According to Hinduism, ‘You are not remembered for what you receive, but you are remembered for what you give back, so always give more than what you receive in life and when it comes to giving, what is more precious than education than wisdom and than happiness?’
Abhinav Gaur–the Founder and Managing Head of EduPorm Educational Services –is a young doonite who decided to say no to corporate hustle in big metropolitan cities, left opportunities at top multinational companies and decided to work in his hometown Dehradun. With an aim–not to become a millionaire but instead–to be an asset to the city, he came up with EduPorm; the name means an educational bunch of flowers. EduPorm Educational Services is an extraordinary startup venture that is not hustling to become a corporate giant or so-called unicorn, but it is beyond profits and margins.
The Making of an Exemplary Leader
Abhinav had been born and raised in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, a place which is also known as ‘the education and research hub of India.’ Abhinav completed his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya in 2015. He was followed by his graduation in science from Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Gharwal University, post-graduation in chemistry and a professional degree in education from Shri Dev Suman University.
Doon Valley has a rich colonial history. Being a pure doonite, Abhinav’s family roots were linked to the colonial history of Doon Valley with his great grandfather Late Shri Fakir Chand Gaur, who served as a British Zamidar for Tea, Leechi, and Basmati produced during the dominant colonial era, followed by his grandfather Late Shri Mandan Lal Gaur who was an influential-elite accountant for agricultural produce in newly independent India. While his great grandfather from his mother’s side Late Shri Ayodhya Prasad Shulka, was a reputed officer at Forest Research Institute, his grandfather from his mother’s side Naredra Narayan Shukla is a retired sericulturist from Forest Research Institute.
Abhinav’s father is a retired government officer. Through him, Abhinav was introduced to the world of scientific research, while his mother motivated him towards the domain of chemistry. From a young age, Abhinav has been passionate about making a significant difference in society, and from his senior school, he started volunteering with different NGOs. In 2015, at the age of eighteen, Abhinav decided to start his own social venture to promote animal activism, vegan living, education for all and environmental protection campaigns. In 2018, after graduating, he involved himself in the coaching and tutoring sector.
Within two years his first small-scale coaching institute grew into a brand with over 5000sq.ft state-of-the-art infrastructure at the posh locality of the popular Rajpur Road of Dehradun. His name was popularized, and he got excellent reviews as a teacher. But when a nationwide lockdown was imposed, time changed its course for Abhinav, and his institution failed to survive the kick of the pandemic. The mentality of never giving up–no matter what happens kept Abhinav focused and going. He started to look for Ed-Tech options. He realized that there is a gap to be filled between educators and new technologies. First, he began to train his staff for efficient and effective online teaching. A few months later, EduPorm was born under the umbrella of Yuvaan Research & Educational Trust.
Abhinav Gaur is politically very active in district Dehradun’s Raipur and Doiwala legislative assembly. His name was speculated as the possible MLA candidate for 2022 Uttarakhand assembly elections–but rumors shed off as he was under twenty-five years of age in March 2022. As a rising political leader, he aims to make Dehradun the research and education capital of India.
Flowering of EduPorm Educational Services
The unique journey of EduPorm started in August 2018, when Yuvaan Research and Educational Trust was founded by two educators Abhinav Gaur from Dehradun and Himanshu Thapliyal from Pauri, intending to establish an offline and online educational platform to serve the following objectives:
- Offer quality education at affordable fees to backward students of hill state Uttarakhand
- Promote Vedic mathematics, Vedic science, and astrology
- Collaborate with government, universities, and research institutions to involve school students with scientific research in order to develop their scientific temperament, and
- Offer training and support to schools, teachers and students, thereby improving quality standards of education across Uttarakhand.
Initially, the trust was associated with offline educational platforms with a little bit of online presence. However, when the pandemic disturbed offline education, the mode of education shifted towards developing online resources through which creative courses could be offered to students.
Bridging the Tech Divide
Using third-party services, Abhinav realized that there is a gap between education and technology that can be filled. When vaccines were available and the situation seemed to get back to normal, Abhinav directed the work towards developing offline resources and recovering from damages caused by the pandemic.
During the second wave, when online became a new norm, under the umbrella of Yuvaan Research and Educational Trust, a venture by the name of EduPorm Educational Services was launched in March 2021. The aim was set to create an elite platform that can bridge the gap between education and technology. A non-profit venture that serves the interest of educators and students. By offering general education and short-term skill-building courses, now the horizon has been expanded to help educators get online and effectively teach using technology.
