In the fight against the deadly coronavirus pandemic, many startup companies are losing hope and closing down. However, a leading fee financing company Financepeer has proved that no matter what the situation, never give up. Financepeer has become a boon for parents and schools who are struggling hard to ensure quality education is imparted to young children.
We had a chat with Financepeer founder Mr. Rohit Gajbhiye who shared his views on dealing with the current crisis at business level.
1) In the COVID-19 times, when there is no clarity on how students are going to continue their education, you came up with an innovative solution for fee payment issues. How did the idea strike you?
Financepeer was founded in 2017 after a lot of research and understanding the industry insights. School fee financing is one of the flagship products of Financepeer. In the current scenario, the need for Financepeer model has increased significantly when both parents and schools are facing the fund flow crisis. The main motive behind initiating this idea was to enable access to quality education to the most vulnerable class.
2) Can you elaborate on the concept of school fees financing? How do you think your Fee Financing model can be a path-breaking work in the education industry?
Financepeer school fee financing model acts as a lubricant for the entire education system. It offers financial support to the parents by facilitating the fee payment at zero-interest EMIs while paying the entire year’s fee at the starting of the session itself. Additionally, this model comes with 100 percent insurance cover and moratorium (during COVID-19). With the moratorium facility, parents can register with us now can start repaying from August.
This makes a win-win situation for both parents as well as school. It is certainly a path-breaking model in the education sector as this is an interest fee model as compared to education loans and addresses various problems of the education sector. Apart from this, the future of this model is also promising as it is now attracting investors also who can get significant returns.
3) What are your future plans for Financepeer? How are you managing its operations during the lockdown and unlock phases?
We already have over 2000 schools on board with us and are operational in more than 40 cities pan India. The Covid-19 has actually triggered our growth and we are seeing a tremendous rise in a month on month growth. Our aim is to reach over 10,000 schools and 100 cities by the end of this fiscal year.
The lockdown has come with few operational challenges but since our model is technology-driven we have made certain changes and have kept the ball rolling. We are working hard with the newly developed SOPs.
4) Coronavirus lockdown has affected the physical and mental health of many. Many startups have decided to give up their ventures due to various reasons. What keeps you motivated as an entrepreneur in this crisis time?
Covid-19 being an unprecedented incident has not only impacted businesses but the mindsets also. Every business usually keeps scope for uncertainties and exigencies but this was not even anticipated and there has been a snowball effect of Covid-19 on economies worldwide.
Every crisis is the real test of the entrepreneurs. We have strived hard to remain focused and continue building our network. Our school fee financing model has become the savior for many schools and parents as their financials have taken a serious hit. Our growth during the last four months has been stupendous and the numbers are encouraging.
I tell my team to remain focused and continue working hard in their best capacity. We have built a solution and are confident that this will change the landscape of the education industry. Taking a stride forward we have initiated a project – SAATH – which helps the people affected by the pandemic and the entire Financepeer team donated a part of their salaries to support the cause.
5) Many celebrities shared interesting videos of doing their house chores as there was no external help during the lockdown. Share your funny story (if any) of how you managed housework and work from home?
During the lockdown, the magnitude of work has remained the same. However, with whatever time I have got I have tried my hand on some of my interests such as writing a book, playing guitar, and have also learned to cook a few interesting recipes. WFH has given all of us a direction to think that technology can keep us connected and we can remain efficient.
6) Lessons you learned as an entrepreneur so far, which you would like to share with the aspiring entrepreneurs.
Never lose hope and continue to work on your plans. Be sincere and honest towards your efforts and never hesitate to take help, feedback, and guidance from peers. The learning should never stop and the process of product development should evolve with time. When you are choosing entrepreneurship you have to learn to build the team and remain humble. This is how you are going to find the right path.