An India-based business process outsourcing project which is currently making big waves in the US is distance education, especially cost-effective private tuition delivered to American school kids online by Indian teachers. In particular the modestly priced ($99.99 per month) online tutoring services in maths, sciences and even English being provided to over 2,000 all-American students by the Bangalore-based TutorVista Pvt Ltd — promoted in 2005 by the serial entrepreneur K. Ganesh — has attracted serious media attention in the US. Major television networks and newspapers have provided extensive coverage of this mind-boggling role reversal of third world Indian teachers tutoring American students.

And it’s a measure of the excitement that TutorVista has generated in the US that polymath entrepreneur-cum software designer-cum management expert Dr. John Stuppy has signed up with the company as its president and US-based chief executive.

An alumnus of Stanford (biological sciences and education), University of Southern California (medicine), Kent College (management) and the University of California at Los Angeles (education policy), Stuppy is a model continuous learner who interrupted his formal education on several occasions to build one of the first ever personal computers (1976) and promote and operationalise a medical practice management software company which he sold for $3 million in 1988. In the late 1980s after reading management guru Tom Peters’ In Search of Excellence, he developed an interest in measuring education inputs and outcomes and signed up to write his doctoral thesis on the subject at UCLA.

Subsequently in the mid 1990s before the height of the dotcom boom Stuppy was among the first pioneers to register patents for internet-based distance learning software and developed a web-based system for tutoring. Thereafter he worked with several of the largest American companies in the education space including Sylvan Learning, ETS, STI and The Princeton Review prior to signing up with TutorVista recently. “Our goal is to develop a large pool of experienced educators who will provide interactive tuition to students anywhere in the world at a standard affordable price,” he says.

According to Stuppy, TutorVista which already has a pool of 250 experienced teachers well-trained in the art of delivering tuition online — of whom 90 percent are India based — has infinite capacity for expansion of operations and global reach. Currently the company has over 2,000 students in 13 countries around the world including the US, UK, Canada, Turkey, Australia and China. By June next year, Stuppy expects the number of students enrolled with the company for personalised online tutoring to rise to 10,000.

Unsurprisingly, Stuppy believes that the sky’s the limit for TutorVista in terms of business potential and growth, particularly since he has come aboard to lead the company’s charge in the US and European markets where private tuition is typically priced at $45 per hour as against TutorVista’s $99.99 per month for unlimited tutoring. “My forecast is that in the near future online tutoring will become like cable television — factored into family budgets and on call whenever needed. The implications of this development for the knowledge revolution are mind-boggling,” he predicts.

And it’s only a matter of time before Stuppy discovers that TutorVista’s biggest market may be right here in India, where teaching-learning standards are in free fall.

Dilip Thakore (Bangalore)

Medical reps advisor

India’s fast-track pharmaceutical industry is in the front rank of the country’s science-based industries and has developed globally admired capabilities in the complex field of drug manufacturing and technology. The Indian pharma industry is estimated to be worth $ 4.5 billion (Rs.20,250 crore) and registering annual growth of 8-9 percent. From the simple asprin to new generation antibiotics and complex cardiac compounds, almost every type of medication is manufactured indigenously. But pharma marketing is perhaps one of the most unorganised and neglected sectors of this high-potential industry.

“Because India’s pharmaceutical industry has expanded exponentially in the past two decades, it is experiencing an acute shortage of manpower, especially of frontline salespersons representing over 20,000 manufacturing units of all sizes. At the entry level, the sales force of this industry comprises professional service representatives aka medical representatives, senior reps and area managers. Medical reps and pharma industry marketers have to interact with highly qualified and sophisticated doctors on the one hand, and with cut-throat, aggressively profit-oriented chemists on the other. But the pharma industry doesn’t invest sufficiently in the skills training of these frontline sales warriors, hence even enthusiastic youth who enter the profession quit after a few disgruntled months,” says Anup Soans who recently (November 2006) released his debut book HardKnocks for the Greenhorn, written for graduates aspiring to make a career in sales and marketing in the pharma industry.

