Woman CEO

By S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

   

According to Investopedia, A startup is a young company founded by one or more entrepreneurs to develop a unique product or service and bring it to market. By its nature, the typical startup tends to be a shoestring operation, with initial funding from the founders or their friends and families. 

 After reading and going through many blogs on start-ups and woman entrepreneurs I landed on a guest post of Kate Endress. She is CEO and cofounder of DITTO.com, which is an eCommerce site dealing in customized designer eyewear including the contemporary prescription sunglasses. She graduated from Stanford Business School, worked as a private equity investor, and embarked on her journey as an entrepreneur. In her guest blog post, she describes that there is an increasing number of great female role models who serve as inspirations. She states that women lead just 8% of venture-backed companies. Also, that decision of hiring Marissa Mayer by Yahoo while she was pregnant was not only exciting but also inspiring. Kate Endress shares that how fruitful was the strategy discussed by Marissa Mayer in her talk at Stanford Business School about How a woman CEO can achieve a work-life balance? Based on her personal experience Kate Endress has shared four pieces of advice:

  1. Connections Count: Build Your Network It is important to have genuine connections for the long run. All it starts with sharing your business ideas confidently, a strong and warm handshake followed by friendly eye contact. As business owners we all are busy, but meeting a new business owner every month (at least) is highly motivational. 

  2. Let Others Help: Tap The Resources There are several resources and organizations which are supporting woman entrepreneurs, utilize the facilities. It's always good to work in team or group. Its advisable to utilize the available resources and encash opportunities to grow. All this helps in networking, mentoring, generating and investing.

  3. Don't Forego Funding: VCs Are Becoming More Balanced Small venture community or woman startups are more successful for example Women make up 60% of Zynga's customers, 77% of Groupon's customers, 82% of Pinterest's users, and 70% of all eCommerce buyers. Kate Endress quotes," If your target market is women, you can leverage your experiences and build a better story of how your company will reach other females.". There are many government grants available for woman entrepreneurs. 

  4. Learn To Lead: We Need More Movers, Shakers, and Mentors Have a voice, speak out confidently, realize your weaknesses and work on them. Build your own team of strong women mentors another young woman who wants to be a businesswoman in the future. Set an example for other females and run the show while building your own network. Many of us dream to have our own startups at some point in life. Theirs no expiry date. You can start your venture at any age, what counts is the zeal, go-getter attitude despite all the odds? Buckle up. All the best.

   WE NEED MORE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS! Please leave comments and share your thoughts on the same.

Productive things to do during holidays

By S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

Before Corona, were the times when students curiously waited for vacations to start, as summer rolls around the time. It is the happiest period in every student’s life. As they get to travel outside their city or country, they take up many extracurricular activities, ample fun.

Presently, to the corona striked globe, it’s quite worrisome for parents to how to keep their childrens busy and engaged, since long breaks may cause boredom. There are many entertaining activities which can be taken up to not only keep them  engaged but also enrich their skills Let’s dig into few of the interesting summer vacation activities: 

 1. Activity to keep them Active and Healthy: 

Dailyy a 60 minutes physical activity should be planned to keep them active. Virtual Karate, Dance, Yoga etc, to keep them physically engaged. However these activities might vary according to childs interest, taste and health.

 2. Reading and Writing: 

Encourage them to read and write. Reading newspaper is the best way to improve vocabulary, stay informed about current affairs and latest happenings/ news across the globe. They can also read small moral based novels, story books and biographies. Simultaneously, childrens should be encouraged to write daily journals which will inculcate a habit of voicing their opinions, or write an excerpt from newspapers or their course books, this will help them to improve their handwriting. 

 3. Gardening: 

Teachh them importance of plants and their role in environment. Encourage them to plant small shrubs and take care of them. Likewise they can be taught to create their own kitchen gardens. Several online portals are conducting online workshops for the same, one of the interesting activity (for they get a chance to play with mud ☺️)

 4. Star gazing: 

Now this is one of the family activity specially suited for summers when sky is clear with no clouds and temperature too is moderate. Best way to enjoy beauty of the natural world.

