IIBM India was conceptualized for facilitation of online management education in India, which was a dream incarnate of co-founder of the institute Vikas Maheshwari. According to Vikas, "the gap between the expectation in job market and skillset of workforce is the problem that makes a job market volatile for both employers and employee." IIBM Institute was an educational start up for bridging the gap of management education for working professionals in India who want to upgrade their skill set while working for their regular job with a designated job responsibility.
Online education will be the forte of this institute; it was pre-decided between the core management members like Vikas Maheswari, Rajesh Maheshwari and Vidhi Rathi. However, the main problem was the quality of the curriculum, which can really be helpful for recipients in acquiring job related training and knowledge. "It was decided that all study materials of IIBM India will be based on practical mode of Management lessons along with lots of case studies so that students can get to learn the strategic application of management theories, just like famous B-schools. The material was prepared by best industry expert tutors to match the global standard and the idea clicked," claims Vikas.
IIBM was a personal initiative and hence the fund management was tough. Initially the startup commenced with a small set up and it was a humble start by all means except its rigorous quality management and user friendliness. Starting from 2008, with a strength of eight people, today employee strength of IIBM India is 160 and there more than 60 management courses for different management niches for students to pursue. "The fund was limited in the beginning as it was a personal business endeavor, but with diligent management and huge acceptance from students, last year we have enrolled 3500 students, and for 2016-17 financial year, the target is set for enrolling 5500 students," says Rajesh.
Quality management
"Online education was a chancy segment before the inception of IIBM Institute, as industry was not fully aware of the quality potential of online management study. Online educational certifications were under skeptic evaluation of employers because they were not sure about the training and grooming strength of IIBM Institute students," opines Vidhi. Gaining confidence of employers and recruiters on IIBM Institute's potential was a Himalayan task for the founders. However, the quality of training, the learning merit of students and global standard of study materials bridged the gap quite amicably and with positive result.
Gaining students' trust was one of the soft areas of this startup because unless students are happy with the output of their professional study, it was not possible to earn their trust and loyalty. Vikas came up with a visionary idea that worked as the trump card for IIBM. "We started our placement assistance and it really worked. Today, we have an alumni network of over 20,000 students," says Vikas. Students really could understand the worth of their enrollment and professional study from IIBM Institute. As a result their trust and dependency on IIBM Institute was increased and the brand name got its corporate identity. "Assuring on quality was one our significant strategies. We invested a lot on our product quality, which is ultimately standardized course quality and related grooming standard. On the other hand, recruiters and employers could manage to get quality candidates for their official vacancies," adds Rajesh.
Student Puller Features
One of the main hindrances of studying in premium B-schools of India is their costly course fees and obligation of joining classes at regular basis. From the day of inception, startup IIBM Institute placed their class and course management wonderfully organized and that have helped students to get best return on their investment. Furthermore, the facilities like provision of paying course fee by installment, dual diploma courses, as well as three-certification courses are some of the user friendly features of IIBM Institute study modules that worked as a perfect student puller.
According to Vikas 'change is the only constant in management study.' That is why IIBM Institute study modules are found constantly improvised for their quality and in adaptability to current market trend for making recipients completely equipped to survive in corporate rate race. Recently IIBM Institute has introduced their dedicated android app and e-learning center so that students can access their e-study materials anytime from anywhere on the earth with an access to IIBM android app. This is again a big help of students who are studying management courses in IIBM Institute while doing their regular job.
"It was really not an easy job to manage a startup and to get the privilege of establishing a professional institute with specific brand management," says Vidhi. IIBM Institute has acquired prestigious association with IPMA UK, It is being rewarded memberships by premium industry associations like CII, ASSOCAM, FIEO, D&B and others. These accolades are the industry recognition of an ardent initiative of a dream and its worldly realization for the benefit of others. "The idea of welfare of working professionals was the prime focus of starting this online institute. We have created a branding and have set a quality standard in online Indian education. We are on the way to add more values to online management education of India," adds Vikas.
The success of a startup largely depends on the role played by core management team. IIBM Institute was favored by its core management team's competence. Vikas and his team have emerged as passionate educational strategists who could feel the demand of market and they played the cards very well. The demand of students as well as demand of employers and recruiters for employing well trained and well groomed candidates were perfectly fulfilled that had generated a brand awareness nationwide and it made the startup a clicked brand for quality online management study.
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