LURNABLE 2.0

Monkey Baba was a labour of love and passion, aimed at making a positive impact on students’ educational decisions. 

Lurnable as an education web portal was a labour of love and passion —infused with a bit of business sense. It was the next step in my journey as an entrepreneur.

In both cases, the business was bootstrapped through my consulting gigs in the education industry. Since 2007 I have been working with educational institutions, helping them collaborate with international partners, and strategizing avenues to develop educational businesses. When I was at E-Spark's accelerator programme in 2017, I learned something new about myself as the founder of Lurnable.com. It came as a shock, because it had never occurred to me until then. After a series of discussions around why I wasn’t able to understand how to take the business forward (in other words, monetise it... ) I realised that I was NOT CONFIDENT about myself. Ouch! That was the first time, the very first time that I understood that it was me who was stalling the growth of Lurnable as a business. It was my mental block that was stopping me from taking it further.

So, what was the mental block? After much introspection, I realised that I was not happy with the way the idea had developed. There was nothing new or exceptional about it, and, more importantly, students were NOT taking any decisions on the platform — the one pain that I so badly wanted to resolve. The website only offered information on higher education but nothing beyond that to support a student's decision-making process. A student may or may not know what to do with data alone. The website only provided them with lists of courses and universities offering those courses, but in all honesty, there were sites doing a better job of that.

There you go. I said it. My business services were being served better elsewhere. Sadly, that alone wasn’t the problem. I was also technically challenged to understand how to make the magic happen. While this preoccupied my mind day and night, I went through a major surgery the same year that made me bed-ridden for a good three months. As I was recovering and working on my options, I received another consulting opportunity, which made me shift my focus to consulting. And that's how the strategy division of Lurnable evolved. One thing led to another, and today Lurnable is bracing itself to become a leading international consulting company for educational businesses across the globe.

Through consulting, Lurnable and I got the opportunity to work on specialised projects focused on enabling learning and development through various aspects of education. The whole experience of working on these projects has given me the confidence to do what I am about to share with you... that is, to set up a ‘Skills Development Academy' for international students and educators from around the world. The aim of Lurnable Skills Development Academy is to create unique short-term and long-term blended learning programmes with its partners around the world. These programmes would have a direct and positive impact on a student's educational and professional pursuits as well as on an educator's need for sharing knowledge. As the first offering from the Academy, we have just launched a leadership programme for teen-aged learners. We intend to build more such programmes aimed at enhancing students’ skills in the areas of leadership, entrepreneurship, sports and emerging technologies. Also, we have launched our very own Indian office in Bangalore recently in partnership with two super-awesome entrepreneurs Ash Balakrishnan and Madhan! While this office is dedicated for education counselling services for students we also aim to use it as a hub for all of Lurnable's business services and solutions for students and educational businesses in India.

Having said that, I cannot escape from the inevitable question that I keep asking myself.  

Is this taking me anywhere close to what I once wanted to get out of Monkey Baba or Lurnable as a product? 

Honestly, NO. 

But I am hoping that I will have a chance to sow a seed of inspiration in students’ minds by helping them discover opportunities, as well as give educators the much-needed exposure and experience — both of which will (in)directly influence the lives of students for the better. At the core of everything that might come out of Lurnable will be only one passion: Students—and doing everything that will benefit them. I sincerely believe the success of an education institution is directly proportional to the success of its students. We are pledging to help educational institutions succeed by helping their students succeed. 

And this thought is inspiring enough for me to move ahead. 

Working on a startup is easy. You have no one to answer to and you have nothing but your work, your very own work, to focus on, but consulting is a different beast altogether. Your strategies, ideas and work contribute to only a small percentage of the actual work. A large portion of the whole effort is around people, understanding them, trying to protect your business from being taken undue advantage of, and making sure your business interests don’t hurt those of others.

From being a poet, a reclusive start-up entrepreneur who was doing it for the sheer joy of working, to running a consulting business full time, I must admit the journey is challenging. But again, entrepreneurs like me thrive on manoeuvring challenges and discovering creative ways to expend our energies??. Also, more importantly, I am blessed with an amazing support system in my husband, parents, family, friends, partners, associates, colleagues and advisers who keep me sane and on track when things go awry.  

From a business point of view, going forward, Lurnable will not have the course discovery platform anymore (a few businesses have shown interest in taking over/collaborating on this vertical, but nothing has gone past the discussion phase). Instead, Lurnable’s focus is going to be around strategy consulting, education counselling and nurturing the skills development academy. We have revamped the website recently, and I’m super happy to let you know that some of the best thought leaders, influencers from the education industry and passionate educators both in India and the UK are on our advisory board. In addition, business experts have joined our small team of associates determined to give the best to our clients. With their wealth of experience and guidance, our passion to make a difference and your continued support, Lurnable hopes to become synonymous with the highest quality of international education consultancy for businesses and students alike. 

As I have shared several times before, I truly believe that there is strength in being vulnerable and open about ourselves. Our truth speaks louder when some experiences confuse our moral compass. Everything I have done since February 2013 — the day I first announced the concept of Monkey Baba as a poster via Facebook — to today is bare open and available online, for everyone to see and understand the arduous journey of an entrepreneur who is struggling her way through the humbling realities of the business world. Learning, adapting, pivoting but moving ahead in the direction of her soul's call. And doing what is right to create an ethical consulting practice around international education.

If even one person learns something from my journey and gets to avoid the stupid and silly mistakes I have made, if even a single person gets inspired to start their entrepreneurial journey, I will feel truly blessed. For we are a social animal — knowingly or unknowingly, directly or indirectly, we influence each other's lives. I wish mine is a positive one for you.

Thank you. 

Love,

Nithya Prabu

PS: Going forward you will be receiving business updates from our end, detailing all aspects of our business division, services and offerings. Please do keep an eye on our social media pages and website. And if you are interested in collaborating with us in any way, kindly reach out.