 5. Learn a new skill: 

 Make them learn a new skill every week. This will make your children all rounded as well, as they will explore their own boundaries. Teach them 

a) To cook 

b) To bake

c) Learn a language

d) Drive 

e) Computer language etc 

 6. Play with science / Maths: 

Childrens along with their elders can set up small indoor science experiments from their course books. This will help them to understand a concept with clarity. 

 7. Exposure to their religion: 

Thiss will not only help them to get acquainted and aware of their religion and its history but also, it is a way of meditation and motivation. 

 8. Arts and Crafts: 

Encouragee them for arts and crafts activities. Example: Toy making, sewing, stitching, drawing, painting etc.

In conclusion, several activities can be taken up to keep your wards busy and be constructive.

At Sheenz Educational Solutions, we too are planning for summer activities. Please check our website www.sheenz.org for more details.

Aatma nirbhar bharat 2

By S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

Main focus of aatma nirbhar bharat was to make a self-reliant nation focusing on local businesses (manufacturers and service providers). This was a vision to strengthen economic status of the company. Through this route, it was estimated that there would be less dependency on imports ( help in reduction of trade deficit) and boostup exports (help in trade surplus) which would help country to handle any crisis in future like covid-19

The PM's Aatma nirbhar bharat abhiyan youjna package focuses on 

Land, 

Labour,

 Liquidity and laws.

Package Breakup:

Source: elearnmarkets

The sectors to be benefited are

However, the drawbacks or shortcomings of this abhiyan are

1) Package focuses on indirect benefits.

2) No cash support but loans based

3) Loans are announced for Micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

4) Bad loans issue faced by banking sector might affect the assets quality.

5) Increase in default rates might increase burden of government.

6) The abhiyan package would lead to only 1% growth of India's GDP which would not be sufficient to countries economy.

Inspite of this, the hopes are high and people are trying to encash fruits from this abhiyaan.

Aatma Nirbhar Bharat(ANB)

 By

S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

 ANB (self-reliance India) 

Glimpse

Aatmanirbharbharat (mygov.in)

To be continued

Indian education sector-2

...continued

By, S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

 Major Initiatives are taken up by government:

 November 2020:                                                                                                                                        The Indian Central Medicine Council (CCIM), which governs medical study and practice of Ayurveda, amended the 2016 regulations of the Indian Medicine Central Council (postgraduate Ayurveda education) to allow Ayurveda PG students to practise general surgery.

Two future-ready Ayurveda institutions—the Institute of Teaching & Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar, and the National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur, were dedicated by our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi to forge interdisciplinary collaborations and give a contemporary boost to Ayurveda.

 Digital Skills Academy, by IIT Madras, launched training courses for banking, financial services and insurance sector.

All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) inaugured 46 online AICTE training and learning (ATAL) academy faculty development programmes (FDPs) on ‘molecular manufacturing’ in a drive to develop and train its faculty worldwide.

  Prasar Bharati (India’s public broadcaster) entered into an MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to launch 51 direct-to-home (DTH) education TV channels.

Government allocated Rs. 59,845 crore (US$ 8.56 billion) for the Department of School Education and Literacy.According to Union Budget 2020-21

Announcement of revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022 in Union Budget 2020-21 and proposed an outlay of Rs. 3,000 crore (US$ 429.55 million).

Under Union Budget 2020-21,  apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021 in about 150 higher educational institutions proposed by the government.

In 2030, it is estimated that India’s higher education will:

Combine training methods that involve online learning and games, and is expected to grow 38% in the next 2-4 years.

-Adopt transformative and innovative approaches in Higher education.

-Have an augmented Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50%.

-Reduce state-wise, gender-based, and social disparity in GER to 5%.

-Emerge as the single largest provider of global talent with one in four graduates in the world is a product of the Indian higher education system.

