The company with the Best Startup award from the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development: SP Robotics

SP Robotics Maker Lab an advanced learning Centre for Robotics and IOT for school and college students.It provides Stem based Robotic and IOT kits to explore technologies and build your dream in the domains of Electronic ,Mechanical programming and Algorithms.We have programs like maker hour,SPARC,Project challenges and real time industry projects to facilitate constant exposure at an ultimate level to groom your tech and build your dream Robot says the Director’s of the company Ms. Sneha priya and Mr. Pranavan. 

  Elaborate about the inspirational journey of your business?

  SP Robotics Maker Lab is the brand of SP Robotic Works, a 5+ year old company. We are leaders in the field of robotics – providing know-how to individuals and companies. SP Robotic Works was started by Sneha Priya and Pranavan in 2012 to create an impact in the society by upskilling the younger generation with the skills of the future. They started it with an Advanced Learning Centre in Chennai – wherein students from both school’s and college’s would step-in to learn and explore technologies such as Robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Image Processing and much more. Having successfully created a curriculum and proven the business model, the team went on to the mode of scaling to provide such education to people across India.

The problem of quality education and technically strong trainers became a big question – which was then solved by their innovative approach in creating an AI-assisted learning experience. Now the Advanced Centres (SP Robotics Maker Lab) have smart class based learning experiences, an AI named “SPARKY” teaches students of all ages with Animation videos and real-time examples, eliminating the need for a real teacher. This way, every student gets perfect attention and high quality teaching. The need of a technical trainer is also eliminated – making more possibility of success for a franchise.The Franchise model was launched in December, 2017 – and it quickly attracted aspiring and modern entrepreneurs to take up the model and start their own Maker Lab. Within 3 months, 20 franchises had signed-up and joined the company’s vision to educate the future India.

The company has received the Best Startup award from the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development for its product and services – presented directly by the Honorable Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley. Other Awards include “Exemplary Application of IT” Award by CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), “Best Startup Award” by CNBC Awaz, “Impact Award” from Women Economic Forum, “Young Entrepreneur Award” from World Startup Expo and more.

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  Tell us about the USP of your brand and where do you see yourself in next 5 years?

  Our Smart Class based learning experience with AI-teacher “SPARKY” is our USP. This system eliminates the need for a real teacher – ensuring best quality training across all franchise and reducing the overheads for a franchise. Moreover, we do not just provide training/classes – we build a community wherein the students can interact with each other across nations, gain exposure, showcase talent and more. The community activities such as competitions provide a platform for these learners to apply their learnings and showcase their talents. We expect to grow to 500 franchise in 2 years.

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  How long has the business been franchised and what is your vision for the business?

  The franchising was started 5 months ago.We envision ourselves to be the leaders in the education sector for providing the know-how and experience in Latest-tech (as of today its Robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Virtual Reality (VR), Self Driving Cars, Machine Learning and AI and more..) For people of all ages and everywhere. The know-how and experience, will not just limit to the learning and practical understanding of the tech – but extends to exposure in real-time implementation, testing, showcasing the talent to the outside world and getting recognized for the same. 

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  What kind of training and support do you offer to the franchise?

  We guide the franchise completely from the date of signing up –

1. Centre guidelines to help in creating the Maker Lab
2. Business training for 2 days before on-boarding
3. Marketing help in terms of designs and digital Marketing
4. Reviewing the marketing activities and outcomes – suggesting better options for better performance every quarter

Moreover, we take care of the complete technical requirements of the franchise/users.

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  How many centers do you presently have and how many among them are franchisee run?

  We totally have 23 franchises (all are franchisee run). Predominantly in the Southern regions of India (with major ones in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai).

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  What are your general thought on the education sector and how can it be improved?

  India, being a very young country – with so many budding young minds – should have the best education system in place to ensure its future generations are equipped with the right skills. However, our education system is quite far behind – with rote learning and zero practical skills with no new concepts introduced. Today, engineers are literally manufactured with no real substance and unfortunately, they are forced to settle for mediocre jobs or become unemployed. Technology is growing at a very fast pace and with that, we need the education sector to also grow to ensure the engineers of the future are equipped.We need to introduce the new-age tech as part of the education system – right from 6th graders – in a practical and fun loving way. Concepts need to be taught practically with better pedagogy. Exposures, in terms of implementing the concepts learnt in real-time, needs to be provided to every learner.Introducing Robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Virtual Reality, Self Driving Cars as course would be an ideal choice even for school students – to experience it in the young age and choose their path wisely according to their interests and strengths.

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  Please share the franchise facts of your brand with us?

  Our franchise fee starts from INR 5 Lakhs and requires the franchisee to invest a minimum of INR 10 Lakhs capital to make the center ready and market in their locality. The Franchisee will be setting up Maker Lab, requirement of a minimum of 750sq ft space. The Maker Lab will be a  learning center for school & college students to step in and learn robotics and all the other latest technologies. Training on how to start the business and how to establish the franchise center (Maker Lab) will be provided by us and the franchisee can start in less a month’s time from the initiation. Since there is no trainer required, Maker Lab is very easy for anyone to operate. The only work for the franchisee is to market in their area and manage the centre. Being an attractive model, there are already several franchises in India and they are considered the best in the education space for learning. Students love the courses and there is a huge demand when compared to other tutoring or tution based franchise models. A sample business model along with marketing plans are also provided by us to ensure success of the franchise.Who can start a franchise? Any one with a great desire to be an entrepreneur, especially in the education sector. An aspiring home maker, fresh engineering or business management graduate, or the one who quit IT job just now, or a businessman wanting to extend your business. We have them all already as franchise owners. Their pride and enjoyment in owning their own business is immense – especially since it is in the field of education for the future betterment of the society. This will be a social impact based for-profit franchise for any aspiring entrepreneur.