The Skill Emphasizer: Prateek Shukla, CEO & Founder, Masai Over five years, the educational institution has transformed the careers of 4500+ students through its outcome-based education program

An African voyage and an encounter with the Masai Mara tribe inspired Prateek Shukla to establish the Masai School in 2019. "I found out that they don't believe in formal education and yet they are the strongest tribe of Africa. The reason being they have their own Masai Maara run schools for different skill sets and they train individuals right from their childhood in one specific skill set to make them the best in that field," shares Prateek Shukla, CEO & Founder, Masai.

According to him, the core of the venture lies in skills over degree/ certification. So, what sets it apart from the rest? It is its outcomefocused educational structure. Pay After Placement (PAP): Masai kicked off with an aim to change the education landscape of the nation. In order to reach even the last person in the nation, the eligibility bar for attaining education had to be brought down. Thus the business had to operate on a pay after placement policy. This model has allowed them to prioritise outcomes above anything else. Inclusive Reach: Its PAP model has opened doors for students from Tier-3 and Tier-4 cities & villages, enabling them to access cuttingedge tech education and pursue in-demand jobs. Mastery-Based Progression (MBP): To address varying skill levels, they implemented Mastery- Based Progression (MBP). This approach ensures students only progress in the curriculum after mastering each subject, making tech success achievable for non-tech backgrounds. Agile Curriculum: Unlike traditional colleges, it adapts swiftly, keeping the curriculum updated to real-time industry demands, ensuring graduates are job-ready. And 11-11-6 Schedule: It's corporateready mindset is fostered through the 11-11-6 schedule, pushing students beyond comfort zones, cultivating discipline, and instilling a learning mindset, making them sought-after additions for hiring partners seeking innovative and adaptable talent.

Over five years, the educational institution has transformed the careers of 4500+ students through its outcome-based education program. Shukla claims that over 70 per cent of his students have joined 1500+ companies including the likes of Ola, Uber, JP Morgan, Swiggy, Infosys, and Capgemini. At present, it has 6000+ students.

In 2023, Masai School uplifted 500+ families from poverty and achieved 100% year-on-year growth in revenue. With their acquisition, Prepleaf, they aim to make students job-ready by the time they graduate in their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year and have partnered with 100 colleges.

Up next, it aims to place 10000 students in the end of 2025. Talking about future entrails, he shares "We will achieve a monthly placement rate of 500 per month in the next few months which will make us the largest outcome-based education institute, we aim to uplift 1000+ families out of the poverty line in this calendar year alone by generating employment opportunities, and we aim to work with all the GCCs and Unicorns of India and have at least 1 student placed in all of them." Lastly, it aims to empower one million aspiring Indian youth into skilled tech career.

Factsheet:

No. of Co-Founders: 2

No. of Employees: 250+

Year of Inception:2019

External Investors: Omidyar Network,

India Quotient, Unitus Ventures