Internship Report

on

The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online Educational Content at 10

Minute School

Exam Roll: 162468

The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online Educational Content at 10
Minute School

Prepared for,

Chairman

Internship Placement Committee

Prepared by,

Exam Roll Number: 162468

4th year, 8th semester

Batch Number: 25, BBA Program

Academic Session: 2015-16

Institute of Business Administration

Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342

Date: July 6, 2020

 Declaration

I do hereby declare that the internship report entitled as ‘The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online
Educational Content at 10 Minute School’ has been prepared on the basis of three months Internship
activities on the titled organization and it is an original work done by me.

The report is a unique one which is not submitted to anywhere for any academic purpose. The data and
information which are mentioned here are also collected and organized by myself. I am solely responsible
for any kind of misleading or manipulation of data or information in this report.

Finally, this report is submitted to the Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University for
the partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration.

Signature of the Intern/Student:

Exam ID: 162468 Class ID: 1889

Batch No: 25 Academic Session: 2015-16

Major area of concentration: Marketing-HRM

Institute of Business Administration (IBA-JU)

Jahangirnagar University
 Certificate of the Supervisor

This is to certify that Sabiha Saju Ibne Abedin, bearing Exam ID: 162468, Batch: 25, Academic Session:
2015-16, a student of BBA program, Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University, has
completed internship program on ‘The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online Educational Content at
10 Minute School’ under my supervision.

I have gone through the report and it seems satisfactory to submit for the award of the Degree of Bachelor
of Business Administration.

I wish her success in life.

…………………………………

Name of the Teacher : Dr S. M. Ikhtiar Alam

Designation : Professor

Institute of Business Administration (IBA-JU)

Jahangirnagar University
 Approval of the Supervisor

July 6, 2020

Professor Dr. Ireen Akhter

Batch Manager, BBA 25 Batch and Chairman,
BBA Internship Program, BBA 25 Batch
IBA-JU.

Subject: Internship Report Submission of BBA 25 Batch.

Dear Prof. Dr. Ireen Akhter:

This is to inform you that two students did their Internship under my supervision. I gave them all necessary
feedbacks, suggestions, and guidance to write their Internship Report. One of the two students did complete
her report on March 31, 2020. The student, Sabiha Saju Ibne Abedin bearing Class ID #1889 and Exam
Roll Number # 162468 has submitted her Internship Report titled “The Problems and Prospects of
Premium Online Educational Content at 10 Minute School”.

The student did incorporate some of the necessary suggestions that Dr. Baktiar Rana and I made in her
Report.

However, I have read the report and it seems satisfactory to me. I, therefore, recommend to officially submit
the Internship Report of this student.

Thank you for your kind patience and endless cooperation all the time.

Regards,

Professor Dr. S. M. Ikhtiar Alam

Internship Supervisor of
Sabiha Saju Ibne Abedin
BBA 25 Batch, Class ID #1889 and Exam Roll Number # 162468
 Letter of Transmittal

July 6, 2020

Chairman

Internship Placement Committee

Institute of Business Administration,

Jahangirnagar University

Savar, Dhaka- 1342

Subject: Submission of Internship Report titled ‘The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online
Educational Content at 10 Minute School’

Dear Sir,

With due respect, I am pleased to submit my report as the requirement for my internship at 10 Minute
School. The report is titled, ‘The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online Educational Content at 10
Minute School’. The information used in this report is both primary and secondary and has been collected
through online websites and on-hand metrics, along with input from the internal and external stakeholders
that I have worked with. This report has been prepared under the direct supervision of Dr S. M. Ikhtiar
Alam, Professor of Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University.

I have tried to prepare this report comprehensively within the given constraints and I sincerely hope that
this report fulfils the objectives and requirements of my internship and that it finds your acceptance.

Sincerely,

Exam Roll: 162468

4th Year, 8th Semester

BBA 25th Batch, IBA-JU

 Acknowledgement

For supporting me in preparation for this internship report, I would wholeheartedly like to express my
gratitude to everyone who played a vital role. I would express my appreciation for the support, direction,
and supervision towards the officials from 10 Minute School, to my faculties and my friends.

First of all, I would like to thank Dr S. M. Ikhtiar Alam, Professor, Institute of Business Administration,
Jahangirnagar University, to whom I am deeply indebted to for his useful guidance on preparing this report.
I would also like to express my gratitude towards Dr. Mohammad Baktiar Rana, Associate Professor,
Institute of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University for all his support during the preparation of
this paper.

I would like to thank my organizational supervisor of this program, Mr Ayman Sadiq, CEO, 10 Minute
School for his massive help and guidance throughout the attachment period.

