Punjab is a state with a burgeoning youth population of 30 million but a very low university to student ratio. Sitting below the national average, only 22.7 percent of Punjab’s youth will have the chance to follow any higher education within the state. Even Haryana’s youth has a higher possibility of pursuing any tertiary education (28.7 percent). It’s the main reason beginning with sufficiently affluent families of the state will send their children overseas to countries like Australia where the universities are far more accessible and community presence is already well established.
Against this backdrop,
ESS Global Private Limited, formerly known as Express Student Services, is a consultancy firm that provides recruitment services for students who wish to study abroad. The company was founded in 2013 with a focus on recruiting students for studying abroad in Australia, Canada, Europe and New Zealand.
Headquartered in Chandigarh, ESS Global has a strong presence in the state of Punjab, which also happens to be its target market, and has branch offices at Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana, and Bhatinda.
ESS Global was founded by Mr Gurinder Singh Bhatti, who took inspiration from his own experience of pursuing higher studies in the UK and because of the gap he observed in the reality and people’s expectations of studying abroad. This led him to start his own business to simplify the process for students who wish to go abroad (legally, mind you) for their further studies.
ESS Global's USP
Its USP lies in the fact that it provides the right course selection for students planning to study abroad. It also offers in-depth information about visa filing processes for different countries, and has a high success rate. The firm offers highly personalized services and is known for its expertise in dealing with student visas across Australia, Canada, and Europe.
Funding status
The company is currently bootstrapping at the moment wherein it relied on internal accruals for expansion. Going further, the intension is to set up offices pan India before expanding to South East Asia. Who knows, later ESS Global might even look at taking the VC route because the team believes their business model and profitability will pass any investor’s litmus test.
Future plans
ESS Global wishes to expand its reach across major metropolises in India before targeting the international market, especially in South East Asia. It hopes to extend its reach globally, and plans to open a branch in Australia soon.
Market size and opportunity
Gurinder, founder of ESS Global explained, “If we talk about market size, India is the second largest source country for international students after China. To give you some latest stats from 2016 of Indian students who opted to study abroad:
- 44,695 students to Canada
- 165,918 students to USA
- 11,655 students to Germany
- 19,485 students to UK
- 35,480 students to Australia
- 15,415 students to New Zealand
Putting all these numbers together India sent 292,648 students to all these countries in the year 2016. India occupies the second spot to all these host countries and that is the relevance of Indian students for all these countries.
As the trend suggests that it will not be quite far when India outpaces China in terms of numbers of students going abroad.
This industry is dynamic and is impacted by immigration policies. Right now, given the immigration uncertainties of the UK, EU and the US, the challenges are endless. But I am certain that at end of the day all countries will only welcome bright Indian students who contribute to their future national growth.”
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
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