-Be among the top five countries in the world in terms of research output with an annual R&D spend of US$ 140 billion.

-Have more than 20 universities among the global top 200 universities.

Besides focusing on new education techniques, such as E-learning and M-learning. Various government initiatives are being adopted to boost the growth of the distance education market

Education sector has seen a host of reform and improved financial outlays in recent years that could possibly transform the country into a knowledge haven.  In the current decade, the development of education infrastructure is expected to remain the key focus. In this scenario, infrastructure investment in the education sector is likely to see a considerable increase. With human resource increasingly gaining significance in the overall development of the country

The Government of India has taken up several steps like opening of IIT’s and IIM’s at new locations, allocating educational grants for research scholars in government institutions. Furthermore, with the online mode of education being used by several educational organizations, the higher education sector in India is set for major change and development in the years to come.

#sti

Reference:

Education & Training Sector in India: Education System, Growth & Market Size | IBEF

Indian education sector

By, S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

The 2nd largest E-learning market after  US is India which is expected to reach US$ 1.96 billion with around 9.5 million users by 2021. If forecast is to be believed it would reach ~US$ 8.6 billion by 2026.

India occupies a significant position in the education industry globally with largest networks of higher education institutions. However, for further development in education system there is still a lot of potential.

Market size in india provides good and great opportunity for education sector. In the sense, india's population includes 500 million in between age group 5 - 24 years(students)

The 2020-21 statistics revealed,  9,700  AICTE approved institutes. Of which 4,100 undergraduate, 4,951 postgraduate and 4,514 diploma courses in institutes. According to Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) reports, from April 2000-September 2020, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity stood at US$ 3,849.20 million inflow. 

 Major investments and developments in the recent past witnessed by education and training sector in India are:

• In December 2020:  ‘Industry 4.0 Hands-on Skill Learning Centre’ located at IMT Manesar, Gurgaon in Haryana.
• In December 2020: ‘SAKSHAM’ to boost employment opportunities in diverse sectors.
• In December 2020:  'IGnITE' which aims to develop future ready highly trained technicians, based on the German Dual Vocational Educational Training (DVET) model. By 2024, it visions to upskill ~40,000 employees.
• In December 2020: IIT Alumni Council will launch the ‘India Empowerment Fund’  Rs. 50,000 crore (US$ 6.80 billion) over the next 10 years to build a strong research ecosystem.                                               

...........to be continued

#sti

Online

By,  S Adeeb Mujtaba Ali

Online Merriam Webster defines it as "Connected through a computer or telecommunication".

Following corona crisis, every means of communication/ interaction is online and so was/ is education presently. Indian government has taken initiatives and introduced e-learning platforms for under graduates and post graduates. By, these platforms students can learn and teachers can teach through teaching learning process.

Their are 8 e-Learning platforms 1)  Swayam 2) Diksha 3) e-PG pathshala 4) Swayam prabha 5) National Digital Laboratory of India (NDLI) 6) E-ShosdhSindhu 7) National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and 8) Virtual labs. An initiative by government of India.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.abpeducation.com/amp/education-tips/top-8-government-elearning-platforms-for-students-1.1192917

These are useful platforms not only for undergraduates but also for post-graduates. 

However online learning or e-Learning comes with its own pros and cons. It is considered as student centered technique in teaching learning process, teachers can be creative while they teach, such a concept is very interactive, in limited time high amount of information can be shared with students etc etc. But online learning can never replace conventional classroom teaching learning experience. In a classroom teaching use of chalk and boards, models and charts makes whole session interesting interactive and activity based. It leaves an impact on the students and remains in the memory for long period. Unlike online learning wherein everything is virtual, imaginary and superficial. I am not saying e-Learning is bad but it can't be ultimate. Not every student can adjust with online teaching or online classes since they differ in their IQ or tech friendly habit or accessibility to internet etc.

Therefore, it will be always debatable whether or not e-Learning could be ultimate or just an option to be adhered during crisis period.

#sti