Leaders

Life Skills Learnings is an organization dedicated to playing a foundational role in kids’ (and adults’) lives by providing them with opportunities for holistic development across multiple dimensions. With the mission to make learning accessible to all and bring high-quality education to everyone’s doorstep, Radhika Gupta founded Life Skill Learningsinstitute with a vision to provide Accessible, Affordable, and Adaptive learning for all. Starting from small summer camps, today it has grown significantly and provides instructions in 20+ skills across STEM, Passion, and Languages ranging from Math, Science, Programming to Chess, Piano, Art to Public Speaking, Creative Writing, French, and many more.

Radhika Gupta recently engaged in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine– here’s the highlight from the same.

Take Us Through Your Early Education And Prior Industry Experiences And Tell Us About The Underlying Idea Behind Founding Life Skill Learning Along With Its Some Special Features?

I was mostly a just-above-average student and worked first 12 years of my professional career as a Business Intelligence developer in IT Industry. However, I have always been a firm believer in making right investment in learning.My experience in the corporate world alongside my ability to handle the ambiguous situations and confidence to figure out anything unknown are some skills that are eventually helping me in my venture.

Throughout my career, the thought of doing something of my own, especially in the education sector, was always on my mind.After having kids of my own, and realizing that there is no institution for quality training at reasonable prices, where holistic development in multiple areas can be handled, I decided to start my own. I started it as a small summer camp with the kids of my apartment and it went out to be quite a success. Later, I was approached for one personalized class for a child which was also well received, and a series of referrals came after that, and rest, as they say, is history. On the way, I learned how to set up my website, set up a social media presence, work with learning management system, onboard video conferencing system, and handle business registration, taxation, and so on.

Tell Us About The Roles And Responsibilities You Shoulder Including The Challenges You Face As A Founder And How Do You Overcome Those Challenges?

As a founder in this organization, I handle everythingfrom sales, marketing, operations, technology, and finance all by myself and apart from that, strategic decisions around markets we want to expand on, new avenues for customer acquisitions, how to improve our students experience, etc. are constantly running through my mind.

Coming from aunrelated background, everything was new and challenging for me and therefore, from setting up a website to getting a business email to setting up business legally has been a learning for me. My urge to do things on my own has led to many experiments in my journey and that also made our business profitable from the first day.

What Has Been Your Most Remarkable Achievement So Far And What Is The Driving Force Behind Your Success?

Getting the first parent who trusted us for their kid’s learning, the first teacher and the teammate who believed in this venture, becoming Cognizant UK Outreach’s preferred partner for kids learning during the pandemic, starting Learner Café platform, getting my hundredth customer, hitting the first 7-digit turnover milestone, and above all the satisfaction of seeing our students’ progress are some of the most remarkable milestones I cherish.

“How You React And Stand Up After Failure Is What Matters”

Entrepreneurship has given me the opportunity to do what I love, while still being able to spend time with myfamily and balance my life, without impacting my earning ability.The trust of our students and parents has been one of the biggest motivations for me. While we are quite small compared to behemoths in the ed-tech industry, we are unique in offering a customized curriculum and multiple offerings as a single institution, which is what differentiates us.

Give Us A Glimpse Of How The Growth Of Ed-Tech Platforms Transformed Learning For Children And How Do You See The Market Evolving Going Forward?

The Internet has transformed learning like never before and YouTube has brought school education in an easy-to-understand format through animations and simulations. Today, a kid from a remote village in India can learn from the professors from the best colleges in the world, and mass internet has made some of these very affordable too. The market is yet in a nascent stage in terms of penetration and has huge potential. Learning is something everyone goes through in their life, and the modern child wants to develop extra-curricular hobbies too as strongly as she wants to develop school subjects.

As A Successful Business Leader, What Advice Would You Give To Business Leaders And Entrepreneurs In The Future?

My suggestion would be to get started and learn by doing things yourself. Many a time, business cases and excel calculations don’t cover the reality of running a business and there is no better teacher than experi­ence. It’s very important to be an optimist and failure is not just likely but guaranteed.

Radhika Gupta, Founder, Life Skill Learnings

 Having working experience of 12 years, Radhika Gupta ventured into program management and later founded Life Skill Learnings.