Digital is the present as well the future of any business. Every individual from a CEO of a multinational to a local shop owner has to be tech savvy to sustain their business. Let's Talk Life with Ms. Vidushi Daga, Founder and Director Clone Futura who has taken this ideology ahead of making every individual technologically literate.
- Kindly tell us something about yourself?
I had a wonderful childhood surrounded by a large family and an equally big friend circle. Being an all-rounder in school I have been ambitious since the beginning.
I was a topper—a focused child in school and at the same time had a lot of fun too! Participated in interschool competitions, too.
My mother was the real hero behind shaping my personality
I started my career at 14 when there was an opportunity to become a member of a new MLM in the markets like Amway & Oriflame. Then I started buying from wholesalers and selling them in exhibitions where I earned good profits!
The desire to start earning and fund my own studies helped me to get into business.
The usual suspects—money, name and fame took me into Stock Market.
I have spent 14 years in the BSE. Nimble fingers and quick reflexes were required to sustain the same. So my grandfather, Mr Makhanlal Damani, initiated me into this life. I discovered I was pretty good at arbitrage and so the BSE granted me the title of Queen of Arbitrage in 2002.
I spent 14 years in the stock market where I learnt how to make it big, and at the same time, play safe. During this time, I did not take pocket money from my parents and I also bought my own car which made me really happy with my achievements. I have done my Bachelor of Commerce from HR College. After the second child I wanted to work from home.
- What are you currently doing professionally?
Currently Clone Futura and whiz juniors are my babies and as an Entrepreneur and founder I have to give proper attention to my company so that it can give fruitful benefits to the society. My complete dedication is and will be for my business so that it keeps growing and reaches other level of success.
- What made you choose this as a career?
I started my career at 14 when there was an opportunity to become a member of a new MLM in the markets like Amway & Oriflame. Then I started buying from wholesalers and selling them in exhibitions where I earned good profits! The desire to start earning and fund my own studies helped me to get into business. The usual suspects—money, name and fame took me into Stock Market. I have spent 14 years in the BSE. Nimble fingers and quick reflexes were required to sustain the same. So my grandfather, Mr Makhanlal Damani, initiated me into this life. I discovered I was pretty good at arbitrage and so the BSE granted me the title of Queen of Arbitrage in 2002. I spent 14 years in the stock market where I learnt how to make it big, and at the same time, play safe. During this time, I did not take pocket money from my parents and I also bought my own car which made me really happy with my achievements. After the second child I wanted to work from home. I observed that people above 45 years are now falling into the trap of the ‘generation gap’ as youngsters are almost intuitively better with technology. I realized this gap when I discovered that my aunt was struggling with her newly-purchased phone. Her frequent queries wouldn’t get solved even after repeatedly requesting her son. Additionally, when I saw my own son on the iPad just playing games and spending hours on social media, I decided I wanted him to innovate and make him productive. I asked around and found out that it was a huge problem for all the mums. Children need good guidance to deal with the onslaught of so much exposure to technology. Homemakers are not necessarily trained to teach their kids about the use of technology. Hence, we give an opportunity to youngsters to learn with us and then teach the children and senior citizens. All these factors led to the start of Clone Futura which is a Private Limited Company.
- Tell us something about Clone Futura Education?
What it is about, Clone Futura, is a technology training institute offers onsite customized training and support service in Computer, iPad and Smartphones to people of all age groups – kids, women, and senior citizens at their residence or work place. The institute’s objective is to make every individual digitally literate; this is in keeping with PM Narendra Modi’s dream of Transforming India Digitally. Clone Futura is a growing movement, which has empowered over 58,000+ citizens within a span of 3 years. We cater to technological needs of kids, women and seniors; transforming their lives.
The business model, - . Technology is growing and people may feel handicapped due to their inability to cope with rapid changes in technology. So, we invented new ways of training them in technology and making them constructive in a simple and fast manner!