A business management graduate of Mangalore University, Soans has invested first-hand knowledge and experience of the pharma industry into HardKnocks. He started his career as a Mangalore-based medical represen-tative in 1985. After working for several companies including Khandelwal Laboratories Soans progressed to healthcare media and communications as executive director of IJCP Publications, where he facilitated the entry of several international periodicals including Modern Medicine, Postgraduate Medicine and Hospital Practice into India. Currently Soans is CEO of BroadSpektrum, a Bangalore-based healthcare marketing communications company which also conducts life skills workshops and seminars for students and executives.

HardKnocks for the GreenHorn is a comprehensive guide to career prospects in pharma sales, field sales management, time management, personality development, work-life balance and more and is peppered with anecdotes and cartoons. According to Soans it took over two years to complete the book, during which time he met and interviewed over 200 top and middle management cadre pharma sales professionals and also medical reps.

“There are hardly any self-help or professional development books to help junior or middle-level pharma sales professionals enhance their knowledge and upgrade life skills. I want to conduct research, interact with people and fill this gap by writing books for this niche segment,” says Soans, who is targeting middle-level pharma professionals in his next book.

Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore)

Diamond guru

He has helped ticket touts in car parks become diamond merchants; assisted a 65-year-old lady kick-start a jewellery business and has transformed sarees and electronic goods stores into successful gems and jewellery marketing enterprises!

Meet Puneet Srimal, known as West Bengal’s ‘diamond guru’. Srimal is the founder president of the Kolkata-based Sindhar Institute of Gemology (SinGem), India’s largest network of gems and jewellery training centres and eastern India’s largest jewellery services company. With 6,000 alumni and 21 centres across India, SinGem is all set to rock the city of joy on December 27, when it hosts the Second SinGem Jewellery Excellence Awards, Eastern India 2006-2007 in Kolkata.

Srimal, who heads the institute as promoter-president is a fifth generation jeweller, whose great grandfather journeyed from Rajasthan to Kolkata in 1887. Although he started learning the trade from age 16, in 1991 Srimal signed up with the Gemological Institute of America for its one year study programme. Upon completion of this programme, he enrolled for another six months’ course with Jewellers of America. “These hands-on professional training programmes were very useful because the global gems and jewellery business has evolved considerably during the past three decades,” he says.

Upon his return to India in 1996, Srimal rejoined the family business with the objective of contemporising it. The following year in 1997, he secretly promoted SinGem with a Rs.2,000 advertisement on cable television which attracted 36 students. Since then there’s been no looking back, and over the past decade annual enrollments have risen to over 600 with course fees varying between Rs.15,000-60,000. “Today SinGem has made its mark and is all set to sail offshore,” says Srimal with evident satisfaction.

Combining practical knowhow with professional training, Srimal has introduced several new processing techniques such as ‘diamond cut grading’ and ‘diamond pricing’ for which he owns the global copyright and which are used to train SinGem students. Moreover he has established a jewellery service station at Domjur which provides employment to local craftsmen and helps SinGem students manufacture inexpensive prototypes of their jewellery designs and has launched India’s first jewellery job portal, www.jewelleryjobsonline.com. This apart SinGem has also transformed into a consultancy organisation helping alumni promote new businesses, buy contemporary machinery, hire workmen and receive expert advice.

“Our success mantra is strong interaction with industry, encouraging homemakers to enter this industry, transforming the jewellery trade into an acceptable career option and introducing traditional family run enterprises to the outside world!” says Srimal.

Moushmi Roye Dutia (Kolkata)

Software testing driver

On December 16, the first alumni meet of SQTL Integrated Solutions Pvt Ltd (estb. 2003), a company which offers training and consultancy in computer software testing, was held in Pune. Over 1,800 SQTL alumni from across the country were felicitated at this inaugural event. “Within the short span of three years SQTL has established itself as the country’s undisputed leader in the field of software testing training. The process of certifying the quality and operational effectiveness of computer software is one of the most important functions in all IT companies. We offer internationally accredited diploma programmes in software testing in 13 centres in Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Indore, from where more than 8,000 students have graduated,” says Jayant Deo, the Pune-based regional head of SQTL who supervises the company’s education operations countrywide.

