Last year, TalentEdge (an edtech company that provides upskilling courses) started a job-assurance programme, under which it trained about 100 people and over 75 of them have already been placed in the industry.
This year, the edtech firm is targeting 750 people to be enrolled and placed under this programme.
Aditya Malik, CEO & MD, TalentEdge, told FE that it assures those who take the programme a minimum salary of Rs 3.6 lakh per annum, which can go up to Rs 8-9 lakh per annum. “A student needs to pay a fraction of the programme cost before joining, and the remainder can be paid after she gets the job,” Malik said.
The cost of this job-assurance programme is about Rs 2 lakh, and it includes six months of live classes (which can be done online) and six months of internship.
“We have also tied up with NBFCs to guide the participants on the EMI process,” he added.
TalentEdge is primarily focusing on the area of management (for the job-assurance programme), and under management it is focusing on wealth management, corporate sales and digital marketing. “We are staying away from the typical insurance sales and bank account opening type of jobs, because these, we believe, are not aspirational jobs, and students may not be willing to pay for training for such jobs,” Malik said.
The minimum education requirement for this programme is graduation, and TalentEdge has worked with the corporates to create the educational content for this. The minimum requirement on the part of the candidate is a laptop with internet.
Raising funding
Going forward, TalentEdge is looking to raising funding. “We would like to further expand sales & marketing and the technology side of our business to enhance our growth numbers. In three years, we are looking at raising Rs 300-400 crore,” Malik said.
As far as skilling is concerned, Malik added that hyper-specialisation will always be in demand, “but if you can add a skill or two to specialisation, it will work to your advantage. For instance, a specialised management degree coupled with a niche understanding of fintech or edtech or data analysis will be preferred over a general management degree.”
Over the years, and across its learning channels (including corporate business and learning business and degree certification), TalentEdge has cumulatively trained over 5 lakh people. “We have noticed that a lot of learners are coming from smaller cities and towns; as the penetration of the internet is increasing in rural India, so is the interest in online learning,” Malik said.
New programme
TalentEdge recently teamed up with the American InterContinental University (AIU) to launch the fully online one-year MBA Globally programme. Priced Rs 3 lakh, it comes with nine unique specialisations. With this agreement, Indian students can add an American degree to their portfolio without having to leave their homes.
“We are bringing a learning experience and making it accessible in any town and any city of India with internet access. Students can save time and earn a global MBA in just one year. This is part of our initiative to make quality education more inclusive and accessible to more and more learners across India,” Malik said.