Dynamic Hybrid Model
After nearly a year, EduPorm offers teachers dynamic web portals, social media management tools, and educational content. It is also growing as an offline brand called ‘EduPorm Classes,’ with two functioning branches in Dehradun city and a handful of more franchises coming soon in Dehradun, Haridwar and Saharanpur.
EduPorm Classes is rated as one of the fastest scaling profitable educational franchises in North India. Under the visionary leadership of Abhinav, for the last twelve months, EduPorm has been grooming educators into online/offline brands, delivering affordable tech support to educators, bridging links between students and educators, putting smiles on the faces and good grades on the marksheets of many students and lastly growing as a social, not for profit venture.
An Emergent Largest Ed-Tech Venture
Continuing on the same path, Abhinav aims to tech-empower government primary schools; his vision is to reach as many primary schools as possible with high-quality and effective audio-video content. With more than one thousand animations, more than two thousand pdf files, more than two lakh questions and a variety of tech-support, today, EduPorm has emerged as the most significant Ed and Ed-Tech venture coming out from the hilly state of Uttarakhand. The credit goes to the dedication of Founder Abhinav and Co-founder Himanshu.
Founder of the Yuvaan Research and Educational Trust and the reason behind the EduPorm’s success, Abhinav is just twenty-five years young doonite with a vision to give back to society.
Reinventing Vedic Principles of Holistic Education
Being born in a Hindu Brahmin family and raised with Brahminic values, Abhinav has been inclined towards improving educational standards from a very young age. Later his life took him towards offering education, educational services and building strength through valuable research.
His values are reflected through his work, where one can witness Vedic principles of offering education to all, keeping education free from greed and, most importantly, education to build character along with the mind are being followed.
This venture is unique and credible because the founder is himself a teacher of chemistry, not a suited businessman trying to pitch a product. As a teacher, he is aware of daily challenges and hence can resolve them.
Rising Star on Dehradun’s Educational Horizon
Dehradun is synonymous with research and education. The beautiful city is surrounded by Himalayan ranges, greenery, pleasant weather, and a peaceful environment. It is home to the Indian Military Academy, Forest Research Institute, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Uttarakhand Ayurveda University, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Meteorological Survey Of India, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Wildlife Institute Of India, KDMIPE and Institute of Drilling Technology. It is the headquarters of the Surveyor-General of India and the headquarter of Maharatna ONGC. According to the combined survey based on health, infrastructure, economy, education, and crime, conducted by Dainik Jagran and KPMG, Dehradun is one of India’s safest cities.
The city has been regarded as India’s education and research hub for centuries. It proudly carries the label of “school capital of India” with top colonial schools like Convent of Jesus & Marry, Mussoorie, which is the oldest girl’s boarding school and Col. Brown Cambridge, Dalanwala, which is the oldest boy’s boarding school. The very popular ‘The Doon School’ is also located in Dehradun city at the foothills of the Himalayas. Prominent personalities like Rajiv Gandhi and Amitav Ghosh have received their education from some of the revered institutions of Dehradun.
After Dehradun became the capital of Uttarakhand, in the last few decades, this city has tremendously evolved not just as the educational hub of Uttarakhand but all of the India as well. In a span of ten years, Dehradun witnessed a threefold increase in the number of management and engineering colleges as per a recent survey by the Higher Education Department of the Uttarakhand Government.
Yuvaan Research & Educational Trust has been established on the strong principles of improving education quality standards in Dehradun and involving young budding scientists of tomorrow with credible research opportunities. EduPorm is an emerging Ed-Tech venture that aims to be a star on Dehradun’s educational Horizon.
Unique Educational Transformational Proposition
EduPorm Educational Services is a not-for-profit venture. Annual turnover spreadsheets do not map our success, but lives map it we have changed and influenced.
The venture does not serve the industrial or corporate interest, but it focuses on offering services to teachers, schools, institutions, and the students at pocket-friendly fees.
The venture aims to bridge the gap between education and technology so that both education providers and seekers benefit.
As a tech venture, EduPorm offers tech-friendly dashboards that are easy to use and attractive to display. It helps educators and educational platforms grow as a brand and reach maximum potential. It helps in linking educators to students and vice versa. The aim is to tech-empower education and resolve issues educators and students face.
