At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week, we invited yet another passionate and purpose-driven entrepreneur, Dr Karthik Narayanan, to know more about his inspiring journey and the way forward.
He is a Business Leader, Seasoned Entrepreneur, Coach, Mentor, Change Enabler, Keynote Speaker and Founder & CEO of Lit Skills Learning and Sugaradhana.
He has over 10 years of experience in Edu-Tech industry. Dr Karthik Narayanan, is a thorough visionary, an award-winning entrepreneur, a selfless humanitarian & a philanthropist. He is on a mission to ensure that every child in India can speak, read & write, excellent English, as he strongly believes that English is a gateway to Global Opportunities. He doesn’t limit himself and believes that anybody can achieve as far as their mind allows them to. And whatever they believe they can achieve, will transform into a mission and revolution. He is passionate about creating schools that motivate, engage and empower 21st Century Learners for their future. He founded Lit Skills with this in mind. After many successful years of working with leading schools, he wanted to give more back to society. So he designed a global enterprise to work with schools and school leaders around the world using 21st Century Leadership behaviour, systems thinking, drivers of change, future trends and sustainability tools to create and implement innovative strategic plans to take schools successfully into the future. His startup Lit Skills Learning works to develop a suite of online educational resources for parents and teachers to successfully reach every student in the classroom and at home. Its goal is to provide the effective, affordable, easy-to-use tools that educators require to meet the needs of today’s diverse student population. Let’s learn more about his journey, way forward and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Dr Karthik:
What inspired you to start this journey? Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
Inspiration is pretty simple. See, I have worked with corporate companies for 9 years and I have never felt the job satisfaction at all. I will tell you a quick story. In India, there are more than 8 crore graduates who are passing out. There has to be a solution to this. It is in the hands of teachers. If it is taken care of from early on and if we focus on the fundamentals then we can bridge the gap. That’s what I am striving for.
I never wished to be an entrepreneur by the way. It is for a social cause. It is social entrepreneurship. We aim to empower the youth, starting from rural education. That’s the only inspiration.
During my decade long journey in this industry, I have had some great learnings from my experiences as an educator. You see, I am extremely passionate about creating schools that motivate, engage and empower 21st Century Learners for a brighter future.
I want to add as much value to the society as possible particularly for our youth. With that in mind, I designed a global enterprise to work in conjunction with schools and school leaders in India and around the world using 21st Century Leadership behavior, systems thinking, drivers of change, future trends and sustainability tools to create and implement innovative strategic plans to take schools successfully into the future.
I founded Lit Skills with a single thought in mind which is to provide a value-add platform with a simpler approach and methodology to engage every child in a classroom. My project aims to develop the overall english language skills and bridge the gap in learning. We are constantly in pursuit of making products which are accessible and affordable to all.
The vision of our organisation is to ensure that every child in India, especially from the rural sectors, is able to read, write and speak excellent English. We have recently launched our flagship “Project English”, an initiative to bring state of the art learning to the Tier 3 & Tier 4 sectors of India, at the 15th World Education Summit 2019, Mumbai – India.
What is your opinion on youth employability?
I did my schooling from a government school and did not know English until my 12th. I know the pain of others. Employability starts with communication. If we can’t speak English and fulfil the basic requirement then there is a mismatch in the skillset.
The number of graduates who are passing out vs employable graduates really scares me. Forget about building advanced technologies. There is no point if grass root problems are not looked into. I have been into the education sector for over 10 years now and I am not satisfied with the level of education particularly in the rural education system. At Lit Skills Learning, that’s what we are striving to change and help the youth be more employable.
What has worked well for you so far?
“Small minds talk about others and great minds talk about ideas”
That’s what I believe in. It has always been my mantra.
What is your way forward?
I strongly believe there has to be a strong emphasis on education and skills. And in India, the need of the hour is to have excellent teachers. Teachers play a crucial role. But it is often taken for granted. Through, Lit Skills Learning I am trying to leverage the knowledge of teachers and help the students/learners bridge the gaps. It can only change with teachers. It has to start with Spoken English. Communication Skill is a key skill that helps youth become employable. We are working in Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 areas because that’s what needs to be penetrated.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
Like I shared, my vision is to help the youth. It is social entrepreneurship so it is emotions that matters the most to me. Emotions of my team and everyone who is involved in the journey matters.
Mr Suresh Kumar
Please also tell us about your venture Sugaradhana that you have started during the COVID-19 pandemic;
Sugaradhana is a word amalgamated from two very powerful Sanskrit words – Suga (Health) and Aradhana (Worship). It has transformed into a common man’s initiative to combat the Coronavirus Pandemic. We are doing all we can to help the needy through this venture.
1 – SUGARADHANA Installed India’s First Disinfectant Organic Tunnel made using Citrus based natural and organic ingredients. This tunnel is an effective air and surface disinfectant that produces mist-like spray, installed across all major places in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
2 – There is another project mentored by South Indian Film Star Thala “Ajith Kumar” where the team is helping the Tamil Nadu & Karnataka government by spraying disinfectants over large segments of the state to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the state, using Special Drones Designed and Developed by MIT – Anna University Chennai.
3 – Under the guidance and support of Bengaluru City Police, Sugaradhana is doing phenomenal work in keeping policemen safe for COVID-19 by supplying Free face masks and sanitizers
Under the Guidance and Support of Dr Veerendra Heggade from SDM – Dharmasthala, & Ravi D Channannavar – IPS – SP Bangalore Rural & Dr Karthik Narayanan and his Team is on a Mission to Adopt 1000 Villages, Across the State of Karnataka, Post COVID 19 to uplift the Villages in Various Sections, Education Upliftment, Post COVID 19 – Youth Enrichment programs – Skill Development Programs – This is a part of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s Dream VISION 2020.
Team Daksha & Sugaradhana – Headed by Dr Karthik Narayanan and Dr Senthil Kumar – MIT Anna University, – Have Jointly Executed a SPECIAL OPERATIONS for COVID 19 in Bangalore South Zone where the Spread and surge of Corona were rising and post spraying Sugaradhana’s Anti Microbial Organic Disinfection solution using Ultra Low Volume Sprayers, there were no positive cases been reported – As per the data shared from BBMP – Corporation officially, which turned out to be a Big Hit and was widely appreciated by all.
Why the name Daksha? What are the specialities of these drones being used and how is the response?
Daksha was named by our late president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and this department is being headed by Dr Senthil Kumar.
The specialities of these drones are – they are used with ultra-low volume sprayers so it has the capacity to completely kill the virus in the air and infection-causing germs. These drones can carry up to 16 litres of the tank and can fly for 5 hours.