Finally, I would also like to show my gratitude to all the team members of 10 Minute School, especially
the hardworking individuals from the Tech and Digital Marketing teams.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. XI

Chapter 1: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1

1.1 Origin of the Study ............................................................................................................1

1.2 Background .......................................................................................................................1

1.3 Objective of the Report ......................................................................................................2

1.4 Scope ................................................................................................................................2

1.5 Limitations of the study .....................................................................................................2

1.6 Research Methodology ......................................................................................................3

Chapter 2: Literature Review.......................................................................................................4

Chapter 3: 10 Minute School .......................................................................................................5

3.1 Background .......................................................................................................................5

3.2 Value Proposition ..............................................................................................................6

3.3 Products.............................................................................................................................6

3.4 Organizational Structure ....................................................................................................6

3.5 Users .................................................................................................................................7

3.6 Business Model and Financing of 10 Minute School ..........................................................7

Chapter 4: Overview of Premium Online Courses .......................................................................9

4.1 Modality ............................................................................................................................9

4.2 The Market Size .............................................................................................................. 10

4.3 Beneficiaries of the Premium Courses ............................................................................. 10

4.4 Scenario in Bangladesh ....................................................................................................... 12

Chapter 5: Perception towards Online Courses (Survey and Findings) ....................................... 13

Chapter 6: Premium Online Offerings of 10 Minute School ...................................................... 14

6.1 Projects and Modules....................................................................................................... 14

 6.2 The Payment Modality .................................................................................................... 16

Chapter 7: Competitive Overview ............................................................................................. 17

7.1 Byju’s .............................................................................................................................. 17

7.2 Coursera, Lynda, Udemy, Skillshare, etc. ........................................................................ 18

7.3 Repto ............................................................................................................................... 19

Chapter 8: Promotion and Distribution Strategies ...................................................................... 20

8.1 Digital Content Marketing Factors ................................................................................... 20

8.2 Marketing and Digital Distribution Channels ................................................................... 21

Chapter 9: SWOT Analysis ....................................................................................................... 22

Strength................................................................................................................................. 22

Weakness .............................................................................................................................. 23

Opportunity ........................................................................................................................... 24

Threat.................................................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 10: Major Challenges for 10 Minute School Premium Content ..................................... 25

10.1 Reluctance of the Users ................................................................................................. 25

10.2 Core Offering and Brand Differentiation........................................................................ 25

Chapter 11: Recommendations .................................................................................................. 26

Chapter 12: Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 27

References ................................................................................................................................ 28

Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 29

Appendix-1 ........................................................................................................................... 29

Appendix-2 ........................................................................................................................... 30
Table of Figures

Figure 1: Landing Page of 10 Minute School Website 5

Figure 2: Products of 10 Minute School 6
Figure 3: The CXO Organogram 7
Figure 4: Pricing and plan offered by Lynda.com, now LinkedIn Learning 10
Figure 5: Ilmul Haque Sajib, co-founder and COO of Sheba.xyz during the production of his Masterclass
15
Figure 6: One of the 'free to view' videos from the IELTS Training Module with British Council 16
Figure 7: Byju's landing page 17
Figure 8: Exclusively Academic Course Packages by Byju's 18
Figure 9: Skillshare follows a Subscription-Based Model 19
Figure 10: Repto's course page shows a wide variety of content coverage 19
Figure 11: SWOT Analysis of 10 Minute School 23
 Executive Summary

10 Minute School is the largest online educational platform in Bangladesh, established with an aim of
delivering quality education to millions of students throughout the country every single day. Operating with
a very small team, mostly consisting of students working as part-timers, 10 Minute School hopes to
transcend geographic and economic barrier in order to provide quality education for all.

With the mantra of ‘Never Stop Learning!’, 10 Minute School as so far created thousands of academic,
software and personal development content and made them accessible to everyone, absolutely free of cost.
The entire operational cost has been covered but sponsorships and other meaningful business to business
partnerships – relieving the economic load from the end-users. However, as companies grow and market
changes, the question of sustainability must be dealt with. With that in mind, the recent projects in 10
Minute School were to create a sustainable premium module for e-learning courses and e-training apps for
corporates alongside the existing free module. This report illustrates a study of that endeavour and illustrates
the various factors that come into play while undertaking one such project.

Furthermore, the report portrays the strategies undertaken by 10 Minute School to market and distribute the
premium content without clashing with its core offering of free education. This study will explore the
various monetization modalities deployed by 10 Minute School and how these unconventional financing
strategies are helping millions of students every day. This report will also talk about the strategies adopted
by 10 Minute School to utilize the funds in the most efficient way possible.

XI
 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Origin of the Study

Completing the internship program has been a prerequisite for acquiring a BBA degree from the Institute
of Business Administration, Jahangirnagar University. The last phase of the internship program requires
submitting a report that illustrates the learning and experiences that the individual garners in their respective
organization. I have completed my internship in the Digital Marketing team of 10 Minute School and this
report titled ‘The Problems and Prospects of Premium Online Educational Content at 10 Minute School’ is
prepared under the direct and close supervision of Dr S. M. Ikhtiar Alam, Professor of Institute of Business
Administration, Jahangirnagar University.

