Meet Meena Shah, a dedicated educator and author with a passion for enhancing children's learning experiences.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your family?
Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a teacher. Fortunately, I have been able to realise my dream of touching many lives and helping them in their academics.
Needless to say, I am a passionate educator and now have completed 4 decades in education.
Apart from teaching in schools and tutoring students, I am a curriculum planner and an author of 24 children's educational workbooks. I am working on the third edition of my books just now.
I am a loving mother to my 26-year-old son, Kahan, and a happy and giving wife and homemaker as well.
I enjoy reading, playing word games and watching interesting movies. I also enjoy learning and believe that I am a lifelong learner.
Have you had any formal training or family business?
Though I have done my B. Ed, I have not received any personal training to run a business.
Tell us about your venture and what inspired you to take this challenge, and get started?
My venture, Starchild Education and Learning came from the belief that I would like to reach out to more and more students and parents and help them in their journey of education.
I wished to motivate them and encourage them to continue learning in a fun and interesting manner. Since I had written my workbooks and had much content ready, we decided to digitalise the content.
Thus, as the world went digital, I created my gamified education portal Starchild Education and Learning (www.starchild.in) where we created Mission PlaytoLearn.
Through Mission PlaytoLearn, children revise and practice their school curriculum in the subjects of math, English, Science and Social Studies. Many other features like the Children’s Blog, Talent Showcase and curated videos were also created as time went by.
All this was done to give children an exciting way to do their school work. Parents also benefit as ready material is available and they save time.
Parent and child bonding forms an integral part as parents spend time with their children on our portal.
What has been your proudest moment?
My proudest moment was when the first Mom (unknown to me) bought a subscription of Starchild’s Mission PlaytoLearn.
She told me that her 10 year old son spent many hours on the Starchild portal and she was not worried about this as he was constantly learning.
She then bought the next subscription for her 6 year old daughter who did the same.
I felt proud that the mother approved and trusted my portal and the children used it to learn.
What are some of the biggest challenges you faced as an entrepreneur?
The biggest challenge I faced as an entrepreneur was to convince parents that learning online was possible. It is smart learning and our portal could be trusted.
Marketing it is also an issue as with limited funds we have limited reach as compared to those who do.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting out?
If a person is starting a new venture, they must plan it well. They must study the current scenario and understand it well. This is very important.
Given a chance would you alter any of your life decisions?
In my youth, we did not have career guidance. Though I wanted to be a teacher,
I did my B.Com which has been of limited use in my teaching career. Later, I did my B.Ed. However, today I realise that I should have studied either Arts or Science and Math.
Find Meena Shah on Social Media:
Website: www.starchild.in
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarchildMissionPlay2Learn
Instagram: www.instagram.in/sstarchild1
LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/meenacshah
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCah3ILddNFRmToXCw70oKWA
Hope you enjoyed reading Meena Shah’s story!
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