With the advent of technology, education has now transcended beyond the boundaries of the classroom and has become much more accessible for all of us. The world is currently witnessing the meteoric rise of Education Technology, popularly known as EdTech and this seems to be only the beginning. Globally, there are around 20 EdTech unicorn startups, and they have raised accumulated funding of over $9 billion in the last decade.
From entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to changemakers in Shanghai and New Delhi, technology mavericks have stepped into the EdTech ecosystem and are revolutionizing the traditional classroom model. Startups like BYJU’s, Coursera, Simplilearn, and many others from all corners of the globe are on their way to reimagine education.
An air of change has swept across Bangladesh as well, with young entrepreneurs stepping into the scene and aspiring to transform the way students learn and educators teach here in our country. Among the handful of EdTech startups currently existing in Bangladesh, Bohubrihi is one of the leading ones.
Bohubrihi is Bangladesh’s leading educational platform for online courses and professional training, that enables you to develop skills that are necessary to thrive not only in your career but in your life as well. What started as somewhat of an experiment by two talented BUET engineers has now become the go-to platform for students and young professionals across multiple disciplines. Starting from GRE courses to a 5-month software development course titled a “Career Track”, curious learners from all corners of Bangladesh have started to become devout students on the platform.
The platform currently has more than 60,000 students and a portfolio of beyond 50 courses – ranging from Digital Marketing to learning Python and JavaScript. The courses are categorized into three distinctive domains – Technology (Software engineering, data science), Business (Digital marketing, Microsoft Excel), and Exam Preparation (IELTS, GRE).
Operated by a team of 15 people, Bohubrihi is set to accelerate with its current 25% month on month growth. “Since 2018, we’ve intended to create a digital platform where Bangladeshis with a desire to learn can come and thrive”, says Yanur Islam Piash, the CEO of Bohubrihi. “And with the current rise of internet penetration and smartphone availability, we sincerely believe that quality education is now accessible than ever before”, he exclaimed.
With a positive response from the learners, the team has set to expand their course offerings in the days to come. They are now planning to venture into areas of business and technology, to assist students further understand business and technology frameworks and apply them in real life. Co-founder Galib Hassan added, “As we two come from an Engineering background, we naturally tended to create courses that catered to that discipline. Now that we have a solid portfolio of courses in Data Science, Web & App Development, we figured the next territory to address has to be the domain of Business. Plus, our learners at Bohubrihi have been constantly asking for Business-related courses''. The statement indeed resonated with reality, as many Business graduates seek additional knowledge to further fine-tune their knowledge and progress in their distinctive careers. Besides, students of other disciplines can also get to know more about the real-world tools used in corporate settings.
“I come from a Mechanical Engineering background”, says Mashiyat Ahmed, working as a Supply Chain specialist in a leading multinational company. “But I’ve always been opting to study a few business courses so that I can better understand the viewpoints of colleagues working in Marketing or Finance. I don’t think I’ll be able to enroll for a full-time Business degree due to time constraints; but I’d love to do a handful of Business courses if they are available online!”, she exclaims with a sense of optimism.
It's not just the professionals who benefit from lifelong learning. Bohubrihi has helped small business owners to thrive as well. Proma Prodipti is one such relevant example.
In her mid-20s, Proma developed a liking for handcrafted jewelry all of a sudden. Over time, the idea of creating a small business where ethnic, handcrafted jewelry will be sold began to form in her mind. And thus, Shorno Borno, her dream business came into being. However, it’s easier said than done. While she took care of the logistics and operation end, one major area was still out of her grasp – developing the website. Naturally, the jewelry shop had to be online to avoid the hefty expenses of a brick and mortar store, but developing a website from scratch wasn’t an easy task for her either.
Unable to afford a web developer, Proma found herself in front of another obstacle. That’s when she came across Bohubrihi. A friend of hers told her about this website and surfing over the courses led her to discover the “Creating E-Commerce Website with WooCommerce” course.
Putting her curiosity to the test, Proma decided to try her luck in learning to build the website for her business, all by herself. And within a month, Proma got the website of Shorno Borno up and running! With the help of the 10 segmented modules, Proma has received a complete idea of how to buy a domain, install plug-ins, and setting up her e-commerce website. Since then, business is booming at Shorno Borno; and the aspiring entrepreneur has been grateful to Bohubrihi ever since.
“It’s interesting how learning about a topic can solve so many of life’s biggest problems!”, says a proud Proma.
If you are interested in sharing your expertise and knowledge, fill up this form, https://www.bohubrihi.com/instructor/
The process of creating such interactive courses from scratch is not an easy task. The co-founders of the EdTech startup highlight the entire process, starting from the base research to launching the course on the website. Usually, the need for a course is identified in two ways, either the innate demand for the course is sensed among the learners’ base or the Bohubrihi team chalks up ideas to create courses related to particular topics. The main challenge appears once the course proceeds to move from the ideation stage.