1.2 Background

10 Minute School ("10 Minute School - The largest online classroom of Bangladesh", 2020) has been one
of the most successful implementers of mass level online education programs in Bangladesh. Very recently,
the organization aimed to create a sustainable premium module for e-learning courses and e-training apps
for corporates alongside the existing free module. So far, the premium section had three separate
modules/projects– Masterclass, Premium IELTS Course in Partnership with British Council, and Orfy – a
premium module illustrating solutions to the exercise sections of NCTB books from classes 1-12. Apart
from that, currently, the organization has been providing an e-training solution to multinational companies
and other domestic organizations that includes providing an app with HR and Management Training
Modules created by experts from relevant fields. This e-training app is sold to these companies for a certain
subscription fee against the period of time they get to use the app. Through both the platforms, 10 Minute
School has been conducting its B2B Marketing in the industry. And Digital Marketing is one of the sole
marketing strategies that has been helping the organization to reach its target audience. Not only through
the social media platforms, but 10 Minute School has also been affiliating with organizations through
YouTube and LinkedIn as well and trying to get on top through SEO and ASO. Implementation of the
project had been especially challenging because of the contrast with the primary value offering of 10 Minute
School.

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1.3 Objective of the Report

Broad Objective

The main objective of this report is to look and have an idea at the creation and promotion of a premium
digital service.

Specific Objective

● To formulate short and long-term marketing strategies for 10 Minute School premium online
content

● To look into the inception and execution of projects involving digital products

● To understand how 10 Minute School successfully rolls out a product that requires modification
of brand identity

● Perception of people towards online premium content

1.4 Scope

This report is entirely qualitative in nature and with the help of analyzing from a management perspective,
the activities of 10 Minute School to coordinate its operations and the initiatives by the organization to
promote its content – the report was done.

The report will encompass the activities done by 10 Minute School and its partner for the execution of its
premium video section and the e-training app only. The initiatives might not reflect the required activities
for its other products or services.

1.5 Limitations of the study

While preparing the report, there were a few limitations to this study that may have affected the report.

● The confidentiality of the financial figures did not allow the complete picture of available resources
to be disclosed.
● Valuable outtakes from company meetings regarding the future strategy of products came with
confidentiality and restriction.

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 ● The timeline of the entire project exceeded the internship period, hence certain important parts
regarding the creation and the distribution of the e-training app and the premium contents could not
be covered.

1.6 Research Methodology

To make sure that the study was reliable and accurate, data was taken from both primary and secondary
sources (Arthur, 2012).

Primary Data Collection

The primary data for the preparation of this report had been collected through a survey conducted among
200 respondents who were among the age group of 18-30. Along with that, interviews with the 10 Minute
School management, observation and learnings during project execution in a coordination role and
discussion and meeting with various partners and stakeholder relevant to the project played a vital role in
the total data collection process.

Secondary Data Collection

The secondary data consisted of articles, reports etc. related to 10 Minute School and other e-learning
platforms that were published in the newspapers, online articles and company websites.

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 Chapter 2: Literature Review

Education and training have a significant role to play in people's lives. A great deal of new and essential
information emerges every minute. With the advent of the digital revolution and accessibility smartphones,
information consumption has changed drastically. Generally, an online course can be divided into five basic
components as such: the audience, module structure, page design, content engagement and functionality
(Spector & Ren, 2015).

Basically, the users of the content are the audience. Each e-learning module should have a specific pool of
audience to cater to. For 10 Minute School, the users are the students, individuals, corporate professionals
and organizations. For each of the target group, the module has to be very well structured. This is equivalent
to the core syllabus of the course; a proper course module is essential for the e-learning platform to deliver
its value proposition (van Dijk, 2020). The electronic equivalent of classroom ambience, page design has
an impact on the likability of the audience for the platform. Because e-learning is a self-study medium,
interacting with the learner becomes more important than most types of training forums. Engagement refers
to the audiences’ interaction with the content. Engaging exercises are crucial for e-Learning modules to
grow and thrive. The functionality of the module refers to the propensity of the module to deliver and
actualize its value proposition (Woolf, 2019). Oftentimes there are beautifully designed e-learning
platforms that in practice fail to deliver its core offerings. Founded in 2015, 10 Minute School is now the
largest online educational platform in Bangladesh that offers free education to all. Keeping its core offering
aside, to ensure sustainability and scalability, 10 Minute School is in action with its premium courses and
modules with a view to providing individuals with top-class contents regarding software skills, personal
development and many more (Bruner & Olson, 2013).

