The Founding Of OpenGrad Foundation: A Journey Of Shared Passion And Impact

The story of the OpenGrad Foundation is one of shared passion, a desire to give back to the community, and a commitment to creating tangible impact in an industry that has been highly commercialized, privatized, and driven solely by profit. Not only this, the coaching industry is characterized by unchecked growth, misleading claims, and excessively high fees, posing barriers to equitable access and quality education.

In India, 1.5 crore students graduate from 12th standard annually and the journey to higher studies is filled with challenges, primarily centered around entrance exams. Entrance exams have become the sole gateway to prestigious institutes, creating significant barriers. Government schools, with limited resources and outdated curricula, fail to prepare students for these competitive exams, sidelining them from the start.

Founded by Sahil Sameer, Mohammed Shahid, and Amith Tony Joseph in May 2023, the OpenGrad Foundation aims to address these issues and provide community-powered, no-cost entrance exam coaching to aspirants, particularly focusing on underprivileged and disadvantaged youth. Their model leverages a mentor-led curriculum for major Indian competitive exams like CUET, CAT, and CLAT, harnessing the expertise of student volunteers from top-tier Indian universities such as IIMs, IITs, National Law Universities, and major Central Universities.

Shahid’s journey began in Thalassery, Kerala, where he attended a state government school with modest ambitions. His school rarely saw students entering top-tier institutes, and Shahid initially planned to study law locally. However, through the PM Foundation, which supported Muslim students preparing for civil service exams during their 11th and 12th grades, Shahid met inspiring individuals who broadened his horizons. One friend suggested he try the IPMAT exam, leading Shahid to IIM Indore straight after 12th grade in 2017. This was a significant leap from his original ambitions and set the stage for his future endeavors.

In 2018 at IIM Indore, Shahid noticed a significant gap in the quality of coaching materials available for IPMAT, a relatively new integrated program. Existing resources were often repurposed from CAT content and were inadequate. Recognizing an opportunity, Shahid and a group of peers decided to create their own course materials, study resources, and mock tests. Leveraging their recent experience with the exam, they made these resources available online, unlike existing institutes.

Their venture, Alpha IPMAT, was a huge success, expanding significantly within two years and achieving a 50% student success rate. Shahid attributed this success to their ability to navigate the exam syllabus and provide mentorship, having just gone through the preparation process themselves.

After running Alpha IPMAT for a few years, Shahid took a break to focus on his MBA studies. Concurrently, in 2017, he also ran an offline institute in his hometown, catering to commerce and humanities students in 11th and 12th grades. This institute offered tuitions, career guidance, and more, focusing on underprivileged communities in the geographically disadvantaged area. Charging minimal fees, it became a valuable service for these students.

Sahil Sameer, another co-founder of OpenGrad Foundation, had always been passionate about community service. He recognized the profound impact of community engagement for social causes when he founded Keralarescue.in with others during the 2018 Kerala floods. His efforts were acknowledged with the Larry K Wilson Asia and Pacific Outstanding Volunteer Award. Sahil completed his undergraduate degree from a government college in Kerala, always aspiring to study in a national-level institute. His dream came true in 2020 when he secured a seat at IIM Indore. He began personally mentoring five students for the CAT program, after being inspired by Shahid.

In 2021, all students mentored by Sahil secured spots in the top 20 B-schools, reinforcing the impact of relatability in entrance coaching. During the same year, Shahid was featured in Official Humans of Bombay, highlighting his journey from a government school in Kerala to IIM Indore and establishing a community-driven edtech for IPMAT entrances. These experiences laid the foundation for their future collaboration.

The third co-founder, Amith Tony Joseph, pursued a B.Tech in Electronics & Communication at Govt. Model Engineering College, Kochi from 2019 to 2023, establishing a solid technical foundation. Sahil was a super senior to Amith in college. Amith had been actively volunteering with IEEE’s Promotion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship community, expanding his network and gaining hands-on tech expertise.

Among his key techno-humanitarian projects was the LoRa-Based Rescue System, where he led a team to develop an emergency human mapping system using LoRaWAN technology in response to the Kerala 2020 floods. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in Global Management from ESMT Berlin, working as a Strategy Consultant for Electric Vehicles at Bosch Germany as well as building OpenGrad with Sahil and Shahid. His keen interest in building products and solving critical problems naturally led him to manage the product and technology side of OpenGrad.

Convergence of Visions

In 2022, Sahil and Shahid graduated from IIM Indore, commencing their corporate careers. Sahil went on to work with Samsung India, while Shahid began working at Memix, a meme text generator. However, their desire to do something for the community stayed with them. As Shahid’s edtech platform achieved greater success, it demonstrated the power of relatable content and role models in entrance exam success. This experience, combined with the community-driven approach of Alpha IPMAT, solidified Shahid’s vision for the future.

Shahid contemplated making his edtech platform open source and discussed the idea with Sahil, who had extensive experience in building large-scale community efforts and CAT mentorship. Sahil’s vision for growth mirrored Shahid’s – he wanted to create a free, open-source, nationwide network of coaching resources encompassing a vast array of courses. In 2022, Sahil brought Amith into the team, and together they brainstormed the feasibility of a Khan Academy-style model for entrance examinations, addressing a significant gap in the education system. They mobilized a small tech team from Kochi to build an LMS prototype and officially purchased the domain opengrad.in.

Establishing OpenGrad Foundation

In 2023, the OpenGrad Foundation was officially formulated, fostering collaborations with top-tier universities across various disciplines. It was selected as one of the 10 organizations for the incubation cohort by The Nudge Institute from a remarkable pool of 340+ applicants.

OpenGrad Foundation found a place in the Impact Orbit Cohort of NSRCEL Indian Institute of Management Bangalore among 19 other organizations across India.

Shahid’s experience with Alpha IPMAT and the Alpha Studies Center, his local offline institute, had convinced him of the effectiveness of this model. Sahil’s proven track record in scaling impactful initiatives further solidified Shahid’s belief in their shared vision. With Amith’s proficiency in tech and having worked as an active volunteer of IEEE, he played a pivotal role in revolutionizing the entrance coaching landscape using the power of community and technology. By focusing on underprivileged youth, and making high-quality resources accessible to all, the OpenGrad Foundation is set to transform the education landscape in India.