About QuickLearn Institute

QuickLearn Institute has been successfully providing professional coaching for commerce and other professional courses in commerce like CA ( Chartered Accountancy), CS (Company Secretary) and CWA ( Cost and Works Accountancy) from its inception and has since, seen a good increase in the number of students. 

It started off with the vision of providing professional coaching . It believes in coaching with individual attention to each student which is very necessary since not all students would have the same level of understanding and grasping power. 

About Entrepreneur

The founder of QuickLearn Institute is a young and talented woman entrepreneur CA Sujal Chawathe. Sujal has a 3 year corporate exposure which is reflected in her teaching. She realised her inclination towards teaching when she was only 14 years of age. Sujal would conduct tuitions at home.Eventually when her teaching inclinations met with her entrepreneurial skills, QuickLearn Institute was born. Being a CA and a CS, she is a core believer of Smart work which also reflects in her teaching. Her approach distinguishes QuickLearn from other coaching institutes.

Background and birth story of QuickLearn Institute

A 21 year old CA student, Sujal just completed her three year articleship of CA at KPMG. She was always a very bright student and was successful in completing her Company Secretary course. She was preparing for her CA final exams.

KPMG was a great place to work at. But she did not enjoy her work. She did not enjoy the entire concept of routine work. She always knew she wanted to start an independent venture but was clueless as to what to do and how to go about it. After the completion of Articleship she had a big question “ What Next???”

She loved teaching. Before starting her studies for CA and CS she tutored school students after removing time from her studies. She decided to combine her love for teaching with her entrepreneurial dream. This would now be supported with her knowledge of Chartered Accountancy and Company Secretary.

She knew that this dream would not be an easy one to bring to reality as it would require giving up on great job opportunities as a CA. But she was determined to take this further with her hardwork, patience and dedication.

Sujal got great support for this big decision from her mother. The best work for her was the one that made her happy. Her father, a CA too, was skeptical about the decision of not taking up a job. He was worried that forgoing good opportunities to take up a risky venture was not a very good decision. He warned her about the various problems she might have to face further. However, her faith in herself made him believe in the whole idea eventually.

GROUP NO: 2ROLLNOS: 13, 18, 19, 29, 43,45

Sujal got her first commerce student in April’ 2010. Eventually she established QuickLearn Institute in June’2010. Initially, Sujal was the only one teaching in the Institute. Now, in March’2013 there are 15 faculties working together at the Institute. They coach students for CA, CS and CWA.

Uniqueness of QuickLearn

Generally in the coaching institute industry, there are classes which accommodate around 60 to 600 students in a batch. This creates a problem of lack of attention and personal touch from the faculty. The relationship between the coach and the student ends with the end of coaching. On the other hand, when a student visits a private tutor taking one-to-one coaching, he is the only student being coached at that point of time. This creates problems such as boredom and lack of competitive spirit which comes only when studies are done in a group.

This problem was identified by Sujal and she decided to come up with an idea which would be free from problems faced by these two coaching models. Thus, QuickLearn is unique in a way that one batch comprises of maximum 6 students. This creates a competitive group spirit and also assures personal attention from the coach.

QuickLearn has a team of lawyers, MBAs, CAs and CS who impart knowledge to students in such a way that they become strong conceptually and not just mechanically. QuickLearn believes in creating a batch of intelligent thinkers who have strong concepts and not just exam crackers with not much knowledge.

QuickLearn provides flexibility of timings for the students and faculty is available till the last minute of exams to guide the students.

QuickLearn has come up with the concept of “Life Coach”. The coach sits with the student personally and analyses the long term goals of the student. After analyzing these long term goals, the coach tries to link the study of the professional course with the long term goal of that student. This connects the student more with studies and the student learns with interest.

QuickLearn conducts informative seminars such as “Life of a CA”, “ Real life CS” etc where industry experts in fields of CS, CA and CWA inform students about the life after completing the course. It helps the students to understand more as to what kind of work he would be doing and what kind of life he would be living after completing the course. The intention is not to guide or counsel the students. The intention of this seminar is to make students aware about the prospects of the course and make them think once if they really want to take it up.

