Engineering students passing out from second-rung colleges are usually not able to secure placements of their choice due to gaps between their levels of education and the market requirements. Mahesh Wagh, founder of Ekeeda saw this when he was coaching engineering students in Maharashtra. Employed in TCS, he also worked part-time as a guest lecturer for Engineering Mathematics. Later, to devote his entire energy towards coaching, Mahesh joined Informatica. This was when he realized that it was imperative to bridge the gap and help students get set on a steady career path. With this aim, he started ‘Ekeeda’.
Ekeeda focuses on sharpening the academic, technical, and soft skills of students so that they can secure placements of their choice. Qualified teachers are selected after diligent screening. These experts then coach and guide students to hone their skills. They also assess them through projects, quizzes, and mock tests so that the student is better prepared to face corporate interviews. Thus, students of Ekeeda develop a strong edge over their competitors.
Professor Mahesh Wagh started this entrepreneurial journey from humble beginnings. A brilliant student, this son of a Maharashtra police servant always stood first in class and bagged various scholarships in his academic career. In order to provide support to students from rural areas who are in dire need of upgrading their skills, he left a secure job in TCS and launched this venture. His family was initially apprehensive but nevertheless, with a firm conviction in his abilities, he went ahead with his decision. Inspired by the methodology adopted by BYJU’s, he focused on up-skilling engineering students. Today, just within five years, Ekeeda is among India’s leading education portal, has 2500+ online engineering courses and 25,000 high-quality video lectures on various subjects. The platform also has 67mn+ YouTube views and 5lac+ regular viewers.
Elaborating on his future plans Professor Wagh says, “We aim to complete the content and embed new technologies in Ekeeda packages making it more attractive for students. Our initial goal is to accelerate the career of 10,000 students each month’. Our long term vision is to acquire a 30% stake in the entire market of around 1.5 to 2 crore students on various platforms like Engineering, Commerce, Science, etc.”
Ekeeda is thus making yeoman contributions towards bridging the gap of students, strengthening their foundation, and helping them scale new heights.
