Leaders

Today, parents are more concerned with the dos & don'ts of raising a child in the digital age. They want to provide the best environment to learn, grow & express themselves. Towards building a fun & safe learning ecosystem for kids, Anshu Dhanuka founded a game-based early-learning platform known as Kiddopia, which encompasses everything from math, language skills, GK, and social skills to even creativity and selfexpression. The company is formed out of a team of parents, teachers, artists, & developers who genuinely enjoy building learning experiences for curious little minds.

Anshu Dhanuka has completed her MA in Finance from Nottingham University Business School. Following her postgraduation, she worked as a Treasury Manager in a listed company. She has been passionate about creating valuable digital content for kids that fosters learning through intuitive gameplay. She extended this passion towards creating a product of international quality, which today ranks number two worldwide, in its genre.

Anshu Dhanuka engages in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine.

Take us through your early educational and professional background.

I completed my Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Mumbai, and my Masters of Arts in Finance and Investments from Nottingham University Business School. My design skills and expertise in the kids’ digital space have helped me develop a deep understanding of the difference between games that simply entertain & those that provide the tools to teach and help kids grow in the early stages of life.

After working as a treasury manager, I soon realised that I had to do something of my own. My husband and I started a company offering third-party services in the software domain. When the iPad launched, we realised it was a great learning tool for kids and started experimenting with our early learning apps. Additionally, we decided to focus on making our own content in this space.

What motivated you to establish Kiddopia? Tell us about the underlying idea behind the platform & its unique features.

Since both my husband and I hail from entrepreneurial families, we share an underlying passion to start something of our own, & so we did. Throughout my journey as a co-creator of Kiddopia, I have followed my motherly instincts and intuitions that have helped me pave my own unique professional path & motivated me to establish Kiddopia.

Some features that make Kiddopia unique are its allaround learning, stellar user experience designed by the experts, timely & continuous addition of fresh, kidSAFE content, & the added bonus that one membership can provide for the entire family.

Tell us about the roles & responsibilities you shoulder, including the challenges you face at your position and how you overcome those challenges.

As the chief product officer, I manage Kiddopia’s game concept and design, graphics, animation, & marketing strategy, besides lending creative direction to the Kiddopia team.

“Keep the noise out & focus on what's important to you”

Initially, the lack of infrastructure and experts in game development was a consistent challenge. To overcome it, I played multiple roles & got acquainted with various technicalities on the job. Apart from this, operating in a new & developing ecosystem of apps & devices kept throwing many challenges. To overcome these challenges, we had to stay abreast with new technology, privacy concerns, & various evolving regulations.

How has Kiddopia’s growth journey been so far, and what has been the driving force behind your success?

Currently, we have over 15 million total downloads, & our app continues to stay at number two in the US. Our revenue for FY 2019-20 was 50 Cr, which increased to 125 Cr in the next financial year and helped us maintain healthy EBDITA margins of 30%.

Our little users are passionate about Kiddopia, & their parents need Kiddopia to help them constructively engage with a device. Our passion towards bringing joy to preschoolers and their parents, & making Kiddopia accessible to as many children as possible worldwide has become the driving force behind our success.

How do you foresee the Indian e-learning industry evolving and what would your advice be to young women aspiring to become entrepreneurs?

The e-learning space is booming, and with COVIDrelated restrictions becoming a thing of the past, I see great potential in it. We look at kids' learning material & pedagogy closely to see how they evolve. Being closely connected to our user base helps us stay on top of any emerging trend.

My advice to everyone is to study your line of work, get into the technical aspects of everything, & eventually, you will find better answers and solutions. There will be times when things may not go according to your plan & the world will throw challenges at you, but you need to focus on solutions rather than deliberating on the problem & you will come out victorious.

Anshu Dhanuka, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Kiddopia

A business management graduate, anshu dhanuka founded kiddopia for kids promoting learning through gameplay.