ekatra

There is a huge digital divide in urban and rural schools. In a recent survey, over 75 pc of students are impacted due to the lockdown as they found it hard to study online, over 80 pc students said they need hand-holding to shift from offline to online and over 25 pc said they need proper training to pursue education through online.

ekatra is a tool for educators and organizations to deliver learning at scale, combining the power of Text (SMS & Whatsapp), Audio & Video communication. Our learning platform helps such organizations focused on career readiness for underserved high schoolers to teach them important job and life skills.

Ekatra's long-term vision is to provide quality education to billions of people around the world.

COVID-19 has reaffirmed the need to bridge the gaps in Internet access. The digital divide exists across borders, fields, and generations, impacting virtually every aspect of life. Within the digital realm, the pandemic has increased the digital divide — the uneven distribution in the access to and use of digital technologies whether based on age, geographical or geopolitical factors, social factors, or economic factors. During the pandemic, the impact of the digital divide is evident on both macro levels, such as school systems struggling to ensure all students have equitable digital access and opportunities for virtual schooling and on the micro levels where grandchildren are teaching their grandparents how to use Zoom and Facetime to stay in touch during quarantine.

School closures widen learning inequalities and hurt vulnerable children and youth disproportionately. 60.5% of the world's student population is affected by school closures; 1.05 billion learners out of school; 109 countries affected by school closures. School and university closures will not only have a short-term impact on the continuity of learning for more than 285 million young learners in India but also endanger far-reaching economic and societal consequences.

Ekatra is a low data / no data learning platform. As per a report by Stanford’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, text message learning is remarkably accessible and effective, Ekatra helps institutions create, deploy, and assess text message-based micro courses that dramatically improve learning and training. As per these studies alongside our own pilots, we learned that because we employ a spaced learning model, user retention of information is dramatically higher. Additionally, we apply microlearning which is more effective and efficient than standard digital learning models. Unfortunately, most learning organizations, nonprofits have overlooked text message learning. Our learning platform helps such organizations focused on career readiness for underserved high schoolers to teach them important job and life skills. Ekatra is one of the few edtech companies to have access to WhatsApp's API & OpenAI’s GPT3, allowing us to deploy courses to over 1 billion WhatsApp users. Our inputs have changed over time. 

Segment 1 - Students

• Geography: Rural & Semi-Urban geographies in developing countries 
• Demography: Asian, both Male & Female from Low-Income Communities who are currently studying.  
• Economic status: Low to mid consumption Low-income communities, simple lifestyle 

Segment 2 - Teacher / Field Personnel

• Geography: Rural & Semi-Urban geographies in developing countries 
• Demography: Asian, both Male & Female from Low-Income Communities who are currently studying.  
• Economic status: Mid to High Consumption, Aspiring lifestyles, enjoy a steady income

Needs 

• Access to Digital Learning means.  
• Access to quality learning content.

Pains 

• Lack of infrastructure to connect to the internet. 
• Lack of exposure to teachers beyond their local geography.

Gains 

• No expensive infrastructure required.  
• High-quality learning content and mentorship.

India's Total Addressable Market - 

Skill Dev: 2.31 mn; Lack Of Digital Literacy And Skilled Workforce; Regular Upskilling, Access to Structured content 

Out of School: 500 mn; Lack Of Awareness and User Engagement; Back to school programs. 

Ekatra's long term vision is to provide education to billions of people without access to adequate education, or even the internet, around the world. Within 3 years, we hope to have taught a million students. As Ekatra works to provide an adequate education to the entire world, we stimulate lower income communities by empowering them with education. The innovation of the method of delivery means that we can deploy courses for incredibly low costs, allowing for such radical transformation. There should really be no barriers to learning, and we hope our platform is able to make that ideal a reality.  

We've piloted Ekatra with over 1500 students with extraordinarily positive results thus far. For context, Ekatra’s origin to the alpha stage has been from April 2020 to September 2020, with an operation pilot. From November 2020 till currently we've developed the beta product. There were 3 months of delay in development due to covid situation in India. 

We have enabled the learning solution in our own community, and have 33 NGOs ready for the pilot testing of this product. We have shortlisted a few for the beta test and will improve the product based on the learnings. 

As per a report by Stanford’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, text message learning is remarkably accessible and effective, Ekatra helps institutions create, deploy, and assess text message-based micro-courses that dramatically improve learning and training. As per these studies alongside our own pilots, we learned that because we employ a spaced learning model, user retention of information is dramatically higher. Additionally, we apply microlearning which is more effective and efficient than standard digital learning models.

We have seen tremendous growth in engagements upon moving from traditional LMS platforms, We saw an increase of 15x students joined when the mode was switched from Zoom to Phone. 30% more responders upon switching from Whatsapp to SMS and 20x more students reached out with queries on Phone and SMS.

We have leveraged the traditional Marketing channels (SMS, WhatsApp, IVRS) to convert them into educational channels. The implementation follows synchronous and asynchronous learning pedagogy which makes it much more effective. 

Ekatra is a new start-up and has a very ambitious goal. The biggest challenge is to get the right people and resources on board who can help us achieve our goal. Ekatra's long term vision is to provide education to billions of people without access to adequate education, or even the internet, around the world.

We are currently serving 1500 students,
we are targeting to reach 10,000 learners in a year, and
a 1 million learners in 5 years.

