Shrinidhi R S is now CEO of Cherri Learn, an impact-driven ed-tech company that delivers quality grass-root level education in ‘tier 3’ and ‘tier 4’ villages in English along with their regional language through interactive learning aid.
Nestled in the serene landscape of Dakshina Kannada, Kaladka is more than just a charming town known for its rich and aromatic tea. While its signature brews have won the hearts of many, the town also holds the pride of producing its first and youngest entrepreneur to own a LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Shrinidhi R S, 22, is now the CEO and founder of Cherri Learn, an impact-driven ed-tech company that delivers quality grass-root level education in ‘tier 3’ and ‘tier 4’ villages in English along with their regional language through interactive learning aid at a highly affordable price.
The core mission of the platform is to make quality education accessible to children in underserved areas of India and to deliver affordable education to 10 million students by 2025. Shrinidhi grew up in a humble family background. His father was into the taxi business while his mother was a tailor. During his early days, Shrinidhi mostly spent time exploring the internet and had a penchant for learning to build websites and software applications.
By the age of 16, just when he finished his 10th grade, Shrinidhi was an intermediate developer. He took up freelance assignments and developed websites, making a meager amount of money. However, when this transitioned into a serious business, he set up the first software development LLP company called Abstract Technologies when he was only 18. “I had the distinguished achievement of opening the first LLP in my region (Kaladka),” says Shrinidhi.
But over time, he didn’t find that to be a lucrative business model, which prompted him to launch one-of-its-kind agri-tech apps called MyMPCS (Milk Producers Collectors Society), that helped streamline the business of dairy farmers. With over 10,000 downloads, dairy farmers mostly from Dakshina Kannada district, signed up on the app that helped them streamline livestock and inventory management.
“We helped the farmers move from traditional way-using pen and paper to digitised version of channelising their dairy produce,” explains Shrinidhi who is currently pursuing distance learning in MBA.
But just when Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Shrinidhi forayed into a transformative space and joined the digital learning bandwagon. With many students hinging on online education and with leading ed-tech platforms jumping right into the opportunity, Shrinidhi identified the scope for an inclusive and affordable online learning service. This led to the birth of Cherri Learn, which focused primarily on delivering quality education to students from deeper pockets of India.
“Initially, I started off by uploading videos on my own. I used to identify certain concepts in the subjects of mathematics and science and upload them on YouTube. However, the lack of access to online learning to all students irrespective of socio-economic background and with the expensive services of such online learning platforms, I felt a major section of students were kept out of the loop. This mostly included students from Kannada medium schools. This problem is what triggered the idea of Cherri Learn,” says Shrinidhi.
The platform offers educational content for children in grades 1 to 5, designed through animation to engage students in a visually compelling learning model. What sets it apart is its availability in regional languages, including Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. Students can avail themselves of education content in regional languages for Rs 365 a year (Rs 1/day) and can access English language content for Rs 1,095/year (Rs 3/day).
“One of the major challenges was to market the product among students in the remote areas. During the pandemic we used digital marketing to popularize the product. However, once the pandemic was over, we conducted extensive outreach programmes and demonstrations on how to use the app and how the platform could supplement traditional schooling. Currently we have reached more than 1,200 remote cities in India and have recorded over 80,000 downloads,” said Shrinidhi who also collaborates with NGO partners and corporates to expand the service as part of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Shrinidhi also said that the average screen time of the students on the app was around 1 hour and 10 minutes ,which contributed significantly to the learning curve of the students. “Going ahead we would like to make our product global and reach out to students in other countries including Africa, Middle East and some war-torn countries. By the next academic year, with the help of international NGOs we are focusing on delivering educational content in Nigeria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Since we are not specialized in the curriculum of other countries, we will initially be targeting pre-primary and primary students with basic numeric and alphabetical literacy,” says Shrinidhi.
Shrinidhi’s ed-tech company in 2023 emerged as the winner of Elevate Karnataka and secured an equity-free grant of Rs 35 lakh from the Government of Karnataka. Besides, Shrinidhi has also raised a seed round of angel funds amounting to Rs 1.5 crore.
Asked what keeps him going, Shrinidhi says, “Entrepreneurship was my interest from day one. I believe in the principle of profit with purpose. The sheer excitement in social entrepreneurship is what keeps me going.”
source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)