New Delhi Dec 29 (KNN) As an effort to decrease the usage of man-power for uninteresting, unhealthy and unstable works and rather use the brains for developing technologies, two Engineering students from Anna University developed a start-up venture named S P Robotic Works (SPRW) that focuses on pioneering methods of providing robotic education.

KNN had an exclusive interview with Sneha Priya, the co-founder of the SPRW . In conversation, Sneha talked about various dimensions and issues of the startup and their plan for the future as well.

As an introduction to SPRW, Sneha said, “Our company provides robotic education (practical experiments with Mechanical, Electronics, Programming and Algorithm framing) – a multi—disciplinary engineering platform with enough fun quotient to school students from age 8 to 17 in the brand name called KIDOBOTIKZ”. 

Further discussing about SPRW, the co-founder stated that the venture designs, develops and delivers the robotic kits tailor made to the courseware, which enables the child to learn the engineering concepts rather than the just plug-and-play models. “Their unique methodology combines experimentation with participatory and creative techniques, ensuring success and fun for children” she said.

With an on-premise training setup at Chennai, SPRW accommodated 150+ students currently which is the maximum the training facility can accommodate, inspires an overall strength of 10000+ students, and employs 21+ people.    

An International Robotics competition was all that was required to ignite the passion of the founders. During an International Robotics competition at Iran in 2010, the pair, representing India, found themselves competing against a group of school students from other countries who had extreme clarity on their thoughts and wonderful practical experience. After their success at the competition (having won 2nd place for India), they took the initiative to change the phase of Indian Education in par with the international standards by providing practical experiences to the school students.

 “We did not wait till our graduation in 2012 – with Pranavan’s expertise in Electronics and mine in techno-commercial aspects, we started teaching the college students in 2011 and also setup a small online store with our own designed products” Sneha talked to us about the initial days of SPRW.

Stepping onto the road to realize their passion, the duo found themselves encountering varied challenges. The legalities and the financials were a huge problem they faced during the initial stages. “Having been new to business, both of us had to search for the right people to guide us in the taxations and other auditing, though we were already generating revenue” Sneha elaborated on the road rocks they faced.

“However, we have learnt fast and now equipped with everything in place - we are all set to expand” she added.
 
The entrepreneur also spoke about the funding methods the company has been adopting. As stated, SPRW has been bootstrapping till date. “We have been experimenting on all methods of expansion, analysing the shortcomings in each and also automating every possible process in our company to make sure we have firm grounds when we expand” Sneha uttered.

With one centre at Chennai, SPRW has shown an extraordinary traction of INR 50Lakhs turnover last year.  This year, the turnover is already moving over the last year's record.

“With the hockey stick growth in the revenue, we aim to multiply the revenue by several times with our expansion plan”.

“SPRW’s USP for the parents are the assessment reports provided based on the behaviour, response, understanding capability, creativity, and advanced thinking skills of their child in the different fields of engineering thereby guiding them to help their child to choose the right career” The co-founder told us about the USP of start-up, further adding, “SPRW’s USP for the students has been the overall packaging of all the robotic services Kidobotikz provides (shop, extensive courses, specializations, graduation, competitions – national and international, real-time projects, industrial visits, career guidance)”.
 
SPRW plans to launch the same module in digital format wherein students can subscribe and take up the course from their home to overcome the limitation in the number of students catered in one centre.

“We are planning to expand in South India equally on both the on-premise model and digital model to bridge the gap of physical touch requirements in the next financial year” Sneha revealed the plans for SPRW in coming years.
 
Sneha attributed the expansion of SME sector to the huge exposure and confidence among people that has lead them to start new firms to bridge the gaps/address the needs that they feel is existing today. “With more funding reaching Indian startups every year, we are sure to see a surge in all of the development in the coming years” Sneha voiced her views. 
 
Appreciating the government’s efforts till now, the entrepreneur pointed out the scope of enhancing the SME sector on policy front.  “I believe a lot of initiatives are being launched for example the CGTMSE and Mudra. However, it would be even better if there are check points kept to analyse how much is reaching the right people and would be even better if everything for the startups are made online based. Like application for funds, provisions that can be availed - a one-stop website to solve everything” said Sneha. 

Sneha stressed on the issue of unawareness by stating, “Today's major issue is that we do not know how and where to know about all the schemes being launched and whether we are eligible for the same”. (KNN/ J)