Measuring impact 

• No of students & teachers in rural & semi-urban areas 
• Content Created & Consumed 
• % Increase in Access to Learning (Boys & Girls) 
• % of female students 

Addressing impact 

• Partner with NGOs and Rural schools.  
• Pre & Post Assessment.  
• Partner with INGOs in conflict zones. 
• Use teachers as advocates on-ground

Communicating impact 

• Quarterly reviews and updates 
• Video Interviews with Students and Teachers 
• Monthly progress update with teachers

Full Time - 3 people (Tech)

Part Time - 6 people (Business, Tech & Operations)

Incoming - 4 people (Interns in Tech & Operations)

Advisors - 4 people

Currently the product is under development, the marketing and sales team will be added in the next few months.

As a team, we have a collective experience of over 30+ years, and the advisors collectively bring about 60+ yrs of experience in relevant domains. The core team has startup experience, building large scale products and development sector experience relevant to working with governments and nonprofits. 

Abhijeet - leads business development and overall management, 2x startup, overall 10yrs Consulting experience, ex-Tata Trusts 

Viresh - leads Product, and focuses on building the technology, along with R&D to implement better models, ZS Associates

Suraj - leads Finance & Compliance, ex-EY & Tata Trusts

Prasenjit - leads Operations, executing programs with partners/customers, ex-Tata Trusts, Jarvis Consulting

Sonam - leads Program Management & Operations

Shantanu - Supporting Viresh in Product and managing a team of 2 developers

We are passionate individuals, building tools for the new India. We are makers, builders & innovators. We work at the intersection of high-end technology, social impact and sustainability. Our work ethic is being committed to our roots while creating value for our partners and investors.

The non-profit team is highly diverse with over 70% female representation in the overall team and 50% in the leadership team. The ekatra team has a poor female representation in the leadership, however our product team is 50% female. 

We are currently exploring to onboard a female CEO to lead the product once the seed funding is in place. As an organisation we are committed to equity & inclusion in all aspects of our organisation. 

Sonam, who leads Program Management started as an intern a year ago and has grown to lead a team of over 30 people in a short span. 

Ekatra’s vision is to develop a platform for a new generation of learners who can choose different pathways to achieve their dreams. We are a social impact startup that has a grand vision to provide quality education to a billion people globally. 

MIT's Solve initiative has become the hub for people who follow such grand visions and are making them a reality. Becoming a 'Solver' is a badge of honor and helps us get in the company of like-minded individuals. 

The offerings provided to Solvers are very relevant for us and detailed in the next answer. 

Solve's network access can help us design a better pedagogy for text-based learning, which can be enabled through mentoring and a co-developed technology solution with MIT. 

• We are looking to expand our horizons beyond South Asia as a market and Solve can enable that for us. 
• The grant funding will help us build a better product and open doors to other impact investors. 
• We need mentorship in building better AI technology for the product.
• Building an Impact Strategy will help us tell our story better and achieve the desired results. 

We would like to partner with nonprofits, governments, AI-research labs and telecom companies that are enabling education for the masses and building relevant technologies. 

• Non-Profits - who work on the ground with out-of-school children.  
• Government - to scale the solution
• Research Labs - to improve on the technology
• Telecom Companies - to support distribution 

A few Solvers we think can add value to our work are - 

• Safeena Husain, Empower 1.5 Million Girls to go to School
• Erin Fitzgerald, Yiya AirScience
• Rudolph Ampofo, TeachMobile by Eneza
• Andrea Fahed, Tabshoura Tiny Thinkers

MIT Initiatives that can be potential partners - 

• MIT OpenLearning
• MIT Media Lab
• MIT REAP

We qualify because Ekatra’s vision is to develop a platform for a new generation of learners who can choose different pathways to achieve their dreams. We aim to provide quality education to underprivileged kids, especially girls, across the globe to eliminate the gender gap in education. We aim to be an end-to-end solution for such children, empowering them to learn from home as well as physically offering them the best resources.

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today. 

This pandemic is not just a health crisis, it is an education crisis, especially for refugee children. Without school and education, they will be unable to rebuild their lives and achieve their full potential. ekatra enables that through a low-tech solution for learning.

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today. 

Ekatra is an education platform not an education solution! If you are a teacher or an educationist, you will understand what this means. If you are a businessman you might not get it.

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today. 

Ekatra is not only gender-neutral but also gender-sensitive. It encourages both boys and girls to be more resourceful, more productive, and more enterprising. With equal access to knowledge, technological tools, and opportunities, boys and girls are empowered to work together to combine their strengths and create a better world for all. 

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, innovate teaching and learning practices, and ultimately accelerate the progress towards SDG 4. Using GPT-3 as a NLP AI solution, enables ekatra to qualify for this challenge. 

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, innovate teaching and learning practices, and ultimately accelerate the progress towards SDG 4. Using GPT-3 as a NLP AI solution, enables ekatra to qualify for this challenge. 

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today. 

We qualify because Ekatra’s vision is to develop a platform for a new generation of learners who can choose different pathways to achieve their dreams. We aim to provide quality education to underprivileged kids, especially girls, across the globe to eliminate the gender gap in education. We aim to be an end-to-end solution for such children, empowering them to learn from home as well as physically offering them the best resources.

The prize will be utilized to advance the solution development and distribution. Currently, the main costs for us are towards technology development and service fees attached to the delivery. We aim to use a part of this prize to fund the engineering team costs to be able to deliver a better quality product faster. 

A part of the prize will be utilized towards grants for nonprofits in this sector, by funding them with the product fees, training of teachers, and implementation of the digital infrastructure for enabling education access. 

A part of the prize will go towards research and development of the product, technologies, and pedagogy for micro-learning.

It will also be utilized towards building an in-situ, offline solution for community learning solutions. We aim to build a Netflix-style solution that can be accessed without the internet. Similar to the in-flight entertainment systems that exist today.