StartUp Circle: How is Talerang bridging the gap between education and professional upskilling?

With high demands, and a rising number of unemployed population - Talerang aims to resolve the problem of upskilling professionals and in doing so have witnessed a high number of student enrollment and professionals opting for online courses. Talerang also provides training to faculties to make them familiar with the process of online teachings, so then they can give lessons to their students in the best possible way.

CIOL in conversation with Ms. Shveta Raina, Founder, and CEO of Talerang.

What is Talerang about? Tell us about the team.

Talerang was launched to be a simple, high quality solution to India’s work readiness crisis and started offering career training to students and professionals with the purpose of creating a work-ready India. It is a mix of the terms - Talent and Boomerang. Talerang offers career training and online programs to students and professionals. We hire people who believe who are mission driven and impact oriented.

How did you come up with the idea?

Talerang was born in 2013 with a focused and determined mission to give every student in India an opportunity to live their dreams and turn them into reality.

While at Teach for India in 2011, I spoke to many students across the country that were unaware of the courses available in the market, confused about their careers, unaware of their passions and a majority of them were not prepared to enter the work-world. The reality was that while they were academically bright, they had very limited practical exposure. Some of them were unable to get the right advice as well as guidance that can help them to walk on a right path. I realized the depth of the problem and the need to address it.

So you have researched it formally, too?

My formal research began when I was a student at Harvard Business School in 2012. Along with my Professor Das Narayan Das and in partnership with Talerang’s Curriculum Lead (Sinhali Deshpande), I conducted independent research on students and professionals who are ready to enter into the job world. Their pilots at some of India’s best colleges found that fewer than 60% of students felt ready to take on a job.

Less than 50% of students had mentors they could seek out. We also connected with the HR heads and CEOs of leading organizations like the Tata and Birla groups. We found that this worry extended to the companies, too. They talked about the work-readiness crisis and were unhappy with entry-level talent. Later on, it was no longer a research project. It was a mission that we needed to accomplish.

We then launched Talerang as a simple, high quality solution to India’s work readiness crisis and started offering career training to students and professionals followed by access to internships and jobs. This was layered with lifelong mentorship and access to a strong community of leaders and mentors.

What is your business/market growth?

Talerang began with just college students but now has programs for candidates from the age of 13 to 30. We started with 4 corporate partners and now have 350. Once we select the students, we train them in a three step work-readiness program that gives them access to experiential career training, internships and mentorship for life.

Initially, students needed to be present in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or Pune for the training. Now, our courses have moved online and attract students from all over the world. We believe in talent, skills and dedication of the students, so we accept students based on merit. We also provide scholarships to those students who can’t afford the required expenses or fees. Students who are paying the fees can also earn back their invested money during their internships, helping them break-even on their investment.

Who are your consumers?

Students from 8th grade to working professionals up to 5 years of work experience are our primary customers. However, we also work with corporates and colleges to train and upskill their talent.

The work-from-office culture sector took a deep hit, how are you managing your business in such tough times?

The business for Ed-tech companies has surged during the times of corona as studying and learning has shifted online completely. All of us at Talerang make sure that we use technology to the best of our capacity in delivering results for our consumers. So we have shifted all our in-person training sessions to online sessions for the convenience of our customers. As a company as well we are working online on different video conferencing platforms.

What are your Post-Covid plans?

We plan to remain an online focused company; allowing students to train and work remotely if they choose to do so. We believe there is huge potential for remote internships and jobs as well and we plan to capitalize on this.

What trend do you see in the IT Industry?

More than IT, coding, app development, IoT, digital media, cyber security and AI will be on the rise.

Funding

They have not raised any funding so far.