Mota Chashma, an initiative of two XIMB alumni, is an information portal which provides news and information regarding scholarships, auditions, and education. Their recent tie up with MJ Creative Concepts caught our attention and we had a chance to speak to the Lokesh Sabharwal, Founder of Mota Chashma. Let’s find out the rest from Lokesh himself.
Lokesh Sabharwal
Describe yourself in one sentence.
A person who is really passionate about education and loves to help and guide young learners find their true calling.
How would you describe MotaChashma for our readers?
Mota Chashma can be their partner in both education and more importantly, their growth. It will help them to find better opportunities available at any point of time and this may be in the form of information regarding various scholarships in India and abroad, competitions in various fields (such as arts, music, sports, photography, painting and essay writing among others) and also auditions for various TV shows and other talent recognition programmes and all this in one place absolutely free of charge.
How did you get the idea for starting this venture?
The idea for MotaChashma.com originated after the success of our first start-up in the education sector which was completely in the offline domain. We realised that in India, it’s not the lack of talent but the lack of awareness about various opportunities that becomes a real stumbling block for so many aspiring young people, so we decided that something needs to be done on a massive scale which can be a touch point for most learners and following the belief that we could have a positive impact, we entered into the online domain with our website MotaChashma.com. This is just the beginning and we will have a lot of offerings for the students in near future.
Mota Chashma provides information free of cost. How do you generate revenue?
Yes, all information which we are providing is free and will remain free for learners as we feel that in this day and age, it is the right of learners to get that information. We are in the process of introducing many more services which can be used to generate revenue, but our ethos of providing information free of charge will not change. We are also working on few strategic tie ups to provide paid services to students but ofcourse we will ensure that these services will provide value for money and any fees charged would be nominal to say the least.
Who do you think is your biggest competitor?
Right now we do not see much competition as there is a big market in India and the information which we provide is for free. Most probably once new sections and services are added to our platform, we may face some competition.
How do you differentiate yourselves from your competitors?
The information we provide is absolutely crystal clear and so streamlined that it’s very easy for learners to understand. We try to gather various details from a student’s point of view so that we can provide relevant information according to their needs. We also emphasise and keep re-iterating what has now become our unofficial mantra, to each and every one who joins our team, “Think like a Student”
How big is your content team? How big do you want it to be in the next 5 years?
We have 7 content writers working with us right now, both part time and full time and they are working on the present & upcoming sections of the website. I can’t exactly say how many people we will have after 5 years but yes, we will hire enough people so that no one person is overloaded with work and most importantly, he/she should enjoy working for Mota Chashma.
Is Mota Chashma available for mobile?
Yes, right now our website can be accessed on any platform as we are using the latest technology i.e., Responsive Web Design (RWD). We will also introduce a mobile app soon which will be available across platforms.
What offerings do you have in the pipeline?
That’s a surprise!!! We are working on few options and will launch them one by one at the time we feel is most appropriate for them.
What advice would you offer to any soon to be startup founders out there?
I always say one thing to people who want to start something on their own:
“Follow your passion, follow your dreams,
Everything else is part of the journey”
Can you convince the reader to start using Mota Chashma in under 50 words?
If you need some help in building your life and need opportunities to showcase your talent, then this is the place to get those options. We are trying to help every learner by making the right information available at the right time. So for regular updates on scholarships, competitions, auditions, education news and much more, log on to MotaChashma.com
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