Airblack, On A Mission To Revamp The Future Of Micro Entrepreneurship The platform helps millions of people in the next decade to launch and grow their businesses, through outcome-focused courses and business tools
By Teena Jose
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The bulk of the current billion-dollar edtech industry focuses on educational outcomes focused on getting better jobs. However, with roughly 15 million people entering the workforce every year, and less than 1 million white-collar jobs out there, a large number of people need a way to generate livelihood. Hence, Airblack enters into the frame as a platform that helps millions of people in the next decade to launch and grow their businesses, through outcome-focused courses and business tools.
"With the internet bringing down the ease of starting a business, we believe that the future of work is micro entrepreneurship. We are leading the charge as category creators in an emerging $20 billion vocational learning market, focused on micro entrepreneurship," said Videt Jaiswal, founder and CEO, Airblack.
Airblack is a learning platform, helping people become successful creators of micro entrepreneurs, in a variety of discipline. All the outcome-focused courses are designed as live do-it-together DIT courses, taught by the top practitioners and experts from a domain. Students learn and practice in cohorts, and go from absolute beginners to launching their own business in two months.
The last two years of the pandemic saw an acceleration of already-progressing proliferation trends in the internet economy. The rise of social media and digital creator tool has brought entrepreneurship within the reach of millions. Today, it is possible to start a salon, a nutrition clinic, a content studio, or a restaurant right from your home. All you need is passion, skills and the right knowledge. And these trends, while accelerated by the pandemic, will only compound hereon.
Commenting on the business sustainability, Jaiswal said, "We have one of the best delight products in the market, with over 70,000 women in more than 500 cities attending our workshops. On top of it, we are profitable on a unit level, one of the few companies in the edtech space that makes money. In fact, while our revenue has grown five times in the last year alone, whereas our acquisition cost has come down by 67 per cent."
At present, Airblack offers courses in two broad verticals, Beauty and Culinary. Their flagship courses have timelines ranging from 30 to 120 days, with course fee starting from INR 24,000.
Airblack aims to impact over 500,000 women entrepreneurs every month in India, by introducing them to the joy of micro-entrepreneurship and helping them launch their own businesses.
"In terms of financials, the company will be cash-flow positive in the beauty category, while maintaining five times revenue growth and would have launched and scaled two more categories," Jaiswal further added, while sharing the expectations about the business growth.
FACTSHEET
- Year of Establishment – 2019
- No. Of Employees – 150
- Amount of external funding – Total of 6.72 million
- Leading Investors – Info Edge Ventures, Elevation Capital
- Average course fee – INR 24,000
- No. Of students taught – 35000
- Acquisitions made so far – NA
- Customer acquisition cost - NA
