Mr. P Kishore
Founder & Managing Director – Everonn Systems India Ltd
Mr. Kishore a first generation entrepreneur had his formative lessons at Breeks Memorial School, Udagamandalam; followed by collegiate education at Coimbatore. He later enhanced his academic credentials with a diploma in commerce. His passion for education finds him in constant learning mode...
He stared his career with Synergistic Software and Management Consultants in the early eighties but soon his inclination towards entrepreneurial initiatives saw him change track.
Kishore who is very passionate about education, ventured into this space to leverage his passion. This saw the birth of Systems International (his first partnership firm). Taking technology to the grass root was Kishore’s vision, his first break towards a national presence came when Government of Tamil Nadu decided to take IT education to the rural expanse via Government schools. Systems International bagged the contract for implementing IT Education at all the 17 schools of Nilgiris District in the year 1999.
The success of his first initiative made Kishore leave no stone unturned to take quality and affordable education to the remotest corners of India. Quenching the knowledge-thirsty segment became is focus.
The need for larger resources to interpret his passion saw the advent of Everonn Systems India Ltd. (ESIL) in the year 2000, and it going public in the year 2007 with an unprecedented oversubscription of 145.57 times, a record yet to be equaled.
Kishore’s dynamic leadership saw Everonn enter the virtual space of education and training delivery through the VSAT platform. This initiative made it possible for Everonn to take quality education, delivered by iconic faculty at affordable prices… pan India, empowering every life it touched. Kishore graduated from providing for educational institutions to life long requirements.
“K to life” became his Mantra. He occupied every space; from Kindergarten to Secondary education to entrance examination coaching to colleges to testing to addressing the needs of the employed segment… this elevated him to a “360 degree education and training solution provider status”. Everonn’s high-end content and technology divisions support this.
‘Revolutionalize and Transform the Educational Landscape of India’ by crafting the finest of institutions that would place our nation on a global platform is the next on Kishore’s agenda. He will translate this dream into reality through the mammoth project “Educating India”.
His busy schedule never kept him away from working for the betterment of less fortunate. His compassion for this faction has seen him spearhead several social initiatives. Projects to address basic amenities (education, health) of this group have always been dear to him.
He has had the distinction of being the youngest Rotary President of the District, and the Citizen Forum, Ooty. He also served as the Secretary of the Nilgiris Civil Rights Society and as President of the Nilgiris Deaf and Dumb Association for over 5 years.
RC- What do you find exciting about your role as Founder and MD of Everonn Systems?
PK- I associate the word Passion to “Education” and excitement is a default suffix to it. Everything about education and reaching it to every single child in the Indian subcontinent excites me. The thought of bringing light into the lives of the student community is an unexplainable excitement, an instant gush of adrenaline!
Overcoming challenges and obstacles to take the student fraternity from the taught to learn and then to the experiential learning mode, is a challenge that excites me.
RC- You have built an innovative education model leveraging online platforms and public-private partnerships in the form of Everonn. What are the major trends/opportunities you are witnessing in your domain?
PK- Let me start with how I reached here…
How does one measure education? To me, it is “Good content” consistently delivered by “Good faculty”... The next on my agenda was how to reach this to the remotest corners of our nation. This made me explore and exploit the technology route. That was the advent of Everonn’s Virtual & Technology Enabled Learning Solutions – ViTELS. This VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) enabled virtual platform facilitated delivery of content by iconic faculty from Chennai, through a 2-way live video-audio mode; where the teacher and the taught interacted, peers interacted. Everonn, the pioneers in VSAT enabled delivery, today has close to 1400 networked educational intuitions, which makes Everonn the largest networked Education Company in India.
On the present scenario…
With the liberalization of Indian Education system on the cards, the slated influx of foreign students & universities into India, and the proposed plans of Indian varsities to go abroad, the opportunities are huge in this domain.
We are fast moving into an era where foreign students’ influx into India for studies is on an unprecedented high. And on the other hand, Foreign Universities are awaiting Government of India’s final verdict on their entry to India to set up campuses. With Mr. Kapil Sibal – Union Minister of MHRD, who is keen to allow foreign institutions to come to India, the wait doesn’t seem too long. The Minister adds that the only way to prevent the exodus of nearly 60000 students from India every year is by allowing foreign institutions to come in. (source Deccan Chronicle, Chennai 19th June).
A lot is to be done to improve the quality and access to education and this is where the actual challenge and opportunity lies for the Government and Private players like us.
RC- You are one of the early spotters of entrepreneurial opportunity in education in India. What do you believe are critical success factors for an education entrepreneur?
PK- Education system is most inefficient in India, with 40% absenteeism, 93% dropouts (who don’t get into the higher education space), the biggest challenge is to get them to enroll and to retain. Opening up more avenues for PPP (Private Public Partnership) mode would accelerate this process.
The increase in the outlay by the Government for its flagship project Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan by nearly Rs.3000 crores this year; taking it to Rs.27,042 crores against Rs.24,124 crores in the previous is very positive.
To put it simple the Critical success factors – Execution and Delivery of Excellence
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