Startup puts focus on upskilling students

When Abhijith Ajithkumar and Vishnu Vijayan embarked on their engineering journey at the Sarabhai Institute of Science and Technology in Vellanad, Trivandrum, in 2016, little did they anticipate that their shared passion for knowledge dissemination would forge a unique partnership.

Fast forward to 2024, Abhijith, along with his wife and fellow batchmate Aparna Mahesh, Vishnu, and Karthik Narayanan, spearheads a startup that has equipped thousands of students across Kerala with technical prowess in fields such as cybersecurity, cloud computing, and robotics.

Now, their platform, Riglabs Collective, is charting an ambitious course to extend its mission nationwide. Their Bharat Drive has already made strides, reaching areas from Kanyakumari to Sivakasi in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. They aim to expand their reach even further in the near future.

Abhijith says that he and Vishnu had always harboured a passion for training students in new programs. When they crossed paths in college, their shared enthusiasm ignited a strong bond.

Their journey commenced with volunteering to mentor school students through organisations like K-Disc, ASAP, and GTech.

In no time, they became familiar faces in schools around their college vicinity, actively participating in the Little KITEs scheme initiated by the Kerala government. This scheme aimed to equip students with technical skills in diverse subjects such as computer programming, photography, and robotics.

Simultaneously, within their college, they delved into designing and crafting products aimed at automating household chores. Their efforts culminated in the establishment of a startup, Zilicon Technologies, in 2019, which was incubated within the college.

While the venture introduced innovative products for automating home lights and water pumps, the confines of a campus-incubated startup constrained its aspirations to a B2B model.

But the registration process itself became a learning curve for the quartet. Navigating the unfamiliar terrain of business registration revealed its own set of challenges, compounded by pitfalls laid by those offering purportedly “professional” assistance.

Their firm was eligible for tax breaks as a startup, a crucial detail that their hired professional failed to illuminate. It was only when Zilicon Technologies found itself facing substantial tax notices that the founders realised the depth of their ignorance about the intricacies of the business.

“The registration process for startups has since been streamlined, and individuals seeking guidance can now turn to the Kerala Startup Mission. When we embarked on our journey, such resources were not readily available,” says Abhijith.

Zilicon Technologies products are now marketed by other companies under their labels. This strategy enables us to sidestep the need for maintaining a fully-fledged after-sales department, which would be financially prohibitive for a bootstrapped venture like ours, explain the founders.

“Some of the most reputable companies in the Indian market are regular clients of ours,” says Abhijit.

One notable benefit of establishing the startup was the streamlining of payments for Vishnu and Abhijith's engagements in school education initiatives. Under the scheme’s regulations, payments could only be disbursed to registered firms, not individuals.

To maintain a clear distinction between their two endeavours, they established Riglabs as a platform within Zilicon, solely dedicated to skill training.

This setup not only served Riglabs’ primary goal but also provided Zilicon with a rich pool of talent to draw from.

A notable practice of the founders is to leverage individuals who acquire skills to train others, regardless of their age or status.

During the initial phase, school students who had been trained in Android application development were tasked with instructing engineering college students.

“It's remarkable. A student who was in the eighth standard was the one teaching application development to senior engineering students in our own college,” recalls Aparna.

But this approach also presents its own set of challenges. On one occasion, the Riglabs group was tasked with upskilling some teachers who needed to evaluate students' projects and thus required technical proficiency.

The programme in Thrissur progressed smoothly until the final day when attendees realised that the individuals assigned to train them were recent graduates. This realisation unsettled some participants who struggled to accept the notion of being trained by fresh graduates rather than senior educators.

While some teachers approach upskilling with earnestness, eager to enhance their capabilities, others view it merely as a formality to obtain a certificate without putting in the effort to acquire new skills.

The group’s activities garnered significant attention, attracting inquiries from various regions, occasionally even from beyond state borders.

A teacher from Kerala, employed at a college in Andhra Pradesh, sought out their expertise and engaged them to teach cybersecurity on their campus.

Simultaneously, Riglabs began receiving diverse project requests, ranging from website development to establishing cyber labs for businesses, along with conducting workshops. This expansion led to the organisation of hackathons, boot camps, and structured learning programs for aspiring individuals.