“Previously, we used to rely on the Course instructors and their production methods.”, explains Piash. “But to ensure standardization of quality and an efficient production system, we at Bohubrihi have now established our production system”. This takes away the biggest barrier that has been putting off talented individuals from creating online courses – time. Since instructors’ worries about recording equipment, video shooting, and editing are completely taken care of by Bohubrihi. Piash continues to explain this with a hearty smile “If you are confident that you can teach something in front of a camera, we have the perfect setup. Just walk in, create your course and start earning from Day One!” This “plug n play” offering for course instructors has now changed the game for Bohubrihi.
Besides, instructors can also make content sitting in the comfort of their own homes if a large chunk of the course involves content that involves screen-sharing. Thus, instructors get to enjoy a unique blend of comfort and convenience while creating courses with Bohubrihi.
These initiatives have already started to spark an interest among professional educators for creating game-changing courses.
In the last quarter of 2020 alone, 20 new instructors have sparked conversations about creating their courses in the fastest-growing EdTech platform of Bangladesh. While the team had to previously rely on internal contacts to get to course instructors, the scenery has now changed; as more and more professionals are showing interest in designing courses.
If we take a look from one angle, we’ll see that EdTech startups like Bohubrihi are not only transforming mundane learning methods to self-paced, interactive modules but are also disrupting the long-held perceptions regarding teachers themselves. Backed by the internet and accessible gadgets, anyone who has relevant knowledge in a field can know to share their knowledge with others.
"When Piash approached me to create a course for Bohubrihi, I was not completely sure whether I could manage the time and energy for the additional work. We had coffee and discussed several times and finally was convinced to give it a try and create a course on Facebook Marketing and Mastery. They provided me the tools needed and every bit of encouragement that was needed to overcome the inertia and get the ball rolling. But I am thankful that I did that, it helped me to organize my learning and share my knowledge with many others who need it. This resulted in a nice additional income source, but the best reward creating the course was discovering ways to spread knowledge and building the self-confidence that will result in 100 times in future.", recalls Mark Anupom Mollick, the Founder and Executive Consultant at Idean Consulting.
Many professionals like Mollick, along with Lecturers from reputed universities like BUET have also enlisted into Bohubrihi as instructors and continued to teach students in a flexible setting. The benefit – you earn money on the go, earn it from anywhere, and will never have to step into a class full of students!
Creating courses at Bohubrihi can also lead you to becoming a part of the core team. Such was the story of Simanta Paul, who first heard of this revolutionary EdTech company back in 2019. “I was just starting my final year as a Computer Science student at CUET when one of my university seniors got me introduced to the CEO of Bohubrihi. We had a short discussion, and pretty soon I decided to create a course on Backend Web Development. The course had an immense response from the students and soon enough I had to create another course on Python to meet the incessant demands of my student pool. And my journey with Bohubrihi continues for more than 2 years now. As I have developed multiple courses with Bohubrihi, I have started to become more comfortable with the team members and the overall process. Plus, engaging with the students have also given a better idea about the areas where they might need guidance. Hence, I’ve now agreed to have a permanent role at Bohubrihi as a Subject Matter Expert and guide the students with their projects and any confusions that they have regarding the Bohubrihi courses. I’m glad how the dots all connected and how a final-year student landed a permanent role in a growing company, all thanks to the curiosity and passion I had for disbursing knowledge”, reminisces Simanta on his entire journey.
While professionals often use their spare time on side gigs or investing in other small businesses, Bohubrihi co-founders are convinced that creating online courses is one of the best things to do at this moment.
First off, unlike the traditional coaching centers, you don’t need to repeatedly come to the classroom. Instead, it’s a one-off interaction and you can create an online course with Bohubrihi in as short as 3 weeks, following these steps –
And there are multiple benefits of launching your own online course. Apart from ensuring a steady side-income every month (top course-creators at Bohubrihi get to earn up to BDT 90,000 per month), you also get to increase your professional credibility. Which will in turn allow you to have more opportunities in your relevant field.
The revenue models of your online courses are also fairly transparent. You can either get a one-time payment from Bohubrihi for creating the online course or you can work on a revenue-sharing model.
If you agree to create a course in exchange for a one-time fee, then your remuneration will be charged based on primary research, course outline preparation, production, etc. For the revenue sharing model, on the other hand, you can keep from 25% to 60% (generally 40%) of the revenue earned from your course; sent via Bank transfer within the first 7 days of each month.
The percentage for revenue sharing is fixed based on the lifespan of the course and the extent to which the instructor is involved in the process. For example, if the instructor agrees to become a mentor and regularly conducts sessions with his/her students after they take the course, then he/she is likely to gain a higher percentage.
Regardless of which course-creating option you pick, both are geared to not only benefit you monetarily but will also increase your credibility in your given field.
Whether you want to teach lessons related to business, technology, or any topic that you think might have a large student base or market need, Bohubrihi is eager to onboard you as an Expert or Trainer.
So where do you begin? If you are interested in sharing your expertise and knowledge, simply click this link, fill up the relevant information, and Bohubrihi Team will get in touch with you within 48 hours: https://www.bohubrihi.com/instructor/
