16 BUSINESS
Monday, 24 October, 2016
“more than half powerlooms shut down” FAISALABAD
t
INP
HE All Pakistan Cotton Power looms Association (APCPA) has expressed grave concern over the decline of cloth exports and has warned that the prevailing situation is yielding a negative impact over the powerlooms industry, which is facing serious financial crunch and an unfavourable business environment in the country. Addressing the executive committee members of APCPA, Choudhry Abdul Haq, Chairman, All Pakistan Cotton Powerlooms Association, demanded that the government should give special rebate to the powerlooms industry to control the crisis as well as to promote
cloth exports. At the moment, he said, the powerlooms industry is bearing multiple direct and indirect taxes, severe circumstances of import of indian cloth. This situation is leading to unemployment in the country and has stopped fresh investment in the powerlooms sector, he added. Choudhry Abdul Haq pointed out that the government is already collecting sales tax at multiple stages from the powerlooms industry, like the ones on electricity and petroleum products. He said that more than half of powerlooms already closed down and unemployment reached at dangerous level. He appealed to the government for taking notice immediately and should given special package and rebate to the power looms Sector.
EU, Canada to decide on trade pact signing summit today AGENCIES BRUSSELS
The European Union and Canada will decide on Monday whether to gather for a summit later this week to sign the imperilled CETA trade pact, a European source said. The source said that European Council President Donald Tusk would on Monday afternoon or evening call Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel with "one simple question: will Belgium be in a position to sign the agreement on Thursday, yes or no?" Plans to sign the CETA trade pact at a summit scheduled for Thursday were thrown into doubt Friday when the parliament of the Belgian region of Wallonia rejected the deal, leaving Belgium the only EU state unable to sign the pact, the fruit of seven years of talks. The European source said that on Monday Tusk would first call European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "to share an assessment of where we are," then Michel and lastly Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "to decide whether to maintain the summit," and "Regarding Thursday, if Belgium is not in a position to say that they guarantee they can sign, it's very clear for Tusk that it doesn't make sense to have a summit, and there will be no summit, and there will be no date set for a new summit," the source said. The source added that any decision would be made jointly by Tusk and Trudeau. "The decision will very much depend on what Michel tells Tusk," the source said.
Mark Zuckerburg thinks this Indian startup is worth Millions AGENCIES
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BANGALORE
nDiA is currently the fastest growing major economy in the world, and that’s a title that doesn’t come without its own set of challenges. Depending on who you ask, it’s often argued that india’s number one challenge moving forward is the need to transform its current one-size-fits-all approach to educating its billion-plus population. One person who might agree with this approach is educational entrepreneur Byju Raveendran, founder of edtech startup BYJU’s. BYJU’s has been a championing force for personalized learning in india since launching last year. BYJU’s is an app aimed at students in grades 4-12 learn subjects like math, physics, or biology independently. At present, it’s been downloaded more than 5.5 million times. With over 250,000 subscribers paying an annual subscription of $150, the app offers original content, watch-and-learn videos, animations and interactive simulations. “no rote learning,” says Raveendran, adding that some of the content is offered free. “Students are spending 40 minutes per session per day on the app, without anyone forcing them to do it,” says Raveendran. “This is a validation of its effectiveness.” Some more validation exists with the Chan Zuckerberg initiative (CZi), the philanthropic arm created by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, which invested a whopping $50 million in BYJU’s, along with Sequoia, Sofina, LightSpeed Ventures and Times internet, in September. This is the first Asian investment from CZi. in his Facebook post, Zuckerberg cited a survey which claims that almost 80% of parents said the app has improved their children’s learning dramatically. Taking Zuckerberg’s confidence in stride, Raveendran says, “To be backed by CZi is very encouraging. The infusion of funds will help us grow, develop our products and boost our aim to revolutionize learning across the world.” Perhaps it’s because Zuckerberg isn’t the first to see the potential that has Raveendran so relaxed. Last March, BYJU’s raised $75 million from Sequoia india and Sofina. The indian tech scene has been dominated by e-commerce, but over the past few years a growing contingent of entrepreneurs are shifting their attention to edtech. According to VCCEdge, a re-
search platform for the indian investment ecosystem, angel, private equity and venture capital deals in the education sector rose from 27 (valued at $187 million) in 2010 to 49 ($248 million) in 2014. in 2015, there were 51 deals valued at $155 million. And with over 260 million enrolments in K-12 and 12 million job seekers who need critical working skills every year, the need for quality education in india is palpable. The indian edtech market is expected to hit $2.5 billion this year and is poised to grow at 15% over the next three years, according to RedSeer Consulting, a research and advisory firm. “While india has been big on traditional schooling and learning techniques, technology and data science has just about made its mark in personalizing learning,” says Raveendran, who started
with teaching college graduates for rigorous entrance tests for management, engineering and medical schools in classrooms in 2012. He launched his digital platform in 2015. “More than 90% of our business is coming through the app,” he says, adding that the app was launched following four years of development by its 500-strong R&D team. Unsurprisingly, Raveendran’s love of learning came from his upbringing. He went to a non-English school, where both his parents were teachers, in a small coastal village called Azhikode in the southern indian state of Kerala. Although he excelled in academics and later became an engineer, Raveendran’s firsthand experience of the drawbacks of the education system helped him to come up with solutions to a problem he knew ex-
isted. According to him, too much emphasis on test-based teaching and learning often encourages students to simply memorize information. “in india, children are still getting trained to solve questions and not ask questions. Learning driven by fear of exams has been the main reason why india consistently ranks low in global education,” laments Raveendran. The statistics are disheartening. A recently released UnESCO report says that many global education challenges such as universal primary and secondary education still remain unmet in india. According to the report, over 60 million children in india receive little or no formal education and the country has over 11.1 million out-of-school students in the lower secondary level. Given the poor state of available facilities, it was important, Raveendran
says, to find new ways to connect with students. “The best thing about edtech is that you get a chance to empower millions of students irrespective of their proficiency levels or geographic locations.” Still a young edtech startup, BYJU’s is already profitable in india with a month-on-month growth of 15%. For now, BYJU’s only creates content in English for indians, but Raveendran has ambitious plans for the future. He wants to expand to English-speaking markets around the world. “Currently, we are in india and in the Middle East. With the recent round of funding from CZi and a few other investors, we see a potential for our product globally. in the next two years, we will create better and interesting learning products which help students to become lifelong learners,” he claims.