SQTL has come a long way in three years. According to Deo it is the only organisation in India accredited by the Germany-based International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) as well as the Computer Society of India (CSI). Currently SQTL offers two study programmes — diploma in software testing and certificate in software testing — ranging from two-five months in duration. Says Deo, who signed up with SQTL in 2005 after a 17-year career in the IT industry: “ISTQB is the most widely accepted software testing certification internationally and sets the highest standards worldwide. Therefore it’s creditable that SQTL’s syllabus and faculty are certified by ISTQB. Our programmes also offer a one month internship period to enable students to do real time testing of software products. Upon completion of the course students are awarded certificates by ISTQB, CSI and SQTL.”

Not surprisingly, SQTL boasts an 80 percent placement record and its graduates are highly prized by industry. Over 230 IT companies have recruited SQTL graduates at average start-ups of Rs.2.3-4.75 lakh per year.

SQTL study programmes are open to only IT literate graduates — generally the qualifications accepted are BE/ BCA and MCA — who pay tuition fees ranging between Rs.12,000-18,000. Moreover the company offers corporate training in the fields of software testing, automation, and database testing.

Buoyed by the impressive growth of enrollments in its training centres during the past three years, the company’s management has drawn up ambitious plans for the future. “We plan to go international next year. This includes establishing training centres abroad as well as signing academic exchange agreements with international education institutions in the field of software testing,” says Deo.

Summiya Yasmeen (Pune)

Project 3 Edge

3 Edge Solutions which describes itself as a state-of-the art finishing school for engineering and computer science graduates to transform them into employable, industry-ready professionals, was launched in Chennai on December 5. Promoted by Prasad Kolisetty, a mechanical engineer from Allahabad University with 24 years industry experience, 3-Edge’s core objective is to meet the huge manpower requirements of the rapidly growing Indian IT industry, which has long been lamenting the paucity of employable graduates. To understand the needs of the IT industry better, 3 Edge has inked a partnership agreement with the Chennai-based Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) under which the latter will provide curriculum design, real-life projects and training and advice.

“Our industry-oriented learning programme is targeted at students who are technically proficient but lack the confidence, behavioural and communication skills that front-rank IT companies look for. Our mission is to bridge this skills gap by providing structured training to suit industry requirements. Students training with us will gain three edges — soft skills, process orientation and industry exposure — with successful candidates absorbed by CTS after testing,” says Kolisetty who started his career in Tata Consultancy Services in 1982, moved to American Express Bank, Chennai in 1993 and relocated to the US in 1997 to work for Ernst & Young. In the year 2000 he joined American International Group Inc (AIG) and returned to India to set up AIG Systems Solutions in 2003. Becoming increas-ingly aware of the critical challenges confronting the IT industry in recruiting employable graduates, he promoted 3 Edge Solutions in mid 2006.

3 Edge’s finishing school programme christened Bridge is offered for periods of eight to 11 weeks depending on the background of freshly minted graduates, for fees ranging from Rs.35,000-45,000. Candidates are admitted based on their academic performance, problem solving skills and English language capabilities.

The first batch of 35 students has already started training at 3 Edge’s modest new facility built over 5,000 sq ft at a capital cost of Rs.1.5 crore, in Chennai. Equipped with six classrooms with overhead projectors, computers for every student, internet connectivity and a well-stocked library, 3 Edge Solutions will expand its intake to 60 graduates per month from 2007.

“We plan to expand to tier II cities like Cochin, Trichy, Coimbatore and Vijaywada where there is greater need for finishing schools. We will also be tying up with placement departments of colleges and universities and will offer our courses to them,” says Kolisetty.

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)