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 Chapter 3: 10 Minute School

10 Minute School ("10 Minute School - The largest online classroom of Bangladesh", 2020) is the largest
online educational platform of Bangladesh that teaches academic subjects, software and employability skills
to over 350,000 students every day for free on its website (www.10minuteschool.com) and its page
(https://www.facebook.com/10minuteschool/). It has 17,000+ video tutorials, 50,000 quizzes, 1000 live
classes and 1,000 SmartBooks which have so far taught 20,00,000 students all across Bangladesh for free.
The platform teaches academics, software and employability skills and aims to equip students, including
school dropouts, with essential employability skills to thrive not only in the job market but in life. It aims
to diminish all barriers to quality technical, vocational and tertiary education for everyone and equip
learners with relevant skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

Figure 1: Landing Page of 10 Minute School Website

3.1 Background

10 Minute School was founded in 2015 by Ayman Sadiq, a business student firm Institute of Business
Administration, University of Dhaka. The organization was primarily run by volunteers and the founder’s
personal funds until Robi Axiata Limited partnered with 10 Minute School through its CSR fund. The tri-
party agreement among 10 Minute School, ROBI and the ICT division of Bangladesh Govt. took place in
January 2017. The organization has been growing ever since.

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Along with its website, 10 Minute School uploads its videos on its YouTube channel with the same name.
The platform released its official app in 2019 and is currently promoting that as the primary access module.
Apart from educational ones, non-curricular videos are uploaded via Skill Development and Professional
courses headers.

3.2 Value Proposition

The value proposition of 10 Minute School is free to access to quality education for all. Banking on the
digital media, 10 Minute School aims to transcend economic and geographic barriers and reach the last
mile.

3.3 Products

The primary products of 10 Minute School are, Tutorial and Explanatory Videos, SmartBooks, Quizzes,
Live Classes, Blog and E-training app for corporate organizations.

Figure 2: Products of 10 Minute School

3.4 Organizational Structure

Being a startup, 10 Minute School operated its initial days in an almost flat hierarchy. However, as the
number of projects grew substantially, it became more and more challenging to stick to a flat structure.
Currently, a wide managerial hierarchy suits 10 Minute School best since the experts have to be in
managerial roles of a number of projects altogether. There are currently 150 employees working for the
team in the different departments as shown below.

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 Figure 3: The CXO Organogram

3.5 Users

The primary consumer base of 10 Minute School is students from the school, college and universities. The
biggest chunk of the active user base is from classes 8-12 for the academic products. However, the main
consumers of the non-academic (skill development) products are University Students and fresh graduates.
Along with that, with the very recent project of the e-training app, the corporate organizations are the newest

addition to the consumer base.

A significant number of parents and even teachers use 10 Minute School as a study aid to their children or
students.

3.6 Business Model and Financing of 10 Minute School

10 Minute School didn't charge its end-users until 2018. 10 Minute School was dependent on the following
models to fund its operations:

a) Sponsorship and Grants:

10 Minute School’s operations have been financed by Robi Axiata Limited since 2016. I addition to that,
the ICT Ministry of Bangladesh has granted the organization an office space in Software Technology Park,
Karwan Bazar. Other than that there had been quite a few small and medium sponsorships/grants form
different entities financing 10 Minute School for its social cause.

b) Olympiads and Events:

10 Minute School co-organizes different Olympiads and education-based events with the help of its online
platform, along with partners. This included a Finance Olympiad organized with IDLC and a BCS
Olympiad organized with Robi Axiata Limited.

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 c) E-Training Portals and Apps:
Over the years, 10 Minute School has developed e-school, a training module for organizations to facilitate
internal training for employees. Currently, Unilever, British American Tobacco, IDLC, IPDC and a few
other organizations have subscribed to using that module and a number of other corporate organizations are
very much interested to pursue this e-training app for their employees.

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 Chapter 4: Overview of Premium Online Courses

Premium online courses have been out there for a while. Earlier, only Khan Academy provided these
courses but later, notable platforms are offering premium services globally that include Udemy, Coursera,
edX, Udacity, Lynda, to name a few. Although running perfectly in the other countries, however, the
premium or paid online educational model is still yet to be implemented properly in Bangladesh. 10 Minute
School is yet to introduce its premium portion to the public, with a core education service for all. But since
late 2018, the project has been operational.

4.1 Modality

The content production and presentation module are chiefly the same as the free counterparts. The key
differences are in –

1. Depth of content coverage

2. Additional study aids and materials
3. Payment modality

The payment system of the premium platforms differs widely when the modality and payment channels are
considered. But on a broader view, the platforms can be chiefly categorized by –

a) Monthly/Yearly Subscription:
A monthly or yearly subscription allows the users to all-inclusive access to the content. The users are free
to use as much material from the site as they want. Example: Skillshare, Lynda.com, etc.

b) Pay per Go/Pay per Content:

Here the users are expected to pay on a per content or per course basis. Udemy is a prominent example of
this module

c) The ‘Freemium’ Model:

Some services allow courses for free, but additional materials and certification require payment. Coursera
allows for one such mode.

