to take less tension and work smarter rather than work hard. I used to study for about 4 hours and I kept taking breaks in between,” he asserts.

It’s just another exam!
You need to realise that its just another exam, not an exam for life, says Carl Laurie. He says, “I conduct presentations for students on time management throughout the year and I tell them that exam success is only one facet of life.” Concludes Dr Harish Shetty, psychiatrist, “It is the first exam of life, not the last exam. It’s not a stepping stone to success,it is a stone with many miles to go. It does not tap all talents of the child, it taps the rote learning ability.”

GET RID OF EXAM FEVER

• Start the day well with prayers and some exercises

• Sleep and eat well during exams

• Laugh, scream, and joke to release tension

• Avoid anxious people

• Wish your friends, that boosts your confidence too

Before every paper visualize your best paper in the past. This calms you down. Do not be obsessed to revise every word a day before. Study as much as you can. Suddenly after a paper you may get very tense if you have bungled an easy answer. Remember Sachin has got the maximum number of ducks. Immediately share this small bad news with a trusted friend. Get it of your mind. Wish your parents good luck with a hearty laugh. Talk to friends who are honest. Avoid those who utter…’I have finished 10 revisions’ or ‘dude forget studies…lets enjoy’ Dr Harish Shetty, Psychiatrist