Ghazipur: Through the success of his application ‘Skilling You’, Praveen Rajbhar has provided education to lakhs of children. He comes from a farmer’s family. The shortage of power is such in his village, that they barely get electricity for 6 hours on a good day. Praveen grew up studying under the lantern lights. 

A desire to touch the skies

Praveen completed his entire education from the village. The financial constraints of the household never allowed him to visit the city. He had only heard stories of the comforts of living a city life. He wished to experience everything from up close. 

His father wanted him to become a government servant, but he had seen bigger dreams since he was a child. An uncle of his lived in Delhi, and after completing his education he got a sudden urge to go to Delhi. He had a small sum for Rs 1800, and so he hopped on a bus and left for Delhi. 

Learning to speak English

Praveen reached Delhi. He spent a few days at his uncle’s house and explored the magnificence of the capital. After he went in the search of a job, he found that irrespective of one’s educational background, everyone was doing a job. He realized it would be difficult to survive in the city with less skills, so he enrolled himself in Khan Sir’s English coaching centre in Mahavir Enclave. Due to lack of funds, he stayed there as a student for a period of two months, but that was enough to help him get a job. 

In 2006, Praveen’s got his first job at a company called Market Prove. Later, he worked for companies like Axis bank, ICICI, Home Credit and Amway. He worked on a senior managerial position and earned in lakhs. He was spending his life comfortably. 

Initiation of the company

Money problems had been solved but deep down, Praveen’s high-paying jobs did not give him satisfaction. He wanted to teach the students of the village. In January 2017, he took a bold step, and without telling his family, he quit his job to design his application ‘Skilling You’. 

At the same time, it was found out that Praveen’s mother had breast cancer. The funds he had saved for his startup were spent on treating her mother’s cancer. The situation got worse when his father had a heart attack. 

Praveen struggled when both his parents received treatment at the hospitals. When things became a little better, he discussed the prospects of his business with his friends and received investments from them. He made his presentations while making several visits to the hospitals. 

About Skilling You

The primary goal of Praveen’s application is to provide training to students in the villages. These students don’t have enough resources to work with and often lack monetary funds. The application provides lessons on speaking skills, computer skills, and various other soft skills that are used to improve job prospects. The app also helps students in preparing for competitive examinations and strives to give them proper guidance. 

Praveen’s application received much appreciation during the lockdown. His startup has been listed among the 100 promising startups of the country by Google and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Praveen mentions that no wide-scale promotions were done for his startup. After the launch, within the span of a few months, people learned about it and shared the app with each other making it a success. So far, Praveen’s company has educated more than one lakh village students.