The following figure shows an example of a subscription-based plan.

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 Figure 4: Pricing and plan offered by Lynda.com, now LinkedIn Learning

4.2 The Market Size

According to research by, Global Industry Analysts, a Market research firm, it was projected that ‘e-
learning’ will reach USD 107 Billion in 2015, and the numbers came true. Currently, Research and
Markets forecasts show the revenue to triple from 2015 – which indicates the e-learning market will reach
USD 325 Billion by 2025 globally. The global online education market is forecasted to grow to USD 325
billion by the year 2025 (Research and Markets) from USD 107 Billion in 2015 (Forbes).

4.3 Beneficiaries of the Premium Courses

There is a wide range of beneficiaries for premium online courses. In the context of the local market, the
key ones are:

Individual Learners:
Students who opt for self-learning or want to go for personal development and software courses are very
important as a market. Since most of the current premium online courses are non-academic in nature, at
least in the local context, students are a comparatively small group of beneficiaries. However, the situation

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will change with the shift in consumer buying power and the readiness of digital payment services (Van
Deursen & Van Dijk, 2014).

Corporates Professionals:

Individual working professionals have the demand for online courses and the spending capacity of to
subscribe to the services. Since most of the courses are directly related to skills related to professional
expertise, this makes them the biggest target market.

Teams and Businesses:

On the more b2b side, of things, often businesses and teams subscribe to the services. Companies like Robi
Axiata Limited, British American Tobacco Bangladesh offers subscriptions to Lynda.com for their
employees. This helps companies save on training and development costs. Now that 10 Minute School has
been providing the human resources training module, these organizations are getting more interested in
getting a more customized app that would have all the training modules needed for their employees.

Freelancers:
Similar to the corporate professionals’ freelancers benefit largely from the premium courses as the
competitive market. From an informal survey, it was noted that around a quarter of the freelancers in the
Graphic Designing Community of Bangladesh subscribe to, or are willing to subscribe to premium courses.

Educational Institutes:
Educational institutes like colleges and universities themselves potential beneficiaries. There are 142
private and public universities in Bangladesh (as of March 2020 data), Some of the basic courses can be
shifted to the digital module. In 2018, 10 Minute School had a series of meetings with UGC (University
Grant Commission) to develop paid digital courses, however, the plan had to be postponed due to
unavailability of resources at that time. Nevertheless, globally universities have been known to be key
beneficiaries of online courses, with businesses having specialized packages and modules for each
university.

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4.4 Scenario in Bangladesh
While a significant number of e-learning platforms have developed over the years, the premium side of e-
learning platforms is yet to make the cut. There are existing ones (discussed later in the Competition
Overview section of this report), however, none have yet made a significant mark in terms of the customer
base. Certain platforms, including 10 Minute School itself, have made specialized premium modules for
individual clients (Unilever Bangladesh, in case of 10 Minute School), but that is an entirely different
modality altogether.

The key reasons for the underdeveloped market in Bangladesh are, very limited access to digital payment
options, poor ICT infrastructure, high primary cost for infrastructural development and very high equipment
cost, consumer mindset where digital products are viewed as free of cost, copyright laws failing to protect
the unauthorized distribution of digital content and low differentiation between the perceived value of free
and premium options.

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 Chapter 5: Perception towards Online Courses (Survey and Findings)

With a view to having a more comprehensive idea about the perception of Bangladeshi people towards free
and premium online courses, I conducted a survey among 200 Bangladeshi people within the age group of
18-30, that generated the following results. To be mentioned, the respondents were mostly College and
University going students who are basically the target group of 10 Minute School. The survey questionnaire
and the results have been attached in the appendix section of this report.

After analyzing the survey, the few insights that I got to understand are that people in Bangladesh are
somewhat interested in online education but most of them are reluctant to go for the premium ones. While
the language isn’t a factor for 43% of the users, 46% prefers English as the language used in the module.
Surprisingly, almost half of the respondents weren't interested to pay more than 1000 BDT for a module
that shows how much they rely on and know about the premium courses. As of the question when asked
about why they would go for an online course, 86% of the respondents said that they do it for learning
purpose and it’s alright if they are not being provided with a certificate. Lastly, while 96% of the
respondents think of business is good, surprisingly when they were asked if education business is bad, 40%
of them said, yes it is.

Summing up the survey results, it is very much evident that, though online education is already very
welcomed in Bangladesh, the users are yet to be entirely accustomed to the premium educational contents
considering the various economic, technological and infrastructural constraints. But with the digitization of
education, we can be very much optimistic about people pursuing education even if it costs a bit.

