Bada Business is an Indian-born ed-tech start-up The company, in association with Kailash Kher foundation is launching a fundraiser campaign #IamOxygenMan, on 16th May 2021 (Sunday), at 4 PM. The same can be viewed live here. It will aim at raising INR 5 crore to provide healthcare for the needy and underprivileged. It will be hosted by Dr. Vivek Bindra, Founder and CEO, Bada Business and co-hosted by the renowned Bollywood actor Vivek Anand Oberoi, in association with Kailash Kher Foundation. The other celebrities attending the event will be the likes of HH. Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharajji, Kailash Kher, Hema Malini, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Mika Singh, Daler Mehndi & Shankar Mahadevan among others. The event will also be graced by Bada Business’s professors and top businessmen like Mohandas Pai, Manu Jain & R.C. Bhargava among others.
In an exclusive chat with Medianews4U, Dr. Vivek Bindra, Founder & CEO, Bada Business spoke about the Campaign, their business and way forward.
Can you tell us more about your company ‘Bada Business’, when was it launched?
I founded the company in 2019. More than an EdTechstartup, Bada Business is an initiative by an entrepreneur like me, to help Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs and Wantapreneurs scale up their businesses and grow. Our primary operating platform is our Bada Business App. It offers a series of online business training programmes across industries by the most sought after thought leaders of Indian Inc. known as Billionaire Professors, like Mr. Manu Jain, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Mr. Ritesh Agarwal, Acharya Balkrishan and Mr. Alfred Ford, among others.
Within a short span of operation, we have become the world’s first company to grab five Guinness World Records in the online learning space. We are also known to offer the most affordable entrepreneurship trainings. In FY20 – 21, our business grew exponentially, to reach a milestone of INR 100 crore revenue. We have over 15,000 Independent Business Consultants (IBCs) across the country so far, and are looking at touching over 1 Lakh lives by 2022 with over 85+ Branch offices covering a population of 67 Crores.
What made you start this initiative #IamOxygenMan? How are you going about getting this initiative implemented on ground?
Today, India is fighting the second wave of COVID-19, with the greatest number of daily new cases in the world. We have roughly 19.9 million confirmed cases, 3.9 million on-going cases, and over 200,000 deaths. Hospitals and healthcare providers in India are running out of supplies, particularly oxygen, in the fight against the deadly infection. Hence, it is the need of the hour for every individual or organization to come forward and support each other in every way they can, in this fight against the pandemic.
We had recently partnered with ISKCON, to launch a 200-beds makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients in Dwarka, Delhi. Through this initiative we have been providing all-inclusive care to the patients; starting from a dedicated team of doctors and nurses at work to catering to the patients’ nutritional needs on an individual basis, and even arranging for physical exercise regime as well as mental counselling sessions, entirely free of cost. But the program can only reach so many people and for us to expand it, would require more funds. Hence, we decided to build on it, by starting a fundraiser campaign – #IamOxygenMan.
At Bada Business, we believe that a true superhero is someone who saves people’s lives, regardless of their socioeconomic or demographic background. Everyone can protect someone’s life and be a superhero, from a daily wage earner to a businessman, and from a student to a housewife. That is because a person can help someone with more than just monetary aid; they can also aid someone by offering a one-time meal, medicine, or a verified number of a plasma donor. Even sharing a thought-provoking message to raise awareness or encourage others qualifies someone as an OxygenMan.
Vivek Oberoi, Kailash Kher Foundation and ISKCON partnered with us on this initiative through an online #IamOxygenMan event which we did on 16th May. Money raised through it will go to the ISKCON Trust for supporting this cause. On ground, this money will be used to increase the bed capacity of our makeshift covid-relief facilities from 200 to 2000. To avail these services, all the patients have to do is call and register on this number 9717544495 and the Bada Business team will take it from there.
In this second wave of Covid we are seeing many starting such initiatives, it makes many wonder as to how legitimate it is, will you be putting out regular information regarding the collections?
We have been very upfront and transparent with every process associated with the campaign, so far. With respect to collections for example, most of our information like the INR 25 lacs pledged by Vivek Oberoi and Kailash Kher Foundation each, or the INR 2.5 cr pledged by Bada Business itself, is already out on the public domain. We have also announced a commitment of approx. INR 7.5 cr that we received, within the second day of the launch of the campaign. And, we will continue with our transparent approach going forward, making timely announcements about every development on the campaign; because we believe that to be the only way to reach more and more people and make this campaign a success.
Why film stars for this initiative?
Vivek Anand Oberoi, renowned as an actor across the world, also happens to be a kindred spirit that I know personally. He was extremely delighted to be a part of this initiative as his thoughts resonated with the campaign idea. Similarly, Kailash Kher Foundation has always been a frontrunner in catering to people in any kind of distress. Such associations not only add to the zeal towards the cause but also help extend the reach. And, our primary focus has been to be able to reach out to as many people as we can, from all walks of life, and make them a part of this #IamOxygenMan movement.
It is not just the monetary contribution that we are looking at. Our larger aim is to put out the message that in these trying times, if a person is being of any service to his/her fellow countrymen, he/she is an oxygen man; and this service could be anything ranging from a milkman delivering milk at one’s doorstep to a journalist imparting the right information to the people. We have been able to map on to our vision, by garnering over 1 Million views on our live launch event video, on YouTube.
You are an Ed-Tech start-up. During the pandemic last year, how did the business cope with the uncertainties?
At Bada Business, we did not face any major business challenge owing to the pandemic because our major mode of operations has remained virtual even in the pre-pandemic era. On the contrary, lockdowns gave a tailwind to e-learning and therefore the EdTech industry. So, we touched milestone revenue of INR 100 cr in FY20 – 21. We have been on a hiring spree ever since and have reached 450 employees in the organization today, from a number of 120 in early 2020.
From an employee safety perspective as well, we have been undertaking all the necessary steps, starting from the migration to remote-working regime to covering vaccinations, and we will continue to do so.
Where do you see your business in the next 3 years?
We have a wide list of goals that we want to reach in the coming years. In terms of figures, we look at reaching 100,000 Independent Business Consultants (IBC) associations and increase the number of courses we are offering to 150. We are also looking at increasing our employee strength to over 2000 employees. We wish to extend our channel partner strength to over 200 and our customer base to about a million. And, from an overall perspective, we are working on being seen as a product first, a tech-led company that is a one-stop solution for all Wantapreneurs, Solopreneurs and Entrepreneurs.
