Interview: Pratiksha Singh, Founder of The language Hub: German, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Foreign Language Institute

This is the interview of Pratiksha Singh, Indian women entrepreneur and Founder of The language Hub, Classes for German, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Foreign Language.

At Sugermint, our aim is to bring to our entrepreneurs community some of the motivational interviews and success stories from the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur Pratiksha Singh, Founder of The language Hub for an exclusive interview with us.

Let’s learn more about her inspirational journey and her advice for our growing community!

Tell us a little about yourself

I am Pratiksha Singh, founder of “The language Hub” and also working full time in Australia with a Bank.

I graduated in 2009 studied B.com from Khalsa college Mumbai. After that, I pursued my part-time MBA from NMIMS (Ville Parle – Mumbai). Besides this, I am also a certified German language trainer.

I learned the German language when I was in my 12std as a hobby. So I have overall 11 years of experience teaching German and also working with different global banks.

With planning and support of my team, it helped me manage both teaching and banking. I got married in 2019 and currently reside in Australia with my Husband. My parents and in-laws are in Mumbai/ Pune.

How did you get your idea for The language Hub?

My idea was purely a discovery that I have the interest to teach. I completed my German certification, and my first student approached me to teach German.

I was a weak and slow learner in my academics, and teaching was something I never thought of even in my dreams.

Soon when I taught two students, I realized it was fun. Twelve years back, learning a language and finding a tutor was not easy. We had no Facebook, Instagram, and youtube access.

Learning a foreign language was strange to many. I got a job related to accounting and German language skills in 2009. Like anyone, I quit teaching. I worked for 2.5 years, and I realized I am not happy.

In 2012, I resigned it wasn’t an easy decision. Everyone thought I will get a gap in my career and I lost fixed income, brand name, and recognition.

However, I knew I want to start teaching but this time not at home but professional certification.

The first challenge was finding a place on rent in Mumbai ( expensive for me ) the second challenge was marketing to find students to learn German.

I was 21 when I took this bold decision. I then name my institute” Deustchkurs ” which means German course.

I did freelancing too and teaching at my institute With good results and feedback, we got a lot more inquiries.

We started with just one language back then and today The language hub ( changed name from Deutschkurs) offers 4 languages across the globe with basic as well as international preparation.

Initial days I managed to teach on weekend and weekdays managed my work ( In 2014 I joined the bank again due to financial reasons ) every year there was an increase in admission.

After 6 years I hired one teacher and she started teaching on weekdays. Today “The language hub” has 9 trainers and we offer 4 different languages teaching from basic as well as advanced level course.

What courses do you offer at your Language Classes?

We offer language courses for German, French, Spanish and Sanskrit ( newly added)
One can learn from basic and also advanced level courses to prepare the international and immigration certifications. We also offer corporate trainings.

What is unique about your Institute?

We offer online classes and our courses can be taken from anywhere and at any age level.
We have an international exam preparatory course with multiple mocks and evaluation.

What made you choose this type of institute?

My core interest and making people aware that with a language you can have multiple different careers.

You can be a translator, teacher, language analyst, choose only a language profile, work at an embassy, be a corporate trainer, study master program abroad at a very low cost.

What was your mission at the outset?

To offer language classes including our own language Sanskrit and Hindi abroad and reach out to small villages in India to offer them foreign language courses.

Going abroad and studying only people in the metro are aware of. A country like Germany offers free education for masters the only thing is you must know German or the language spoken in that country.

How many employees in your institute?

10 including admin

What’s your company’s goals?

To offer language as well as other education courses in future WE would like to also focus on Sanskrit as its one of the lost Indian languages and it is also one of the most scientific languages ever.

How do you build a successful student base?

Word of mouth, Marketing social media.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

Adapting new range marketing and going with trends.

Who has been your greatest inspiration?

There are many inspirations from my father, mother, Mr. Ratan Tata. My father and mother both enouraged me of what I do.

I have read books about Mr. Ratan Tata and his giving back to society attitude is something I learnt from that book. His politeness and humble nature.
There are also many other people who have come across in my life and I have learnt from them.

What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?

I did have some learning which everyone has you try things out in a business but haven’t yet made any blunder so far. I think have managed things quite well.

After marriage when I had to move to Australia I did had thought to close it down ( this was before covid so we had only classroom training) I was very confused about how can I run something from abroad. But a great team never lets you down.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

There is no harm in taking the calculative risks. You need to come out of your comfort zone to try something new.

If you have talent and you are up to with your skills trust me even with a gap in career people hire you.

If I had not taken that risk of quitting my Job in beginning, I would have been stuck there and not tried anything else. And I also got hired back with a good hike.

Does your institute help the community or society?

My first community service was when I was 17 years. We help students who are financially weak either by waiving off entire fees or giving courses at less prices.

Every year some help is offered to the needy and NGOs. We would like to offer training to underprivileged students too. This is something in plan.

Website: https://thelanguagehub.co