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 Chapter 6: Premium Online Offerings of 10 Minute School

The core offering of 10 Minute School had always been free education for all. Till 2018, the organization
had only offered free courses and modules to its consumers. The only existing active premium modules
were prepared for Unilever Bangladesh, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, IDLC, IPDC and a few
other organizations in forms of the e-training app. But, to the end consumers, the only free courses have
been offered.

6.1 Projects and Modules

The premium contents of 10 Minute School are divided into to segments as follows:

1. B2B
a. E-training App
b. E-learning App
c. Consultancy (Yet to be launched)
2. B2C
a. Paid Books
b. Paid Contents (Premium)
c. Online Coaching (Yet to be launched)

6.1.1 E-training App

The main ideas of an e-training app are to train and facilitate the employees in an organization about various
human resources courses, corporate etiquettes and other necessary training modules. Now, till date, these
training used to be facilitated only offline and had to take place in a recurring manner. But, 10 Minute
School found out that, these courses can be produced online and incorporated in an app so that companies
need not undertake the hassle of recurring training sessions which can be taken once. From that idea, 10
Minute School started pitching to the top corporates of the country and the companies too grabbed the
opportunity for this will at the same time reduce a great training cost for the companies. The value
differentiation of the e-training app from 10 Minute School’s free courses lies in its certified instructor pool
of the respective genre which is the module’s key unique selling proposition. The instructors' credentials
and credibility, combined with the attractiveness of an online course that is organized and sometimes
exclusive, sell the program to customers. It requires a highly polished look and feels of the text, carefully
checked for the materials and props used in instruction, and visual aids such as animation, etc. Most courses

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do not have a hard and fast requirement to watch/enroll–that is, anyone with a clear understanding of the
subject can enter any course and avail it.

6.1.2 E-learning App

The e-learning app follows nearly the same module as the e-training ap. This app focuses on courses made
by Professors and Lecturers who make contents for Universities and University authorities pursue these
courses for their students. The production quality of the courses exceeds the premium ones. This includes
a very polished look and feel of the content, carefully sought out the materials and props used in teaching,
and visual aids like animation and so forth. Each course contains 12-20 videos, each 8-12 minutes long.
Most courses don’t have a hard and fast prerequisite to watch/enroll – meaning anyone with a basic
understanding of the topic can join any course and avail its value.

6.1.3 Paid Books

10 Minute School has launched over 10 books over the past few years written by 10 Minute School’s very
own pool of writers. Notable among those are, Communication Hacks, Ghore Boshe Spoken English,
Student Hacks, Mobile Photography and these books have become the bestseller books as well.

6.1.4 Masterclass

The idea behind Masterclass was to create courses by instructors who have had garnered a significant
reputation in their respective fields – almost to be regarded as celebrities in their niche. For instance, the
plan includes a class on leadership by Shehzad Munim (first local Managing Director of BATB), on writing
by Anisul Hoque (a renowned writer), on Business Strategy by Reaz Uddin Al-Mamoon (Managing
Director, Epyllion Group), and so forth.

Figure 5: Ilmul Haque Sajib, co-founder and COO of Sheba.xyz during the production of his Masterclass

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It is to be noted that the ‘Masterclass’ terminology is a working title for the internal team, and upon
launching the module might follow a different branding identity.

The idea behind the module was inspired by the USA based online education platform with the same name,
MasterClass.com – which produces online courses with ‘renowned personalities in their respective fields’.
Like its contemporary, the 10 Minute School masterclass is also planned out with the same offering in mind,
with the key differentiation of the module being developed in the local context.

6.1.4 Premium IELTS Course with British Council

Another premium segment was set to be launched in January 2019-this one with a partnership with British
Council Bangladesh. The British Council provides one of the most standard IELTS training kits out there,
and a proposal to build a digital version of it has been finalized. The project was locked up between 10
Minute School, British Council and Robi Axiata Limited with a trilateral collaboration.

Figure 6: One of the 'free to view' videos from the IELTS Training Module with British Council

6.2 The Payment Modality

The modality of the premium-module-pricing and payment will differ from one another. The Masterclass
and IELTS would have a fee per lesson, while Orfy will have an annual/monthly subscription-based
program due to its recurring user base. Potential options include mobile financial services such as bKash or
Rocket, card-based digital payments, or use of the payment service offered by Robi Axiata Limited (10
Minute School title sponsor) via recharge (where the sum does not cross the bars set out in government
policy). Alternatively, for Orfy, the subscription can be made available via offline payment in distribution
centres where partner Lecture Publication items are available.

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 Chapter 7: Competitive Overview

The concept of online education might be very new in Bangladesh and 10 Minute School can take the credit
for the free and all-inclusive online academic solution in the country but, on a broader perspective and
globally, 10 Minute School has a big range of competitors. This can be in case of both offline entities like
coaching centres and local and global online platforms like Shikkhok.com or Onnorokom Pathshala and
KhanAcademy. However, when focused down to the premium content or paid modules, the list narrows
down considerably. As of 2020, there are still very few prominent competitors with paid modules on the
local market–on the contrary to the growing number of free e-learning platforms available (Cousin, 2015).
The sections below address some of the top competitors of 10 Minute School's premium segment.