As the demand for their services grew, more students from Sarabhai Institute joined the group, enticed by the rare opportunity for hands-on experience it provided.

This expansion has led to the formation of a diverse pool of individuals eager to share their skills.

“It's not limited to just technical skills. Within our network, we have individuals working in companies like UST and Infosys who also pursue their passions in areas like arts and crafts. Riglabs provides a platform for them as well,” explains Aparna.

Currently, Riglabs boasts 23 such regular talents, each offering a unique set of skills.

However, amidst their flourishing activities, a significant challenge has surfaced: delayed payments from government agencies.

According to the founders, this situation has exacerbated in recent months due to the state government's financial constraints. Consequently, projects from government agencies have become increasingly unappealing to bootstrapped platforms like theirs.

This is where Abhijith and Aparna’s passion for travel offered a new avenue. They began combining business with pleasure by incorporating outreach efforts during their travels to other states.

“When we come across a school during our travel, we take the opportunity to explain our projects, and many of them have responded positively, reaching out to us later,” says Aparna.

As co-founders of a bootstrapped startup, the duo maintains strict budgetary discipline and often opts to sleep in their vehicle to save money.

According to them, government schools in Tamil Nadu, unlike their counterparts in Kerala, exhibit a more welcoming attitude and are eager to organise informative sessions for their students.

When presented with an opportunity, the duo offers a complimentary orientation course, allowing schools and students to decide whether they wish to engage in such activities.

According to them, the results have been exceedingly positive, prompting the conception of the Bharat Drive initiative aimed at onboarding students from all over India.

Initially, the revenue generated by Zilicon Technologies played a crucial role in supporting Riglab activities, as the fees charged from schools and students were nominal, around 5,000 rupees.

But the founders say this dynamic is shifting though they did not provide any revenue figures. “The activities of Riglabs have now reached a point where they are generating reasonable revenue and can sustain themselves independently,” says Abhijith.

Riglabs aims to connect 500 schools, 250 colleges, and 50 universities across India through the Bharat Drive initiative by 2024.

The founders are confident that Riglabs will be able to establish itself as a major platform in India soon, buoyed by the enthusiastic response from students.

Why the young say Go West

Seven out of ten Kerala students who head overseas for education do not plan to return, according to a survey by the Kerala Academy of Sciences. This statistic is not surprising, given the outdated systems and syllabi that most of our institutions follow. Meanwhile, universities outside India are adapting to the changing times. For example, the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League member, recently initiated a bachelor’s degree programme in artificial intelligence (AI).

“We are training students for jobs that don’t yet exist in fields that may be completely new or revolutionised by the time they graduate,” said Robert Ghrist, associate dean of undergraduate education at Penn Engineering. Meanwhile, in Kerala, we are still arguing about inviting foreign universities to establish campuses here. Still wondering why our students don’t want to return?

India opens up space for foreign funds

The Indian space technology sector received a significant boost last week when New Delhi announced that foreign funds would be permitted to invest in the sector. Under the new guidelines, up to 49% foreign ownership in launch systems, 74% in satellite products, and as much as 100% external ownership in satellite component manufacturing will be permitted. Over the last three years, global funding in space-related industries has surged to 37 billion US dollars, yet India has been unable to capitalize on this due to government restrictions.

Chat away, and they will understand 

The gaming platform Roblox recently introduced a real-time AI chat translation feature, allowing players worldwide to communicate with each other in their native languages. For instance, a South Korean gamer can type in Korean, and players in Germany and England will see the translated version on their screens. The custom-built AI model currently supports major European languages as well as Asian languages such as Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. Wonder when a version of this will be developed in India with different state languages?

In Canada, Human 1: Robot 0

Hats off to Jake Moffat, an Air Canada passenger, who successfully pursued a case against the airline regarding wrong information provided by its chatbot regarding discount claims. The court ruled in Moffat’s favour, rejecting Air Canada’s argument that the chatbot was a distinct legal entity “responsible for its own actions”. The airline later disabled the chatbot and as the Morning Brew report says, it may be the first case of a robot losing its job to a human.