Today, online education and tutoring are fast becoming an integral component of school education, with various advancing technologies integrating with the educational sector. Various researches conducted by analysts predict that the global market for online education will reach 350 Billion Dollars by 2025. Additionally, the onset of the unfortunate COVID-19 has further propelled this market growth. While the momentum has shifted towards online classes and tutoring, students and teachers struggle to cope and adapt to the new technology. Students are on the lookout for a digital platform with the right set of experienced tutors who can offer quality education and reliability at economical prices. In conjunction with this, tutors also have their set of challenges like finding students at their preferred locations, managing erratic schedules, timely assured payments, and so on.
Bridging this education gap is Minal Anand having founded GuruQ with the core objective of bringing convenience and ease in the process of tutor selection for students and their parents, and in turn, simplify the work-life for thousands of tutors across the capital in the initial stages.
She has gone beyond replicating just a standard digital platform primarily available in the market and has utilized a range of engagement methods, new age methodologies, and advancing technologies that promote individualization, intelligence and inclusion. “We planned and relaunched our app, making it more user-friendly for students to connect with the right tutor. We were continuously monitoring the execution, and thus we were able to manage the operations without any severe hassles,” informs Minal.
Reminiscing the school days, she tells us how she found her life as a student very exciting where she enjoyed studying and learning. She would always study late at night because that is when she got her best work done. She enjoyed note-making on subjects like Business studies or Accounts, where her teachers used the very same notes to help other students. This learning and note-making have been her biggest learning that has helped in the long run.
Empowering Women
Minal strongly believes that education exposes people to new thoughts and ideas and provides necessary skill. Moreover, she believes that the saying ‘to educate the women is to educate the whole family’ holds true. In fact, imparting education can immensely empower women and better equip them to respond to challenges, confront the traditional role often imposed on them and reshape their life. There are no work domains that women haven’t delved into in the modern world, yet gender discrimination persists in India. There is significant potential for improvement in this sector, and this can be achieved through active recruitment of women employees, provision for necessary training, the cultivation of a women-friendly culture and promotion of gender equality through Legislations. “Honestly, any advice that I would like to give to any woman is, do not take ‘NO’ as an answer. Society always tries to bring down women saying they hardly know anything, but the chances are that you might know about it, and even if you do not, one can learn about it and then go back. I believe women are capable of doing anything and everything and are more than capable of working hard. I always have believed and will continue saying – ‘Keep working hard, and the world is your oyster’,” adds Minal. This mindset, values, and attitude towards education instilled within her helped her shape GuruQ into what it is today.
At GuruQ, the team of experts ensures that every student finds what they are on the lookout for. The company was established with the mission to educate every student with the help of the best tutor around the world. Incepted in 2017, GuruQ takes pride in the 25,000 plus tutors and over 30,000 students registered onto a single platform with streamlined communication. With the ubiquity of smartphones, the solution is also available in the form of a mobile app, permitting access to the platform anytime and anywhere. Minal says, “We have always believed that education is the most important aspect of life and one needs good quality education.”
Leading the company to one of the leadership positions it enjoys today, Minal attributes a part of the success to her team of professionals. She is of the opinion that it is imperative to support your team as a leader and guide them when needed. Minal pinpoints, “When I tell them to go to the market, I encourage them to conduct proper ground research, think out of the box and come up with new ideas and solutions. I always give them the freedom to grow and thrive and not keep a tight hold on them where they won’t have the space to grow.”
Committed to bringing about a positive change in the education domain, she strives to achieve a balance between the different departments and prioritize what is more important then. “A typical working day looks like a lot of meetings and meditating on the way to work. I do yoga, and I exercise, which helps me stay calm all day and focus on my work,” reveals Minal.
The Road that Lies Ahead
Having gained a strong foothold in this sector, Minal has mapped out the future roadmap for GuruQ with the immediate plan of ensuring students across India know and have easy access to the newly launched user-friendly GuruQ app. Commanding quite the market presence in India, she envisions international expansion to places like the USA and UK. Students sitting anywhere around the world can have access to highly qualified tutors and the state-of-the-art GuruQ app.