The advent of technology is finally helping to diminish the long ventilated gap between industry and academia. The lion's share of credit goes to hardly a handful of educational leaders and edupreneurs like Ravindra Agrawal, Founder & Managing Director, CAD Desk India. A veteran civil engineer who holds a Masters and decades of industry experience in structural engineering, Ravindra is transforming the CAD design industry in India ­ a proposition that was built as early as two decades ago.

Having graduated from Rajasthan Technical University in 1996, Ravindra kick-started his career as a civil design engineer, which gave him the first industry-exposure to CAD. Over the next two decades, he not only worked as a civil consultant, but also pursued a parallel coaching career, simultaneously training hundreds of students in CAD. It was this priceless experience, spanning across the two poles - industry and academia, which gave him deep insights into the requirements of the industry and what's expected from academia.

A Great Journey
Despite his family being apprehensive about leaving the lucrative job behind, Ravindra manifested unyielding determination in becoming an entrepreneur. He started the company's operations by the end of the 20th century. If the initial challenges were largely pertained to creating awareness about CAD, by 2001, he hit a hefty financial crisis, which made it a herculean task for the company to keep its neck above water. "It was a tough time. I had to liquidate almost all my assets to keep my head above water. I rebooted and began from the scratch, learning from my mistakes. Owing thanks to my wife, who offered unconditional support, I was able to get back on my feet and thrive in the market in the subsequent years," asserts Ravindra.

CAD Desk bounced back and there has been no turning back. Today, CAD Desk is one India's finest and leading CAD training institutes with an unparalleled franchise network, incorporating 170+ centers across 22 states of India. Home to more than two lakh students, the center offers highly curated courses for both technical and no-technical students based on AutoDesk, PTC, Dessault, Siemens, Microsoft & Bentley. While Ravindra's dynamic & hands on approach towards training and the impressive placement rates explain such an elevated, growing number of students, the highly flexible franchise system, which is embedded with a crust of robust support infrastructure and focuses on delivering world class content, is behind the broad franchise network.

"We are determined to be on the cutting edge of technology as well as the industry. For instance, we expose our students to live projects, industrial training, and facilitate them to interact with industry experts. We have also created a cloud-platform that enables students to learn online through thousands of videos, books, notes and much more. We also have a highly responsive feedback system," adjoins Ravindra. No wonder the company never finds itself in a predicament that demands hefty marketing funds; the word of mouth does the job.

We are determined to be on the cutting edge of technology as well as the industry

Being the Influence
Despite the uniqueness of the business proposition, becoming an influential edupreneur takes a great team that is well poised to realize his/her vision. Ravindra has built a 1500 people strong team that aids in realizing his vision of eliminating the gap between industry and academia. The well-trained and quality-centric team has been an instrumental part of CAD Desk's anecdote. It's also impressive the way they imbue their endeavors with great futuristic insights. Ravindra has equipped and structured his team to function on autopilot mode, thanks to his insightful leadership, an exceptionally skilled management team, their experience in the industry, and attention to detail & quality. The simple organizational structure with well-defined roles responsibilities further ensures its seamless functioning. On the flip side it today enables Ravindra to reimburse his time, which he spent most on building the company earlier, back to his beloved family and his favorite hobbies like reading & writing articles.

Going forward, Ravindra is quite lucid about channeling the success of the company. While innovation remains the pivot of everything, he is constantly strengthening the CAD Desk network towards. The recently launched live-training portal that ensures imparting knowledge even during the pandemic is a strong testament to this agile, dynamic approach. "We are always looking forward to the new opportunities, technologies and starting new courses. Courses on 3D printing is an example. On the other hand, we are executing our global expansion plans, starting with our recently launched centers in Africa and UAE. We are all set to land in Bangladesh as well," concludes Ravindra.