Educationist, Author, Mentor, Innovator, Incubator, Serial Entrepreneur | Dr. Sanjay Gandhi

An edupreneur who cannot think small

It was May 2014. I was conducting the full-day MSOD workshop on Risk. Sanjay, an ever enthusiastic participant of MSOD, had already sought permission to join the session halfway. As planned, Sanjay walked into the conference room and silently seated himself. Like always, he was very calm and he quickly tuned into the session. During our break someone curiously enquired as to why he had missed the crucial first half. Sanjay explained that he had been to Mumbai and had directly joined our session post his return. He informed that he was returning from one of the most important meetings of his life; a meeting with Mr. Suresh Bharwani and his GenNext. While this had been brewing for a while, he had just formally ended his seventeen-year long association with Jetking. We were amazed at the ease at which Sanjay told us about one of the most significant decisions of his life. The decision was not just significant, but a pivotal one too.

The phase post 2008-10 didn’t bode well for the Indian IT education sector. As a veteran edupreneur, Sanjay was well aware of the lurking threat. He knew that he had to re-pivot his business. Unfortunately there was another change internal to Jetking which accelerated the rate of change. It was the transition to the next generation. Sanjay found himself at the crossroad of change much before he could lay an alternate path. So here he stood before us with his old business on the verge of closure and his alternate path still not clearly chalked out. Interestingly, he looked completely poised, unruffled, and optimistic as always. Such unusual ability to handle ambiguity, stress, disappointment, failure, and risk is something that makes Sanjay special.

As one of the top franchisees and the only centre of excellence nationally, Sanjay’s stint with Jetking was highly successful. With many accolades to his credit, Sanjay has a lion’s share in putting Jetking at the top in the Western part of India. While disassociation with Jetking was definitely a setback, he rose like a phoenix from the ashes of his past to set up yet another large education business called Aspire. Aspire partners with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on their wide array of programs to build a sustainable skill ecosystem across the country.

The legendary Steve Jobs talks about a concept called the Second Product Syndrome in the documentary The Pixar Story. Jobs explains that when a company comes up with a very successful first product, it becomes more ambitious and boastful. The company then decides to go ahead with the second product without actually investigating and understanding the reason behind their first product’s success. Therefore the second product often ends up as a failure. Jobs experienced second product syndrome after Apple III’s miserable failure post Apple II’s incredible success. Sanjay ensured that he doesn’t fall prey to second product syndrome. Aspire surpassed the success he had achieved as a Jetking partner, and that too in a much shorter period. His other successful ventures are Astore and Smart Incubator & Diversified Development Hub (in Solapur). No wonder we laud and respect Sanjay as a serial edupreneur.

In his amazing book Cashflow Quadrant, author Robert Kiyosaki talks about four quadrants: E (Employee), S (Small Business Owner), B (Large Business Owner), and I (Investor). Each quadrant is unique, and people within each one share common characteristics. Based upon their core values, strengths, weaknesses, and interests, different people gravitate to different quadrants. Different quadrants require different frames of mind, different personalities, different skills, and different educational paths. Different quadrants represent completely different worlds and worldviews. Success as a B requires ownership/control of systems and the ability to lead people.

While most of us start in S-quadrant, we essentially stay trapped in the same quadrant all our lives. We have always seen Sanjay operate as a B. He has the capability and the skills needed to quickly build a system and hire right people to operate the same. Sanjay firmly believes, “Why do it yourself when you can hire someone to do it for you?” Having invested his time and effort on building the system, Sanjay quickly moves to hiring the CEO and other key leaders and completely empowers them.  To quote an example, Aspire has recently initiated a unique project with Karnataka Government called Astore. It is an electronic and multi-brand mobile repair studio based on a franchise model. Initiated in collaboration with the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), opening a franchise of Astore is an easy process. Astore also provides loan assistance through their State & Bank Engagement Model under Mudra Schemes. Astore seeks to create nano entrepreneurs who further create jobs in their local ecosystems.

Aspire today operates 150 branches across India in collaboration with NSDC. In his 25 years as an educationist, Sanjay has contributed over 50,000 skilled professionals to India’s talent pool. He has authored a motivational book in Marathi called UTKARSHAGATHA which narrates success stories of otherwise academically average students of Aspire. Sanjay was conferred with the ‘Skill India Icon’ award at the hands of Honorable Governor Shri Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, ‘Sangnak Sarathi’ award at the hands of Dr. Narendra Jadhav, and ‘National Achievement Award for Education Excellence’ at the hands of Padma Shri Dr. Indira Hinduja.

To add to his growth story, Sanjay acquired two organizations – one in Delhi and one in Chennai – in early 2020. Unfortunately, fortune doesn’t always favour the brave! The timing of this ambitious move proved gruesomely wrong as the entire skill ecosystem came to a grinding halt as the pandemic swept the world. However we are not defined by our difficulties, but by how we respond to them. While the entire education world continued to be at a standstill for many months to follow leading to a devastating impact, Sanjay has risen like a phoenix yet again and continues to progress his grand plans with as much zeal and intensity. After all, he is a person who cannot think small. Sanjay has and will always think big.

Website : www.aspireks.com
Email : sanjay@aspireks.com