Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)

Natasha Jain (Right) and Sonia Agarwal Bajaj

Delhi-based Natasha Jain and Agra-based Sonia Agarwal Bajaj are co-founders of a new e-learning and skills development platform Whiz League (estb.2021). Each course provides subscribers invaluable insights from industry leaders by way of pre-recorded lectures.

Newspeg. Since it was launched in April, this app has been downloaded by 15,000 subscribers. Whiz League currently offers four courses — hospitality, culinary arts, films and music. The programme leaders are: master chef Ranveer Brar, Bollywood casting director Mukesh Chhabra, ace restaurateur Priyank Sukhija and singer Guru Randhawa (Rs.800 per course).

History. Equipped with a Master’s degree in industrial engineering from the blue-chip Stanford University, Natasha Jain began her career launching a fin-tech start-up Ruplee in 2014, which was acquired by another online payment platform Paylo in 2016. Following that, she launched Bent Chair (2016) and a restaurant Plum for which she was awarded the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2019) by BBC Good Food.

Sonia Agarwal Bajaj, a business sciences graduate of Babson College, USA, began her career as an entrepreneur in 2012 with the launch of Whitenife, one of the largest marketplaces for ethical gifting and fashion. In 2013, she was acknowledged as one of the Top 50 most innovative student entrepreneurs worldwide by Kairos Society, a US-based student-run not-for-profit foundation. In 2016, she promoted the Little Chipper International Preschool (2018) in Agra. This pre-primary was awarded #1 rank under the parameter of Outstanding Leadership in the EducationWorld Grand Jury India Preschool Rankings 2020-21.

Direct talk. “The size of the global online education market is expected to grow to US $13 billion (Rs.96,378 crore) in 2026. Several studies indicate that 65 percent of managers and professionals in industry worldwide want to upskill because they are aware that they need to adapt to new technologies and emerging business management complexities,” says Jain.

Adds Bajaj: “Professionals in education and allied vocations need to deeply ponder how we are preparing our children for the future. In Whiz League, we are equipping them with first-hand knowledge about careers and professions that are not on the radar of India’s higher education institutions.”

Future plans. This year, the platform intends to expand the number of courses to ten. Moreover, it has partnered with Mumbai-based True School of Music (TSM) and is also reaching out to more schools and universities to provide supplementary education.

Self-financed thus far, Jain and Bajaj are parleying with investors to infuse additional capital into the enterprise to enable them to go national.

Wind in your sails!