7.1 Byju’s

'Byju's–The learning app' is a Bangalore-based startup, listed in 2019 as the most valued EdTech business,
valued at USD 5.4 billion. The company specializes in grade 3-12 courses, with a user base of 30 million –
2.2 million of which have subscribed to the paid module.

Figure 7: Byju's landing page

Byju's operates on a freemium basis, with 15-day trial duration. Individual modules can also be used for
training courses. Despite being known as the local EdTech app in India, the courses are almost entirely in
English. Local education is the principal selling point. The business aims to grow aggressively
internationally into English speaking countries in 2020. Because the content of the Indian and Bangladesh
national curriculum coincides in several cases, Byju's aims at Bangladesh as one of the next potential

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markets. In such a scenario, Byju's will be the biggest competition of 10 Minute School–both for paid and
free content.

Figure 8: Exclusively Academic Course Packages by Byju's

The proposed 10 Minute School premium model would cover mainly soft skills, business tactics,
technological skills, etc. over solely academic skills, as done in Byju's. Byju's primary subject at the moment
is Mathematics and Science.

7.2 Coursera, Lynda, Udemy, Skillshare, etc.

A large number of local and multinational companies in Bangladesh (e.g., Robi Axiata Limited, British
American Tobacco Bangladesh) give their employees a premium subscription to Lynda, as stated earlier.
Unlike Byju's, however, most of these sites do not cover the content from a strictly academic perspective.

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Subscription to these platforms almost always includes an international credit card or a similar payment
channel–which for the average customer in Bangladesh is a very big barrier.

Figure 9: Skillshare follows a Subscription-Based Model

7.3 Repto

Repto–Education Center, is a Bangladeshi e-learning site, originating from the word Repertoire. As of 2019,
it is perhaps the most popular local premium platform–through numbers barely talk wonders on a global
scale. A unique aspect about the platform is that everyone can upload a course–provided they maintain
certain standard bars. With reduced support from the internal marketing team, this crowdfunded modality
helps Repto grow its content library rapidly. Like 10 Minute School, skill development course is the primary
premium offering. The language and a large chunk of the two platforms' target audience overlap which
makes Repto currently the biggest competitor to 10 Minute School premium content section.

Figure 10: Repto's course page shows a wide variety of content coverage

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 Chapter 8: Promotion and Distribution Strategies

More often than not the right promotion and distribution strategy provides greater ROI than the creation of
the content itself. 10 Minute School has, since its inception, put great emphasis on promoting its goods and
developing specific distribution channels. The company's growth across Facebook and YouTube to over
4.6 million combined users has been almost exclusively organic-something that takes great pride in.
Particularly at times when digital networks were pushing for paid reach over organic channels, the team
constantly worked to find innovative ways of delivering content into the community groups they had
developed over the years (Youth & Misbah, 2020).

8.1 Digital Content Marketing Factors

Objective parameters are necessary which help any content gain traction on digital media. Some of the most
important are discussed below:

Platform Specific Algorithm:

This relates to the technological backend specifications by which each of the digital channels (Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube, etc.) prioritize content and move the news feed to the users. The aspects here include
maintaining correct titles and keyword tags, ensuring proper upload time, editing the image/video to the
platform's desired aspect ratio, setting up proper search engine descriptions-to name a few. For each of the
three channels (Facebook, YouTube and Instagram), 10 Minute School generated SOPs to ensure that the
key content of the related promotional materials meets its maximum reach.
Initial Engagement and Promotion Shelf Life:
Most channels take into account initial engagement in the web for any service in the digital space. Higher
interaction helps the site recognize the piece of content as 'true' and results in the news media being
eventually given greater importance. Social media posts about new jobs, promotions or life events, for
example, are often shown in the news feed due to the posts garnering immediate congratulatory comments.
This helps funnel the contents higher up in the feed of the users and exponentially increases the overall
reach.
Recurring Users:
Digital content is automatically pushed to users who communicate with it frequently. For digital channels,
therefore, regularity is extremely necessary. To get users to respond to the content, 10 Minute School

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generated community groups on Facebook where relevant content is shared on a regular basis with a call
to action indicating engagement. Furthermore, members of the community are encouraged to promote more
participation in the group through reward programs. This led to Facebook recognizing community members
as daily 10-minute school interactor, and organically moving forward content to feed.

