CareerTopper.com Spreading Financial Literacy Online

This Digital age has given impetus to the quest for better education. Better education undoubtedly leads to better career prospects. But for full-time employees, it is difficult to attend physical classroom trainings or self-study for examinations.

Considering the wide scale need of Corporate Training and Compulsory Trainings, e-learning academy CareerTopper.com began providing Corporate Training Programs in the form of Recorded Videos, Virtual Classroom Sessions, Mock Tests and Practice Sessions.

With an endeavor to empower learners to become skilled and support professionals in finance stream, Archit Lohia laid the foundation stone of CareerTopper.com in 2015.  

Under the aegis of its Founder, Archit Lohia, Mumbai based CareerTopper.com has crossed several milestones. Young entrepreneur Archit Lohia passed the examinations of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Accountant (CA), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), and Law (LLB) at the age of twenty three years.

Archit brings his experience in areas inter-alia including, Regulations, Compliance, IPO Process, Information Management Systems, Investment Analysis, Audit and Finance.

Archit has been appointed as a Chapter Executive and Treasurer of the CAIA Association India Chapter. Apart from being a member of professional bodies like CFA Institute, CAIA Association and ICAI, he is also actively involved groups like The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam founded We Change.

Archit and his team conducts Workshops and gives guest lectures in leading Financial Training Institutes such as National Institute of Securities Market (SEBI), BSE Training Institute, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Chartered Secretaries of India, and various other institutions.

Archit, who has been leading CareerTopper.com from the front, is now planing to expand the company's operation. Soon CareerTopper.com will create footmarks in Tier II and Tier III cities to conduct Alternative Investment Programs.

In Conversation with Archit Lohia, founder of CareerTopper.com

How did you generate this idea to set up CareerTopper?

Archit Lohia: CareerTopper.com was initially started as a Proprietorship concern in February 2015 and is now a Pvt. Ltd. company, incorporated in June, 2016. Although most of our Business is Online, we operate from our two offices, located in Mumbai.

I have started this company with a vision to make Skill India and Digital India a success and spread Financial Literacy throughout our Country.

Our Idea Generation was due to the potential in Global Online Training Segment, which is poised to grow from $4.07 billion in 2015 to $11.34 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 22.8%. In India, the Higher Education Market is expected to grow at an Annual Rate of 18%, to a size of over $35 Billion over next 10 years.

Our idea for Skill Development and Corporate Training segment came on account of compulsory training requirements for Finance Professionals and many Skill Development Initiatives taken under PPP model (like the NSDC) by the Government.

As per last Budget, 2016 announcement, 1500 new schools will be set up under Skill India Initiative of PM Shri. Narendra Modi – "Kaushal Bharat, Kushal Bharat".

Tell us about the Differentiating Factors and Revenue Model of CareerTopper.

Archit Lohia: Our differentiation Factors from our Competitors are as under:

1. Content Quality and Authenticity: The content available on our Platform for Professional Finance Courses are prepared by an experienced team of professionals, with varied experience in financial services.

2. Value-Added Services: Our platform offers a host of Value-Added Features, which provides an interactive learning experience for the user. These features are as under:

   1. Free Counselling Session

   2. Personal Notes Database

   3. Performance Tracker

   4. Formula Database

   5. Personalized Study Calendar

   6. Personalized Practice Tests

   7. Weekly Doubt-Solving Classes

3. Competitive Pricing: Packages offered online are lower than our Competitors offering similar training.

4. Authorized Prep Provider: We are the Authorized Prep Provider for the CAIA Association in India.

We get revenues from selling Online Training Packages for Finance Courses. And providing Online Corporate Training and Skill Development Programs through our website. Designing and providing Training Programs for Professional Training Institutes is also our source of revenue.

What was your journey like to get where you are?

Archit Lohia: To spread Financial Literacy, you need to be financially literate yourself. I studied hard to achieve professional qualifications like CFA, CA and CAIA while doing my internship at Ernst and Young.

My work experience at Bombay Stock Exchange also gave me great exposure in Financial Services, domestic as well as global. When I thought I had enough exposure, I went on to start my own venture.

Tell us how you've approached change

Archit Lohia: After qualifying and then starting my job at Bombay Stock Exchange, I realized that the future of studies, especially in Professional Courses will undergo a change, as people do not get time to attend coaching classes and study themselves, considering their work schedule.

Based on this, I thought of offering a value-added service to such professionals for their convenience.

How does CareerTopper build a successful customer base?

Archit Lohia:  In the EdTech Industry, a successful Customer Base is dependent on four things:

1. An interactive website, with a Good UI/UX to engage the User. This helps the user to come back to the website and pay for more content.

2. An exceptional Content and Faculty Team, who records and provides the training on the Website.

3. An Efficient Marketing Plan, which targets the right audience for the company and uses the most effective Marketing Tools, whether Online or Offline.

4. An Analytics and Decision-making Tool that maps Customer behavior.

At CareerTopper.com, we use the above four techniques. At present, we get close to 3000 users on the website every month, knowing that we are serving a niche audience.

What are the most effective marketing initiatives or programs you have used to promote your business?

Archit Lohia: At CareerTopper.com, we divide our Marketing Plan into Online Marketing and Offline Marketing. Online Marketing includes Conducting SEO and SMM Campaigns, Periodic Google Adword Campaigns, Free Online Revision Lectures and Free Awareness Webinars on CFA and CAIA.

On the other hand, Offline Marketing includes Distributing Brochures and Pamphlets outside Colleges and Exam Centres, Sponsoring College Education Fairs, Advertisements in Newspapers and Magazines and obviously Brand Building.

How many employees are working at CareerTopper? What kind of culture exists in the company?

Archit Lohia: At CareerTopper.com, we believe that no one is an Employee in the Organization and each person should work towards achieving the Goal of the Company.

Therefore, the Team at CareerTopper.com is not given "Salary" but given a "Revenue-share", so that they can think Long-term and work towards growing the Company.

Currently, in our team there are over fifty members. The team consists Content Developers, Web Developers, Marketing Executives, including Promoters and Group Professionals.

Where did your organizations funding come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?

Archit Lohia: At present, we are self-funded and have no plans to raise Funding. Apart from that, we are also being Accelerated by Zone Startups India, an International Accelerator which helps us provide Mentoring, Technical and Marketing Support for our venture.

Being associated with the Accelerator also helps us explore unlimited opportunities for Tie-ups with other growing Startups.