Collecting eggs in family chicken farm helped edX CEO learn B2B lessons
Anant Agarwal won the Yidan Prize for making education more accessible.
By ET Bureau |
BCCL
Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX
Anant Agarwal’s entrepreneurial journey started as a young boy. “I had a chicken farm at home with 40 hens and I would collect the eggs,” says the founder of edX, an online learning platform founded by MIT and Harvard University.
“I often joke that I discovered B2B [business-to-business] early in life,” says Agarwal, who has come a long way from collecting eggs.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor was one of two winners of this year’s Yidan Prize “for making education more accessible to people around the world via the innovative edX open-source online platform”.
Both winners received a gold medal and $30 million HKD (approximately $3.87 million USD) each.
The Yidan Prize is the world’s largest prize in education and was founded in 2017 by Charles Chen Yidan, a Chinese internet entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Positive-Thinking Quotes By Ratan Tata, Indra Nooyi & Satya Nadella To Be A Great Leader
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Agarwal says his and Yidan’s ideas have synergy. “I’ve exchanged a couple of emails with him and I’m hoping to interact more with him in December [during the formal award ceremony],” Agarwal said.
Starting point As a professor at MIT, Agarwal founded five startups. Though involved in online learning since 2000, it was only in 2011 that he and his colleagues, including MIT’s current president Rafael Reif, focused on the education space.
With the aim of creating a virtual MIT for the whole world, they partnered with Harvard to establish edX, which is a not-forprofit initiative.
His inspiration for the online platform came from one of his former students — Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy.
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Hardik Pandya, Rani Rampal, Peyush Bansal: Sports And Business Leaders Reveal Their Tools Of Success
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Come Dussehra, leading business and sports names reveal their tools of success and the instruments that play a role in their professional lives.
In pic: From left (Hardik Pandya, Rani Rampal, Peyush Bansal)
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Indian cricketer “Since I am an all-rounder, for me, the bails would be something I would worship related to work. Cricket is everything for me. I can’t imagine life without it. When I bat or bowl, they [the bails] play a very important role.”
Image: Hardik Pandya/Instagram
Indian cricketer “Since I am an all-rounder, for me, the bails would be something I would worship related to work. Cricket is everything for me. I can’t imagine life without it. When I bat or bowl, t..
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Suresh Narayanan, chairman, Nestlé India “I worship, trust and have witnessed the power of people. [During my career] I have tried to empower, enable and nurture my team to ensure that our relationships stay strong, durable, credible and sustainable. I have abiding faith in the strength and support of employees, partners, distributors, suuppliers and consumers. My life’s learning has been that if you take care of people, they take care of you.”
Suresh Narayanan, chairman, Nestlé India “I worship, trust and have witnessed the power of people. [During my career] I have tried to empower, enable and nurture my team to ensure that our relationsh..
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Abhyuday Jindal, MD, Jindal Stainless Ltd “If work is worship, worship is integrity. The integrity of intent and action. The integrity of human relationships, of al lowing them to change the world, starting with ourselves, for a better version. The integrity of practising what we preach. The integrity of courage, taking risks and owning the rewards and retributions that come with it.”
Abhyuday Jindal, MD, Jindal Stainless Ltd “If work is worship, worship is integrity. The integrity of intent and action. The integrity of human relationships, of al lowing them to change the world, s..
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Peyush Bansal, founder, Lenskart.com “For me, an integral part of my work day is my hot cup of coffee. That is what keeps me going through the day. Moreover, some of the world’s most effective thoughts happen over morning coffee.”
Peyush Bansal, founder, Lenskart.com “For me, an integral part of my work day is my hot cup of coffee. That is what keeps me going through the day. Moreover, some of the world’s most effective though..
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Nikhil Mohan, founder, Blackberrys Menswear says, “If work is worship, I would revere asking questions. The single-minded pursuit of why behind whys. Sooner or later, it provides an answer for all maladies.”
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Satyen Momaya, CEO, Celio Future Fashion Pvt Ltd India says “An integral part of my office life would be focusing on building my health and well-being to be able to deal with daily work challenges and chase ambitious goals. Along with my daily prayer, I practice the technique for inner peace and well-being. Transcendental meditation acts like a turbo charger to the mind.”
Satyen Momaya, CEO, Celio Future Fashion Pvt Ltd India says “An integral part of my office life would be focusing on building my health and well-being to be able to deal with daily work challenges an..
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Gunjan Soni, head, Jabong and CMO, Myntra, says “[When it comes to work] I can’t live without my iPhone-iWatch combo. It’s my lifeline to getting everything done. At home the virtual assistants are the new favourite — from weather forecast to favourite songs to switching of flights — dependence [on technology] is increasing to newer heights.”
Gunjan Soni, head, Jabong and CMO, Myntra, says “[When it comes to work] I can’t live without my iPhone-iWatch combo. It’s my lifeline to getting everything done. At home the virtual assistants are t..
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Rani Rampal, India hockey team captain, says “I play hockey and my hockey stick would be the thing related to work that I would worship. It is very integral to my game and I have lost count of the number of goals and winning passes it has helped me make during my career. I do have a number of hockey sticks and they all have had a role to play in my success over the years.”
Rani Rampal, India hockey team captain, says “I play hockey and my hockey stick would be the thing related to work that I would worship. It is very integral to my game and I have lost count of the nu..
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Priyanka Gill, founder of POPxo, says “I may not have a worship ritual, but my iPhone is central to my work life. Since I am always on the go, I catch up on everything through my phone — be it emails, taking updates from my team, or little in-between-work breaks and scrolling through my Instagram feed. It makes my work day easier and it’s usually the first thing I check before and after bed.”
Priyanka Gill, founder of POPxo, says “I may not have a worship ritual, but my iPhone is central to my work life. Since I am always on the go, I catch up on everything through my phone — be it emails..
When asked about his ultimate goal, Agarwal says, “To educate a billion people around the world in the next 10 years.”
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“In a for-profit, as a CEO you have a clear mandate to maximise profit. We would like to make everything free, but we have to be sustainable, and that balance is a struggle for a nonprofit, where you have motivations and goals that don’t align with each other,” he adds.
