Taking Coaching To The Next Level

Aakash Chaudhry is the co-promot­er and CEO at Aakash Educational Services (AESL). The company is a leader in the test prep industry cater­ing to the education sector. With an employee strength of more than 4,300, the organisation has created a mark in the coaching industry. Before join­ing AESL, Aakash worked with top IT firms such as Infosys Technologies and Cognizant Technology Solutions in enterprise solutions.

Deeply passionate about education delivery, technology and marketing services, Chaudhry is on a mission to take the cause of education to the deserving minds across the country through classroom as well as cutting edge digital solutions. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Chaudhry holds a bach­elor’s degree in Computer Sciences and an MBA from Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

AESL was founded in 1988 with the ob­jective to prepare students for medical en­trance exams. Out of the 12 students in the first batch, seven qualified for the coveted Delhi medical entrance test (Delhi-PMT). Thereafter, the founder and current chair­man, J.C. Chaudhry, never looked back and dedicated all resources to training students in medical entrance preparation.

Chaudhry had joined the business as a franchisee, in order to understand the busi­ness and its challenges independently. Af­ter witnessing unprecedented growth in the franchise venture at Mumbai, Chaudhry then shifted his base to the corporate office in Delhi. Here, he successfully launched the engineer­ing and other foundation preparation courses.

The family business gave him ample opportu­nity to freely experiment and innovate within the education arena. This then gave shape to the digital journey of the company in 2011, with the company’s two key company products — Aakash iTutor and Aakash Live.

Their prime objective was to impart the highest quality of education through excel­lent tuition to the deserving minds. “We have always taken up the cause of providing qual­ity education with innovative pedagogy for preparing students for medical and engi­neering entrance exams. We have been able to hone the skills of talented students from all parts of country and give back motivated and passionate doctors and technocrats to the nation,” says Chaudhry.  

To take this cause of education to every nook and corner in the country Chaudhry plans to start centres in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cit­ies where even now a student has to travel 30-40 km to get good and relevant education. Aakash’s mission is now to take high quality education to the farthest corners of the coun­try — basically, boundaries and constraints of accessibility and affordability should not come between a deserving student and their dreams. In order to achieve this vision, the company has been leveraging technology in all the forms – web, mobile, tablet, voice, etc.

Apart from his father, there have been many significant contributors in personal and professional life, who have been a con­stant guiding force for him. Even after hav­ing achieved all this at a young age he still disagrees that he has made it big.

‘What matters to me most are doing good things in life and continuing to improve my­self and learning more each day,” says Chaudhry.

“Whatever may be the business or line of service, young entrepreneurs should not leave sight of the current and changing needs of their customers,” says Aakash by way of his  message to  bud­ding entrepreneurs. “They need to keep the customer need at the centre of their core strategies. In this ever changing environment, they should do things fast but not in a hurry. Once they com­mit something to their customers, staff or partners, they must make an honest effort to fulfil the promises. And no enterprise of value can be built without a strong and dis­ciplined leadership.”

 On being chosen for BW 40 Under 40, Chaudhry says he is “extremely happy to be nominated”. He further adds, “This recogni­tion is an acknowledgement of good work that I have been doing. It further gives a boost to me to continue doing well, with an even higher degree of commitment.”