When you have a desire to reach tremendous heights in your career, then there is surely nothing stopping you from achieving it. Ritesh Singh, an IIT graduate from Delhi, has always been intrigued by technology and its usefulness in delivery turnkey solutions. After graduation, he gained ample experience envisioning the scope of various organization into different sectors. He also has been part of various organizations like Society for Advancement of Research in Arts and Science.
There are many awards associated with his name, which shows his dedication towards excellence. He has also been part of various journals. His latest venture, Eckovation, aims as revolutionizing collaboration between Teachers, students and parents. It is a social platform where students & parents can easily join the groups made by teachers, and start collaborating in no time. Currently Ritesh is managing the responsibility of Marketing and Strategic Development of the organization.
Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.
Eckovation is a Social Learning Platform (a mobile-based application), created by IITD graduates. The app is focused to revolutionize & rejuvenate the Education Sector of India by collaborating students, peers, teachers and parents on a single platform.
We at Eckovation understands the importance of effective communication between parents and teachers, the chaos & concerns among parents regarding the performance of their wards as well as of students in obtaining information about their interest topics and sharing the same with their peers.
Few salient points of the app are:
- Provides a common platform to interact with parents, teachers and students.
- Teachers have all the control. So they can control whether they want to use the app as an announcement center or as a two way chat center
- The information to parents will be instant and completely free of cost (No need for messaging services, Diary Notes etc)
- The application is completely free of cost to use.
What inspired you to build the above product/ service?
The 8 month of research which we did it in field with different schools of different profile of cities have given this idea that there is a substantial gap in communication at all level. So we decided to built a platform which should be easy to use, starts in no time and should be free for everyone and hence we developed Eckovation: A social learning platform. This can be used for communication wherever education is present.
What is your life mantra?
Mahatma Gandhi as my inspiration, because he also came from a small town as well, and was able to transform the world by his power of observation and strong execution skills.
What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
The most challenging part of our journey so far was identifying the common gap and finding an sustainable solution for enhancement of quality education. It has taken months to understand. The challenge was magnified in limitation of fund but yes we did it as a team.
How did you overcome those challenges?
We have interacted with 30000 people and 30 schools just to understand the things which are running in education in around 8 months of time. I personally spent 2 months in Delhi and 4 months in tier-2 and tier-3 cities just to figure out the gap. By doing interaction and discussion with experts we come up to the conclusion which is if communication in education will become effective then automatically the quality will be demanded and then supplied by the schools in long term.
Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.
We have launched our product on 15th june 2015, so far not a big number is there but in 1 year we will there in millions users who will be benefited with this. The investment which will go in this will be 1.5 Cr and return in coming year will be 4 times of the amount.
How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?
Well, nice question. The best part of start-up is, it has founded by Brain Circulation ( Going out and then coming back to nation). I worked for Bosch and Akshat is Tokyo return after working in a gaming company DNA. So the work culture and the ambience of tech innovation will be of that standard and this will definitely help us in protecting our organisation from brain drain. Adding further, know we love to do Brain circulation too (inviting people who are working away)
According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?
- Determination
- Hunger for success
- Open to new experiences
Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?
Google map, its really helpful in daily life. I am travelling a lot and this is allowing to know each place even if you are landing there on the very first time.
Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.
Reading the news of cutting edge innovations.
Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.
Want to change sleeping pattern. From childhood I have the habit of sleeping early but wanted to make it in sync with my teammates
Answer in less than 50 words
One tip to success:
Never sacrifice in Quality
One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:
Don’t pack yourself in a room, explore.! always
One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:
One can achieve anything, just give true dedication to it.
What are your plans for next 3 years?
To take our product to the stage where this will be the byword of communication in education in Nation.
If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?
This time will explore my school life not just in studies but in co-curricular segments too.
What are your top three getaway destinations?
- Like to explore the history of Italy
- Love to be in silicon valley
- A dinner with President of USA
Share a quote that inspires you the most.
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi