Focus Edu Care, an educational initiative of the Focus Group of Companies strives to impart vibrant, comprehensive and innovative market driven learning to develop students and professionals. In an interview, Vinod Jakhotia, CEO, Focus Edu Care shares the future plans of his company.
Ramanjit Kaur (RK): Shed some light on the inception of Focus Edu Care in India?
Vinod Jakhotia (VJ): Focus Edu Care was started with the objective to offer world class education through scientifically proven methodologies, efficient technology, experienced faculty and meticulous administration to every nook and corner of India. Focus Edu Care is the pioneer to introduce ‘Video Conferencing Technology’ to the education industry in India. We are using the best technology to deliver lectures with two-way interactivity live instantly.
Focus Edu Care is an off shoot of the FOCUS Group of Companies which has its operations in key business segments such as: Education Services (National and Internationally), Financial Services, Healthcare Staffing & Placement, and Software Consultancy Services.
RK: What inspired Focus Edu Care to take the franchise route to expand its presence in India?
VJ: We have our own centres running since last two years which are doing good business. To scale up the business operations, we have decided to take up Business Partnership Model (franchising). We call it Business Partnership model because we are the first company to invest in the business with our partners by giving them full Video Conferencing (VC) equipments at our cost. We are very confident of our business model and ROI for our business partners. Hence, we are investing almost Rs 10 lakh in our franchisees’ business through the VC equipments which no other company in India doing the same.
RK: What practices and initiatives have you introduced at Focus Edu Care?
VJ: We go hand-in-hand with our business partners to make them successful. In our model the whole responsibility of faculty and academics are with the company. The business partners are totally relieved of this biggest cost and concern of the education business.
RK: What are the eligibility criteria for selecting the franchisees of your company?
VJ: Our process of selecting the franchisees is very simple. We are looking at pure business person who can invest their time and money to grow along with us and to put their efforts to make the venture successful. We are looking at an investment of Rs 10-15 lakh to start with.
We prefer people with education industry background, but at the same time we are open to all the business genius for whom industry experience is not a constraint to make the project successful.
RK: How many franchised centres do you presently have in India?
VJ: We recently have started franchising and have already signed 10 Business partners for our franchised centres that will be operational soon. Focus Edu Care is present in 10 cities across the country.
RK: What kind of training and support a franchisee will get after partnering with your company?
VJ: As our business model is about imparting education through video conferencing, so we have live connectivity to all our centres with our Head Office. The training and support will be an ongoing activity as it is very crucial to make venture a success.
RK: Have you faced any challenges while establishing the business in India? If yes, what were they and how did you overcome those challenges?
VJ: We have not faced any big challenge as such but yes to establish and set the whole technology in place, we had initial teething problems but the same is taken care by our special tech team from India and US.
RK: Any advice for the young entrepreneurs?
VJ: Invest your money and time in the next generation and new ventures which are going to stay in the industry for long and the need of time. Put all your hard efforts to get success as nobody else could do what you can do for yourself.
RK: What are the company’s future plans in terms of expansion through franchising?
VJ: We are looking at launching 100 centres in the next two years.
