Hero Vired, the edtech company of the Hero Group, has ventured into enterprise business. While the focus of Hero Vired is B2C, through Vired for Business it will focus on corporate training (B2B). “We will assist enterprises in upskilling employees, sourcing talent, recruiting new people, implementing internal learning programmes and setting up internal knowledge academies,” says Srikrishnan V, vice-president, Enterprise Business, Hero Vired. In an interview with FE’s Vikram Chaudhary, he adds that Vired for Business will offer corporates and start-ups curriculum in the areas of full stack development, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, finance, fintech, leadership, entrepreneurial thinking and innovation. Excerpts:
Is Vired for Business similar to Coursera for Business and upGrad for Business? Is going B2B a natural business extension for a B2C edtech company?
Our core value proposition is certificate programmes; we have CXOs as faculty on board, and so it’s natural for us to reach out to enterprises and cater to the B2B audience as well (in addition to B2C).
This initiative (Vired for Business) has been in the works for the last three months.
Is B2B more profitable than B2C?
I would say it is the other way round. More important than profitability, it’s the recurring business (in B2B). For example, if Vired for Business gets into a partnership with the Financial Express to train the latter’s workforce, we know that we will continue to work with them for quite some time. So it gives a sense of predictability to the business.
Hero Vired was started just about six months ago. Aren’t you entering too soon into the enterprise business?
When we started Hero Vired, the goal was solving skills needs of industry. The enterprise business was always part of the plan.
How will Vired for Business differentiate itself?
One, our courses are 90% instructor-driven. Two, CXOs are part of our faculty. Three, we will be offering companies tailor-made solutions. Four, our programmes have been developed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Singularity University and Codecademy (the American online platform that offers free coding classes). I think the ability to create bespoke programmes will resonate well with our customers.
Will you also teach soft skills?
We will offer holistic learning programmes, and this means soft skills will be part of these.