Target audience:
We cater to a vast audience space which includes people from all age groups. To be specific our target audience start from kids Age 5 TO 18 years, women who are 35+ and senior citizens. WE also cater to schools as well as government organisations
What is the USP
Unlike other modules we have a very unique structure that we follow. We give our customers Simple & Fast Tech Courses at the comfort of your home or workplace. This is the key USP because we cater to a diversified age group. Some of them cannot travel, some are even bedridden. So we see to it that they can be taught within their comfort zone. Not only for our students but we also create online video manuals for our teachers with automated assessment and certifications. Apart from that we also have Automated Systems & Processes for Trainers. (In other words you can say that we have Uberized our Trainers)
While dealing with parents my age (and older) at my children’s school, and watching family members struggle with ‘smart’ gadgets, I observed that people above 45 are now falling into the trap of the ‘generation gap’ as youngsters are almost intuitively better with technology.
Additionally, when I saw my own son on the iPad playing games and spending hours on social media, I decided I wanted him to be innovative and productive. I asked around and found out that it was a huge problem for all the mums. Children need good guidance to deal with the onslaught of overexposure to technology. Homemakers are not necessarily trained to teach their kids about the use of technology. Hence, I decided to find a way to solve this problem. I began hiring youngsters to learn with us and then teach children and senior citizens at their doorstep. That is how Clone Futura was born.
Clone Futura is a technology training institute that offers onsite customized training and support service in computers, tablets and smartphones to people of all age groups—especially children, women, and senior citizens at their residence or workplace. Technology is growing and people may feel handicapped due to their inability to cope with rapid changes in technology. So, we invented new ways of training them in technology and making them constructive in a simple and fast manner!
- What was the motive behind starting this venture?
It has been observed that people above 45 years are now falling into the trap of the ‘generation gap’ as youngsters are almost intuitively better with technology. I realized this gap when I discovered that my aunt was struggling with her newly-purchased phone. Her frequent queries wouldn’t get solved even after repeatedly requesting her son.
Additionally when I saw my own son on the iPad just playing games and on social media, I decided I wanted him to innovate make him productive. I asked around and found out that it was a huge problem for all the mums. Children need good guidance to deal with the onslaught of so much exposure to technology. Homemakers are not necessarily trained to teach their kids about the use of technology. Hence, we give an opportunity to youngsters to learn with us and then teach the children and senior citizens. All these led to the start of Clone Futura.
Clone Futura is a technology training institute offers onsite customized training and support service in Computer, iPad and Smartphones to people of all age groups – kids, women, and senior citizens at their residence or work place. Technology is growing and people are getting handicapped due to complications of new ways and methods of dealing with each other in daily life. So, we invented new ways of training them in technology and making them constructive in a simple and fast manner!
- Do you handle this alone or you have a team?
My team is a fourfold team which is very efficient and systematic when it comes to functioning. Production Team – They Develop New Courses and keep updated with the current tech revolution and scenarios
Designing Team –They create appealing collateral's for our TG
Admin Team – They Manage the accounts section, various batches, Training the Trainer Head – Adding Soft Skills & Tech Skills to the Trainers so that they deliver quality training
Marketing Team – Planning the marketing of Clone Futura, Free Basics, Whiz Juniors, etc
- What activities are undertaken under this venture?
There are many forms of digital education modules available online, but what we provide is different. It’s a door to door learning that we provide.
With kids – We teach levels as Basic, Challenger & Accelerators!!
How children can be safe online with all the dangerous threats and at the same time be productive & constructive!
Cyber Safety for kids.
With seniors we train them with customized need of Learning their Smartphones or Basics of Computers.
With Housewives & Women we train them with getting their business online, optimum utilization of their smartphones, accounting software’s on computers, etc. From the time of recruitment to trainer executing his training sessions on field – Everything is Automated!
On registration and after submitting his address proof & verification tests, he has to give tests to prove that he knows the topics in Technology which he has to teach. In case he doesn’t know the topic and wishes to upgrade his skills, he can do so by watching our training video manuals provided and then attempt for the tests. Once he is selected as the trainer then he gets batches near his vicinity to teach students at their doorstep.