As an Edu-venture, EduPorm offers the best quality education, high-quality study and revision material with unique and effective mock test series for the K-12 segment and competitive examinations like CUET, CTET, IMUCET etc. The venture also offers various pre-recorded and live skill-building certificate courses. The aim is to empower students by building their knowledge base and practical skills.
As a social venture, EduPorm, under the umbrella of Yuvaan Research and Educational Trust, offers students free education, scholarships, and much more. At the same time, it trains the teachers and empowers them with skills and knowledge.
- We did not choose to serve the big corporate clients; instead, we offered services to teachers, schools, and small-scale institutions.
- Our web portals are techno-friendly and easy to use. Complex features are replaced with familiar ones. Our dashboard is similar to a Facebook page where the update can be posted with a single click; our online classes integration is as simple as a WhatsApp video call.
- We not just offer web portals but also ensure web presence so that gap between students and educators can be linked.
- A school’s website or institution’s website must be about learning, so we not just offer fancy blank pages but also educational content like animations, notes, mind maps and much more.
- As an offline and online institute, we work with the best teachers, selected through a complex process; we ensure that our students learn & develop skills.
- Vedic approach inspired by four popular Vedas make our teachings unique.
Surmounting the Challenges
Education is not about selling a product. No research and development can be implemented in this sector to improve product quality as there is no product at all to improve. A teacher is basically selling his/her words and experience, so the positioning of a teacher as a brand is a fundamental necessity in this sector. Parents look for experienced teachers, and experience does not grow on a tree; it comes with time when year by year, an individual learns and improves continuously; contradiction is that an experienced teacher is older in age and hence is not that computer savvy.
Making such a teacher expert in branding and handling social media platforms, a website, and an application was challenging. It took months of hard work to develop a pocket-friendly idea that could serve the purpose without requiring much technical knowledge. As the venture aims to socially benefit the society instead of being another unicorn, pricing our services was always a challenge because compromise with quality was never an option.
Educational content development was also a big challenge as wide domains were to be covered. With the help of experts and trainee educators, the content was gathered in eight months. Once we identify what educators need, how it can be offered at minimum possible fee, how tech-friendly codes can be placed, how a teacher can reach students with all this and lastly, what extra and unique students can get, we are all set to reach greater heights.
As an offline coaching institute, the challenge was to position our-self in a market full of big bears having tons of advertising capital. The question was what unique could be offered so that students choose EduPorm instead of existing educational brands. From previous experience, Abhinav overcame this challenge by adding short-duration attractive courses which are based on CBSE and ICSE schooling syllabus only. The courses are offered to students through an online pre-recorded mode where a student can learn in their comfort and, along with regular studies, earn free certificates by completing these courses.
A Plethora of Professional Values
Customer Commitment– “We are committed to improving educators’ working conditions and students’ learning conditions. We try our best to relate to their problems and develop relationships that make a positive difference in their lives.
Quality-We provides outstanding services which are relevant to clients based on their individual differences. Our motto is to deliver premium value to our clients, for which we uphold the highest standards of integrity in all of our actions.
Respect for People– We value our clients- the educators and the students, encourage their development, and stand with their problems. Students are rewarded for their performance.
Implement Feedback– Our clients are good, and their feedback is the guiding path. We uphold utmost transparency, and we take feedback very seriously.
We Practice Win-Win Partnerships– We view our clients/students as partners and as allies in serving the set objectives of Yuvaan Research & Educational Trust. We treat them with respect, fairness, and integrity–expecting the same in return,” says Abhinav.
Abhinav’s Himalayan Wisdom
Entrepreneurship is a new trend in India, and nearly every third person born between 1995-2000 is running in a race to be a founder. Start-ups are mushrooming daily and collapsing daily with almost the same frequency. The main reason behind this is that without identifying the real-life problem and without researching the way to resolve the problem, youngsters are jumping into the cool trend of being called ‘entrepreneurs.’ Identifying problems and unique ideas to resolve them is key to success as an entrepreneur.
Abhinav shares, “Story of Bill Gates and Elon Musk is very catching, and it motivates us towards building our legacy, but what we often ignore is “To become like them, one is supposed to go through what they have been through”. Long-term motivation is what makes you sit among the top 10%.
As a teacher, consider your students as clients you are serving, adapt according to them, motivate them, and always have a positive attitude towards them. Help them become better, and eventually, you will grow as they grow.”