GROUP NO: 2ROLLNOS: 13, 18, 19, 29, 43,45

Hurdles faced by QuickLearn at the start up stage

Sujal’s CA final exams were in November’ 2010. She decided to spread a word of mouth about her intentions of starting a coaching institute for CA, CS and other commerce courses. This was done in April’ 2010 as she assumed it would take time to secure a considerable number of admissions.

However, she got many students immediately on starting her Institute. She decided not to forgo this opportunity. But the main hurdle at this point was no premises. QuickLearn did not have premises then. For two months she provided coaching at her residence until she managed to take premises on rent at Opera House, Charni Road.

Hurdle faced by QuickLearn after it started operating

QuickLearn’s mission is to empower students. Assured Results is the commitment of the Institute. However, in November ‘2012 the passing percentage of the students fell to 60%. After analyzing it was noticed that the cause of this deterioration in result is due to lack of a performance monitoring system. Timely tests for practice on critical topics was required. Hence, QuickLearn started with “UNIQUE TEST SYSTEM”. Tests on all critical topics expected in the exam are conducted. These tests are evaluated and students are mandated to keep taking tests on the same topic until the student gets 60% or more in it.

Growth of QuickLearn

It is said that social life of an individual plays a very important role in his life. Sujal was no exception to this. She was always a social person who spent lot of time in networking. This helped her in her career as well. Her friends played a very important role in establishing and growing QuickLearn. She needed initial finance only for paying rent of premises for her classes. One of her close friends helped her with these initial finances.

Initially QuickLearn had idle capacity and it operated only at one classroom. So coaching was provided to B.com, BMS students along with CA, CS and CWA. However, there was a demand supply gap. At graduation level, students generally join coaching classes to pass exams. A very detailed conceptual learning is not demanded by them. However, QuickLearn believes in coaching students not just for passing exams but for knowledge acquisition. Also, the reach of QuickLearn to professional students increased and now it was able to operate at complete capacity. Classroom started being occupied completely with CA,CS and CWA batches.

QuickLearn also provides crash courses for all courses. Some individuals prefer studying a couple of months before the exam. Crash course enables them to complete the entire course in a couple of months.

GROUP NO: 2ROLLNOS: 13, 18, 19, 29, 43,45

Income growth of QuickLearn can be observed through the following figures (Rs.):

Top Line Bottom LineMarch 2011 7,00,000 2,00,000March 2012 13,00,000 5,00,000

March 2013 (till date) 23,00,000 12,00,000

Thus, we see that there has been a 100 % growth in top line and bottom line income of QuickLearn year on year.

Promotional activities by QuickLearn

When QuickLearn started its operations, promotional activities were at a very low level. Word of mouth was the most preferred promotional activity as it is the most effective in this industry. Also since finances were not very strong, it was considered the best promotional activity. The only paid promotional activity was a banner of QuickLearn put up at the leading book store at Charni road.

Currently, QuickLearn promotes itself by making use of social media to a great extent. Since social media like facebook is used maximum by youngsters, it is one of the best ways to reach out to potential students. Events at QuickLearn, the start of new batch and other information is also shared on social media. QuickLearn is registered diamond listing with Just dial.

Fees charged

QuickLearn charges fees which are double the industry, that is, double the fees charged by coaching classes with 60 to 600 students per batch. However, they are equal to the fees charged by private tutors providing one-to-one coaching. Fees are paid to the faculty on hourly basis. Faculty appointed are experts in their respective field.

Future Plans of QuickLearn

QuickLearn plans horizontal expansion. QuickLearn now operates at two premises in South Mumbai. QuickLearn aspires to start coaching at 50 more premises across Mumbai by the end of November’ 2013. For implementing this plan, huge amount of finance is required. QuickLearn plans to raise private equity of Rs.50 lacs for this purpose. QuickLearn Institute shall soon be seen as QuickLearn Institute Private Limited [QIPL]

Sujal Chawathe has currently handed over operations to her faculty CA Sandip Jha. She is completely absorbed in developing a business plan to present to investors. She has already taken on CA Sandip Jha and Aarti Rawal, a buddying CA as a part of her executive team to lead operations and marketing functions of QIPL. She is on the lookout for a strong executive team!

GROUP NO: 2ROLLNOS: 13, 18, 19, 29, 43,45