Streamlining Healthcare Training
During the covid era, health tech startups have witnessed a surge. And so has Virohan, a health edtech startup focused on bridging the demand-supply gap for skilled Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHPs) in the Indian healthcare space using technology. The startup has developed an end-to-end technology stack to help job prediction, aggregate vocational training providers and standardise processes across the student journey from mobilisation to training content to placements.
Virohan is also a training partner for NSDC and offers courses for skilling AHPs including OT Technicians, medical lab technicians and hospital administrators.
Kunaal Dudeja, CEO & Founder, Virohan, has around 15 years of experience in conceptualising and establishing businesses in domestic and international markets. His focus is on defining strategy, identifying business models, and implementing operating frameworks for scale. An Economics graduate from SRCC, Delhi University with a Master’s from the National Institute of Design, Dudeja is the recipient of Top 100 Most Talented Retail Professionals of India award by Asia Retail Congress.
Dudeja says that it’s not about 2021 or 2022 for them as they are really changing the way training has been done traditionally. “Traditionally, training has been a supply driven model. All colleges, schools, institutes, typically train based on what they feel whereas we believe training should be demand-driven based on what the industry wants, where one can get absorbed easily. The disruption we are causing essentially is that we are revamping the entire training ecosystem.”
Demand Driven Model
Virohan has a demand driven training model at the core of its business. Dudeja says, “We aggregate jobs data across India and try to predict what job roles exist in Delhi versus Mumbai or Bangalore, and finally based on this data, we inform our centres and further enable online programmes.”
Elaborating further, he says, “Secondly, we have completely automated the delivery of training. That is why a lot of people in India go for coaching classes where the model is completely delivered through the app. We have a team of about 20 doctors headed by Anurag Shah, MBBS, MD, PhD, wherein we record content in byte size videos, and use a facilitator rather than a subject matter expert to make sure that the predetermined flow of activities happens in a classroom. The content is prerecorded along with a five minute online quiz.”
Referring to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) trainers, Dudeja says, “Instead of setting up new infrastructure, we are aggregating existing trainers. You may be surprised to know that there are over 1 lakh training providers listed at the NSDC, and less than 400 of them are certified. There are less than 400 NSDC partners.”
Dudeja informs that the current business model is around automating the entire source in delivery and operations at a centre, and aggregating existing players rather than setting up new infrastructure which is going to be a hard opex-icapex model.
He further states, “In a demand driven model, we are able to achieve a 95 per cent people on jobs after they complete the programme versus the typical industry average of 45 to 50 per cent. You will be surprised that people after graduation come to enroll with us.”
On company’s financial performance, Dudeja says, “Annual revenue in the last financial year was Rs 6.6 crore.” For the FY 20-21, it is projected to be “around Rs 13.3 crore.”
He further informs that for FY 20-21, “We have received more than 5,000 enrolments across 15 centres (23x better conversion versus traditional), and more than 87 per cent industry absorption/placements.” However, there have been reduction in dropout rates from 25 per cent in FY18 to 6 per cent in FY19, according to Dudeja.
