Not just a bookworm
Tabassum Modi and Syed Sultan Ahmed's venture Edumedia has amalgamated education and movies to bring about a change in the education system in India
September 10, 2012 / 12:46 IST
By Shruti Chakraborty
Tabassum Modi and Syed Sultan Ahmed were childhood friends. Ahmed had graduated with a degree in chemical engineering but chose to be an entrepreneur in the field of education instead. Modi graduated with a business degree in 2005. Ahmed had already been in business a few years then. He asked Modi to make a business plan and assess the opportunity in building an event management company focusing on activities for the youth and children. Modi, who had just finished her degree, treated it as one of her college projects and had no clue that Ahmed would, in fact, ask her to build the business and join her as a partner in the venture.
She joined Ahmed, the Managing Director of what is now Edumedia, as a business partner and headed the event management arm of the company called Krayon. Ahmed, 36, had founded what is now one vertical of the Edumedia business, called Activity. Activity holds workshops and training sessions for school students, teachers and parents to train students in life skills. It has also partnered with the Akshaya Patra Foundation to help coach students in municipality and government schools in life skills.Colors of Krayon
Modi, 29, is now the Executive Director of Edumedia India Pvt. Ltd. and a 20 percent partner in the company. Edumedia has two more businesses. One is a magazine for school principals called Mentor and the other is its most recent venture called School Cinema.“Our business is a combination of education and entertainment; we decided to marry the two, and that’s how Edumedia works,” Modi says. She adds that by virtue of being in the education space for a number of years, Ahmed’s area of expertise was education, and she instead focused on the entertainment aspect of the business.Krayon’s business is based on the idea of organizing events that help their clients in brand-building activities and brand promotions while adding value to the students’ educational experience. Krayon has a network of schools and taps the local ecosystem to organize events in about 90 cities. This includes locations in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, besides India. The events are often pan-India projects for companies whose target audiences are children or companies that are relying on children to get a message across to the parents. “It is a very niche area of work,” Modi says, claiming that no other event management company wholly specializes in organizing events for children. She says that since the company works with schools on a number of projects from its various verticals, it has built relationships with the schools. The reputation of Krayon and the relationships are at stake if the events organized are counterproductive for the children in any way.Fun festival
Amongst its clients are brands like Horlicks, Classmate, the stationery arm of ITC, Infosys, National Geographic Channel, Pogo, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and others. One of its annual properties is one of Horlicks called Wizkids. It is a festival for school students where a number of schools participate. The festival travels to 30 cities of the country. Modi recounts one of the events they had to organize in which a way to derive value for the students had to be worked upon by the Krayon team. Cartoon Network wanted to have a promotional activity for one of its action animation shows. However, the Krayon team had to ensure that the students derived value from the activity. The team organized a self-defense class for the students, with instructors dressed as the lead characters of the show. Children also received merchandise from the show.The team outsources its work to local organizations and charges clients an agency fee of 15 percent. They organize about 10 events a year. Says Modi: “We have worked with about 30 companies so far. We like to do brand-building projects that happen over a period of time.” Krayon generated revenue worth Rs. 9 crore in the last financial year.A few years after being involved entirely in building Krayon, Modi and Ahmed decided to expand their association with the schools and with life skills and value education through School Cinema. The business focuses on non-academic education of the students through the use of cinema. Through the use of surveys with school students, teachers, parents and an understanding that the team gains through its engagement with students, they narrow down some themes on which films are made. Psychologists give their inputs on the themes as well. Prominent filmmakers make short films on themes around moral values.New school of thought
Currently the program is available for students of classes 1 to 8. For students of class 1, some of the themes are humility, honesty and perseverance. The modules also deal with topics like sexual harassment, self-esteem, body image and other such issues. Besides the film, the team also brings out a workbook for each student to introspect and understand how the themes are relevant in their lives.The program, which currently reaches about 1.5 lakh students through 150 schools and charges schools on a pay-per-child basis, has generated revenues worth about Rs. 7 crore. “The investment in School Cinema has been the highest so far,” says Modi. Edumedia has invested Rs. 10 crore in the last three years in setting up the venture. The team is looking to come up with modules for students from KG to class 12. The schools receive the films and have to pay refundable deposit of Rs. 5,000 for the equipment required to show them.Edumedia is now targeting a turnover of Rs. 30 crore in the next two years. Modi feels that the success of School Cinema is what will take it to that mark. “The exposure to students and children from different demographics in the country has given us an understanding of various patterns prevalent amongst the youth,” says Ahmed.The team contributed to journals on topics like the impact of cinema on the youth and has researched the various aspects of children’s school life, including the micro-social development of Indian teenagers.Clearly, Edumedia believes education is much more than just books, and is on the road to demonstrating that. And making money along the way.© Entrepreneur India August 2012Smementor@moneycontrol.com Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
