Two Indian entrepreneurs who provide opportunities to bright but economically disadvantaged students manage to get seed funding from a US programme, emerging among the top 20 among thousands of applicants
With a citation that says ?visionaries with ideas so bold and convictions so strong they could shake the world?, any entrepreneur would be on top of the world. But Krishna Ramkumar of Avanti Fellows, an educational social venture that was recently awarded the prestigious Echoing Green fellowship, prefers to be modest. ?Echoing Green gets more than 4,000 applications a year and it?s really a matter of pride to have received it. But it?s the work that we?re doing that matters really,? he says. The fellowship led to a grant of $90,000 from the New York-based organisation, operating in the area of early-stage social sector investing.
Every year, Echoing Green?s highly competitive global fellowship provides more than $2 million in seed support to a diverse group of emerging social entrepreneurs. From thousands of applicants, fewer than 1% are ultimately selected to receive up to $90,000 over two years to support the launch of their new organisations. This year, the fellowship was awarded to 36 ventures. There are just four awardees from around the world in the education sector, and Avanti is one of them.
The $90,000 (R45 lakh approximately) received in fellowship will go to Avanti?s corpus for covering operational costs and implementing expansion plans. ?Of course this sort of recognition to an extent vindicates what you?re doing, at least, in the public eye, and also opens up several opportunities as more people are now aware of what we?re doing and are showing interest in having an association with us,? says Ramkumar. He adds that there are a few partnerships that are in the works after the fellowship, and at least a couple of them should be finalised by September.
Avanti Fellows was founded by Ramkumar and his friend Akshay Saxena, both IIT Bombay graduates, in 2010. Quite comfortable in their lives and corporate careers, both decided to risk it all with Avanti.
The problem they chose to deal with was not easy and something with which successive governments and scores of institutions have been grappling with since decades?to create a level playing field for disadvantaged students in India by removing the economic and social barriers to attending top colleges. They founded Avanti Fellows, a not-for-profit organisation that identifies bright but economically disadvantaged students and provides them active educational support and guidance to help them crack entrances to professional institutes.
Today, an idea that took shape just two years ago is now spread over eight chapters across seven cities, with a team of eight full-time employees to manage operations, strategic alliances, funding, marketing, course structure and mentor support. These eight chapters are run on the ground by 225 volunteer-mentors, who are already studying at various IITs and medical colleges. And, as Ramkumar says, ?it?s just the beginning?.
Avanti?s founders were inspired by a friend at IIT Bombay who came from a low-income family in a village and taught himself math and science from borrowed books. Despite his drive and intelligence, he found his career hampered by lack of confidence, guidance and connections. Saxena at that time was pursuing his MBA from Harvard Business School, while Ramkumar was working with the Boston Consulting Group in Mumbai.
?It?s one of those things that you observe around you; the fact that it?s very difficult for children coming from humble backgrounds to get access to knowledge and guidance. We know how difficult it is to crack, say the IIT-JEE, or any other entrance for that matter. The intense competition and their extremely limited resources put these students in a position of disadvantage. We saw it happening with a few of our friends,? says Ramkumar.
He adds that while in the first year of their operations, Avanti was limited to helping its chosen students or ?fellows? crack engineering entrances, particularly the JEE, they?ve broadened their horizon this year. ?Now we?ve started our medical chapters as well and of the 220 fellows selected this year who will sit for entrance exams in 2014, 180 are for engineering and 40 for medical. We are now working towards helping deserving students score to their potential in other entrances like AIEEE as well,? he says. Avanti selected the first batch of fellows, 120 in number, in 2011. These fellows will be seeking admissions in 2013. ?That?s when we?ll be able to really assess our initial impact,? says Ramkumar.
Here?s how it works. Avanti identifies bright students from poor backgrounds and provides them free places at their partner coaching institutes to prepare for entrance exams. Avanti?s volunteer student-mentors support the fellows with setting goals and effective study. Avanti works with government schools, education NGOs and partner coaching institutes to identify eligible students. Applicants to Avanti, all of whom must be from families with less than R2.5 lakh in annual household income, sit for an academic test and are also interviewed at home with their family. So far, 9,000 students from over 400 schools across India (4,000 in 2010-11 and 5,000 in 2011-12) have taken the aptitude test for becoming a fellow. The fellows also benefit from a tutoring, academic monitoring and guidance programme designed and implemented by Avanti?s student teams. They conduct regular doubt solving sessions, help design study plans, track test scores and set goals for the fellows during the two-year preparatory process.
The Avanti team feels that while they provide access to top coaching classes to their fellows, the intense competition even at these classes puts a lot of pressure on these children and hence it?s essential to have a mentorship programme as well. While they started out with a 1:1 mentor, student ratio, Avanti is now aiming to have a uniform ratio of 1:2 across all its chapters to maximise reach without compromising on time and quality.
As far as funding is concerned, Avanti has received a little over R1crore in the past two years, including the R45 lakh they received from Echoing Green. They rely on a simple NGO funding model and most of their funds come from individual and institutional donations. So is funds a problem? ?Not really. Since our programme is run by volunteer mentors on the ground and the partner coaching classes allow our fellows to study and use their resources absolutely free of cost, we actually don?t incur a big operational cost,? says Ramkumar. However, he adds that in future they would be looking at generating operational revenue by applying a small cost to their services.
?Once we assess our actual impact in terms of results, we might apply a small fee that the fellows can easily afford. We must remain not-for-profit and hence it?ll be a token fee to take care of the operational costs,? he says.
But isn?t a volunteer-based system prone to inconsistencies and problems in terms of motivation? ?We select a very small section of students as mentors to ensure that only those who are highly motivated come into the programme. Then since it is a three-tier system that we have, feedback and constant monitoring also keeps everyone on their toes and make the programme effective,? he responds.
But dreams are still taking flight in Avanti. They are now working to set up e-learning centres in partnership with government schools so that students who couldn?t become fellows can still access knowledge and assistance through technology. ?Of course, it can?t substitute everything in the programme, especially the human interface and mentors. But it will help them in a big way. We are looking at partnering with government schools for this,? says Ramkumar. As far as tangible plans for expansion are concerned, Avanti aims to have presence through its chapters in 25 cities across India. In addition to that, while it?s still an idea, the Avanti team is kicked up about an idea of creating a peer-to-peer lending model for students who are not able to pay fees.
?It?s just an idea but we are thinking of having a model with a combination of having individuals lending to deserving and needy students and also help in facilitating loans for them from banks and financial institutions. But it still is a long way away,? says Ramkumar.
The Avanti programme
* Started operating in 2011, with its first batch of 120 fellows, who will be sitting for various competitive exams in 2013
* The second batch selected recently consists of 220 students (40 for medical, 180 for engineering)
* Their network consists of 225 mentors and eight chapters across seven cities, with a team of eight full-time employees to manage operations strategic alliances, funding, marketing, course structure and mentor-support
* 9,000 students from over 400 schools across India (4,000 in 2010-11 and 5,000 in 2011-12) have taken the aptitude test for becoming a fellow
