Gomathi Shanmuga Sundaram, CEO at AhaGuru Education Technology Private Limited was awarded the Young Leader Award at the Indian Brand and Leadership Conclave 2022.
TBS Media – The Brand Story organized the Indian Brand and Leadership Conclave 2022 for honouring brands and individuals that have done inspiring work in their respective fields. The 2022 edition focused on honouring brands and individuals who have successfully overcome business leadership challenges innovatively and inclusively. TBS Media – The Brand Story is India’s top brand rating and listing company that highlights brands propelling the country’s growth. Gomathi Shanmuga Sundaram, CEO, AhaGuru Education Technology was awarded the Young Leader Award at the Indian Brand and Leadership Conclave 2022.
Gomathi Shanmuga Sundaram, AhaGuru’s CEO launched the company with an aim to enable all children reach their maximum potential by providing them individualised access to academic content that is appropriate for their skill level and pace of learning. The company’s mission is to make high-quality science and maths education accessible to everyone so that all students have the opportunity to learn without any limitations. The brand believes that all students deserve the very best education, and it is committed to making that happen. Ever since the inception of the company, Ms Gomathi’s leadership skills including an ability to build a strong vision for the future, effective problem solving and the ability to communicate effectively has enabled her to propel the company’s growth.
She is of the opinion that different teams need different structures and the leader must change the leadership style according to the situation and the team. She follows a transformational leadership style which leads her to inspire and encourage the team members to bring out the best results possible. Gomathi thinks that becoming a good leader is a challenging task that not everyone can manage to perform well. With clear focus and goals, she has been able to achieve all her aspirations easily. She holds herself accountable when setting goals by ensuring that she follows through with them along with creating a plan for achieving them.
For Gomathi, leadership means inspiration. She tries to be a leader who inspires and motivates the team to work hard and achieve the best possible results. She fosters a culture of collaboration and encourages all employees to express their ideas. Under the leadership of Gomathi, AhaGuru is growing rapidly. Even when she was confident that the company’s services could be a boon to schools and other organizations, she chose to establish a wide presence in the B2C segment first. She ensured that the product was proven in the B2C segment before she could begin partnering with other businesses. Hence, she decided to offer quality service while benefitting the children who used it.
As the CEO of AhaGuru, Gomathi is responsible for everything from marketing to operations. In her position, she faced a great deal of scepticism – many people in the industry commented that as someone without a degree in marketing and fancy college education, she would never be able to make the leap from COO to CEO. However, Gomathi took this challenge head-on and steered AhaGuru from 9 lakhs in 2012 to 23 crores in 2022—all without burning any money. AhaGuru is a profitable EdTech company that doesn’t buy into the hype and keeps its cost down. Gomathi believes in herself and offers great importance to education for all children regardless of class or income level. Her goal is to grow AhaGuru to 100 crores by 2025.
The most important value that Gomathi shows as a leader is integrity. She does not just follow rules but also participates in decision making based on what’s right or wrong rather than what’s convenient or profitable. Integrity has helped her earn the respect of employees and peers, which gives them the power to influence without having to resort to coercion. Some other values that she has demonstrated actively are accountability, passion, curiosity, innovativeness and commitment.
As a leader, Gomathi believes in mentoring aspiring leaders. She feels that mentorship is a crucial component of leadership and one that allows her to establish relationships with her mentees while also helping them grow into their own leadership roles. With great hard work and passion, Gomathi has become a pioneer of the most trusted and innovative coaching platform for science and maths education – AhaGuru Education.
Dr Abhay Kaushik, Editor in Chief and Director, TBS Media – The Brand Story said, “Gomathi Shanmuga Sundaram has proven to be an excellent leader at AhaGuru Education. Her performance has enabled the company to become well-positioned in the quickly growing Ed-tech market. TBS Media – The Brand Story is proud to honour Ms Gomathi Shanmuga Sundaram with the Young Leader Award.”