300 preschools, 11 primary schools and counting. For this IITian, education is a tool not the goal
mesh Malhotra, 48
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Hippocampus Learning Centres
PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE
Co-founded Bangalore Labs, India's first infrastructure managed service provider
WORKS FROM
Bengaluru
The son of migrants from Pakistan, Umesh Malhotra had never been to a village before. A graduate from IIT Madras, he started his career with Infosys and was among the first hundred employees of the company. A few years later, a friend took him on a trip to the hinterlands of Rajasthan. There, he found himself sitting before a group of about 10 women, their faces hidden under long ghoonghats, but very vocal about the dismal state of education for their children in the villages.
That is when Umesh changed gears after a good many years in IT, and began his first foray into preschool learning. Starting with one school, 10 children and one teacher, within a year the strength went up to 80 children and three teachers. In 2011, he set up Hippocampus learning centres with the aim of providing quality education to rural children from low income families.
Currently, the company runs more than 300 preschools and 11 primary schools in Karnataka and Maharashtra, educating more than 11,000 students. It uses international standards of teaching and sets goals for reading, writing, arithmetic and English learning. The smile on the children's faces, he says, is his greatest reward.
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Hippocampus Learning Centres
PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE
Co-founded Bangalore Labs, India's first infrastructure managed service provider
WORKS FROM
Bengaluru
The son of migrants from Pakistan, Umesh Malhotra had never been to a village before. A graduate from IIT Madras, he started his career with Infosys and was among the first hundred employees of the company. A few years later, a friend took him on a trip to the hinterlands of Rajasthan. There, he found himself sitting before a group of about 10 women, their faces hidden under long ghoonghats, but very vocal about the dismal state of education for their children in the villages.
That is when Umesh changed gears after a good many years in IT, and began his first foray into preschool learning. Starting with one school, 10 children and one teacher, within a year the strength went up to 80 children and three teachers. In 2011, he set up Hippocampus learning centres with the aim of providing quality education to rural children from low income families.
Currently, the company runs more than 300 preschools and 11 primary schools in Karnataka and Maharashtra, educating more than 11,000 students. It uses international standards of teaching and sets goals for reading, writing, arithmetic and English learning. The smile on the children's faces, he says, is his greatest reward.
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