There is a wonderful feedback system for the students as well as the trainers to keep a perfect check on the quality of training. As the trainer increases his skill by video learning and also depending on the feedback and number of trainings taken his per hour fees can increase accordingly.
Apart from that we also have Automated Systems & Processes for Trainers. (In other words you can say that we have Uberized our Trainers).
Our major USP apart from all the above factors is Whiz Juniors. Whiz juniors have transformed to be a digital learning platform where all students are joining hands on a single platform to help Digitalizing India. It gives opportunity to enhance the entrepreneurial and learning skills of young minds with fun, since today it has become very important to empower children with the latest technology .It seeks to celebrate power of knowledge, innovation, curiosity and creation amongst the present generations. The first step to get the kids well versed is to get the teachers acquainted with the latest development in the technological front Apart from the competition it has now become a platform of self-learning and development for students and teachers.
- Apart from this, what do you do in your past time?
Each day in my Life is exciting & new. But in the midst of all this there is very less time to pursue my hobbies, so I Like to stay fit thus I regularly exercise. I practice yoga and basic exercise to keep myself fresh for the day as I have to interact with lot of people. Secondly Music has always been a very close part of my life. I try to practice singing Indian Music & Play Casio. Thirdly as part of my carrier I have to meet lot of people which also happens to be part of my hobby list. I always like to bring a smile on their face. Lastly I am a part of an old age home support – Anand Niketan where I spend quality time to empower orphans.
- Perks of choosing your career?
It has always been a boon that I have got through my career as I have got the opportunity to change lives. Once there was an old woman who could speak to her grandchildren for the first time only because of the training that we gave her. It was such an emotional moment to see that we are actually changing lives. We have been able to upgrade more then 60000+ lives and now with the help of whiz juniors we shall be able to go 10x on yearly basis. Monetary perks are very small in front of the humanity perk that this career has given me.
- Challenges that you faced during your journey? How did you overcome them?Entrepreneurship is hard, for men and women alike. Lack of strong mentorship, struggle with finance and funding, finding the right talent, scaling up and turning it profitable etc. are some challenge. These challenges are heightened further if you are a women—stereotyping and responsibilities at home, social circle etc. I have been really fortunate and did not face much of a challenge while setting up of Clone Futura. I have been really grateful to be blessed with a supportive family. My husband has been my real strength and he has also been managing the backend operation of Clone Futura. This has given me a chance to completely focus on the business strategy and business development. From all my experience that I have had right from the evolution of Clone future, the best method that has proved worthy is “Word of mouth”. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing. So long as you create exceptionally happy customers, word of mouth will act as a key customer acquisition tool for you. We endeavour to always be the market leaders, by bringing forth to our customers the latest, the most innovative and the best available technologies training, products and services. We shall always measure our success on the basis of our customers’ satisfaction & training quality. The Core Marketing Team comprises of 8 people and we are looking to expand aggressively Pan India.
- You have won many awards; can you highlight some of them?
We have won the Women of the year & Our Company had won Concept of the year in 2013 by Franchise India
- What was your 'Nothing is Impossible moment'
In 2013 after lot of hard work one fine day when Lodha group liked our concept and gave us an order to teach 10,000 seniors in south Mumbai it was from that we decided that now there is no reason for us to look back and that was the moment that made us realize that nothing is impossible in life.
- Lastly what advice would you give to the aspiring start-ups who want to make a mark in the field?
The most important fact in today’s business world is that “People really are everything in business”
Apart from the numerous thing that entrepreneurship has taught me over 4 years successfully running Clone Futura, one crucial thing I’ve learned is the importance of having the right people in your team. Success is always achieved when you have team work in your organisation where each and every one has ownership of their work. Teamwork is a crucial part of a business, as it is often necessary for colleagues to work well together, trying their best in any circumstance
It’s worth the extra effort to find the right employees, and vendors who believe in your company’s mission and passionately desire to contribute to it – not just those who want to punch the clock or get their share of profits. Our idea should always be solving real problems of people. People really are everything in business, and the people you align yourself with will either buoy you up or weigh you down. It’s the team which takes you ahead, cross milestones and achieve beyond expectations!!
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