EduQual: Providing Content to Academic Publication Companies

 

EduQual Learning Solutions LLP is a Bangalore based content management company founded by Sabitha Kamath. They provide content to the leading academic publishing companies.

EduQual has a team of subject matter experts specialised in various disciplines including Management, Business and Economics, Engineering, and world languages – Sabitha.

We got an opportunity to talk with Sabitha, the founder of EduQual and see what she has to say. I am sure her interview with us will inspire you.

Give a brief info about your startup?

EduQual Learning Solutions LLP is a content management services firm. EduQual stands for Education with Quality. EduQual was set up in July, 2015 and has been providing content management services to some of the leading global academic publishing companies. Digital learning is the need of the hour and we work with the publishing companies that are in the digital space.  EduQual has a team of subject matter experts specialised in various disciplines including Management, Business and Economics, Engineering, and world languages.

 

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

Pure passion. I just love what I do and that instigated the birth of EduQual. We help enhance learning experience via a digital platform. Learning via the digital platform is more effective and focused.

 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

Professionally, I am a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Financial Analyst.  I also have a master’s degree in commerce. Academics has always been my interest and continues to be so.

I started my career as a lecturer and trainer in an HRD institute (AIM INSIGHTS) in 2004 and then continued teaching in Christ College, Bangalore. This is when I moved to Bangalore from Bantwal, a small town near Mangalore. While teaching in Christ, I started pursuing CA and CFA. I was dissatisfied with teaching and decided to move on to a corporate job. This is when I got introduced to content management work (in 2006). I liked what I was doing but had to move on as I was still not exposed to real-time accounting and finance. I joined a telecom software company and worked for 3 years. During this time I was able to put to work the theoretical aspects I had studied. By then I had completed CFA; but not CA as I was not prepared to quit my job. In the meantime marriage and family happened and I quit my job after my daughter was born in 2011. After she turned 2, I decided to complete CA. With immense support from my family, I completed CA. With a toddler in my hand, I still never felt studying for CA was difficult. Simultaneously, I took up some freelance content management work. I realized that I belonged to this industry. After completing CA in 2015, I started EduQual.

 

Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

Bangalore. People come from across India to Bangalore to build a career. So, finding the right resource is never a problem here. But someday, I wish to have an office in Mangalore as I think there is a very good resource pool in Mangalore.

 

As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

A relative (who happens to be a very successful entrepreneur) advised that to be successful, “Once you know something, you should never do it again; you should always get it done and start focussing on learning new things”. But this is something I have not been able to do as of now. Delegating enough is something that I am paranoid about. The whole concept of planning and wanting to learn new things keeps me awake.

 

Who are your competitors and how are you better than them?

There are quite a few players in this space, but I strictly believe if you give your best there is no need to worry about competitors. Every day we want to set new benchmarks for ourselves and focus on delivering.

 

How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

With family support, it is not very difficult. Also, the scale at which we are operating today, I’m able to manage work-life balance.

 

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

We have not raised any funds till date and are not in a hurry to do the same. However, we may look at angel investment sometime in 2019.

 

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

Nothing that I am aware of ????!

 

What gets you excited about this company?

We have a long way to go. The long and arduous journey ahead for EduQual really gets me excited.

 

Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

I am an early morning person. I start my day by 6 am with a swim/walk/cycling. Apart from that my day starts and ends with EduQual. “Choose a job that you love, and you will not have to work a single day” applies to me. Anything that I do related to EduQual does not tire me. So I do not stick to any specific schedules, but at the same time, I ensure that I do not compromise on my time with my family. I also never miss an outing with my friends or indulging in things that I do for myself. So, I ensure that a balance is maintained.

 

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

Since we work across disciplines, we have a number of subject matter experts (SME’s) associated with us. We have sourced SME’s through personal acquaintances, job portals etc. Whatever may be the source, ultimately, we have been able to find SMEs who are really passionate about academics. That is one of the reasons we have happy clients.

 

 

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