8.2 Marketing and Digital Distribution Channels

Even though almost all of the contents in 10 Minute School are posted in their app and website, it has
distribution channels set up in these digital platforms:

a) Facebook:
Facebook is the primary source for distributing content to the students of 10 Minute Class. The group also
conducts regular academic classes through LIVE on Facebook. The official Facebook page with nearly a
million followers (1,171,340 likes) acts as its main medium of dissemination and is also a direct
communication forum between the instructors and students. It also uses Facebook to maintain an online
student network across 6 of our groups. One such group is the 10 Minute School LIVE group, which is
Bangladesh's largest educational group with 1,341,734 active participants.

b) YouTube:
All of the video tutorials are uploaded and stored on YouTube as well. 10 Minute School has around 4,000
videos on its main YouTube Channel (10 Minute School) with 982K subscribers interacting with its content
daily. It also has several other YouTube channels catering to students of all ages and academic stages, the
second largest of which is the 10 Minute School LIVE channel with 656,053 subscribers.

c) LinkedIn:
10 Minute School uses LinkedIn to share the content on Professional Courses, Business Communication
and Skills Development with practitioners in all job areas and, of course, those who will benefit from it.
This has been a main marketing tool for the premium courses.

d) Instagram:
10 Minute School manages its Instagram as an additional platform for content distribution. It also uses this
platform to share the activities of the team with its students to build a personal connection to all the learners.

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 Chapter 9: SWOT Analysis

Strength

Existing User Base and Distribution Channel:

 With a reach of over 5 million a very composed and huge distribution channel, new products like
premium courses and e-training apps rolled out by 10 Minute School get a strong boost and
exposure among the users (Weekend et al., 2020).

App-Maker:

 10 Minute School unlike most other local e-portals, 10 Minute School has an app that allows
users to access content without being dependent on supporting platforms ("Robi-10 Minute
School app launched", 2020).
 Apart from that, 10 Minute School is the only Edtech company that makes e-training apps for the
corporate organization which is a great strength.

Strong Partnerships:

 Simultaneous multilateral partnerships with the Government and other business entities allow 10
Minute School to leverage production resources and distribution/marketing channels.

Largest Market Share:

 10 Minute School currently holds the largest market share in the Bangladeshi e-learning market.
This makes partnership and promotion opportunities with the organization lucrative.

Segmented Sponsorships:

 10 Minute School has different types of segments; they are videos, blogs, quizzes, and
smartbooks. If any company wants to sponsor them, 10 MS get paid for that also.

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Weakness

Heavy Reliance on Part-Timers:

 10 Minute School is heavily reliant on part-timers and students as their workforce which create
irregularity in work hours, and often deprioritizing tasks. As the external stakeholders in the
premium modules are working professionals, they expect to work with other full-time working
professionals.
 Furthermore, as a big chunk of the team is students in their last years in university or elsewhere,
they have started shifting priorities. The next line of management is also left in uncertainty.

Heavy Dependency on External Fund:

 Clear and understandable, sponsors and investors will think of the interest associated with the
fund options. Without a sustainable revenue earning source, investors will be discouraged to
invest and put them into confusion.
 Heavy reliance on the partners for the outcomes of the fund will result in a restriction of decision
making.

Figure 11: SWOT Analysis of 10 Minute School

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Opportunity

Potential Funding Sources:

By the recent acknowledgement of 10 Minute School as Ayman Sadiq himself in the international arena, it
has now been possible for 10 Minute School to receive international funding from the angel investors from
the world. Along with that, the organization itself managed to grab a number of international awards that
will help to get potential funding from international platforms.

Strong Government Patronage:

Since the ICT ministry has taken an initiative to tie up with 10 Minute School, it is possible for them to
have them listed as a trusted partner of the govt. project. This will add to the scope of 10 Minute School as
an educationalist in Bangladesh. As of writing this report, 10 Minute School has been providing all sort of
production and shotting facilities to the Government to run academic classes on the television during the
time of Corona outbreak in Bangladesh.

Threat

Increasing Competition:

 10 Minute School has inspired many other e-learning sites on YouTube and online educational
networks.
 This growing rivalry around gives 10 Minute School a tough time in this market to get their game
up.

Cyber Security:

 As the company grows, and the value of the digital resources increase, 10 Minute School is faced
with more and more cyber-attacks.

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 Chapter 10: Major Challenges for 10 Minute School Premium Content

Being in the market for over a number of years, 10 Minute School has faced a lot of operational challenges
in terms of content making, production and distribution. This section discusses the current and potential
challenges in the development of a premium module.

10.1 Reluctance of the Users

From the survey conducted, it is found that the local market is not very inhibitory for a digital product that
needs to be paid for. The key reasons for Bangladesh's underdeveloped EdTech industry are the shortage
of digital payment choices, or limited access, user mentality, lenient copyright laws that leave the software
unregulated and, ultimately, the poor distinction between free and paid alternatives. On the better side, the
market is slowly starting to grow and with the advent of digital services in all spheres of life, people are
growing more and more comfortable paying for digital products – and e-learning content is no different
("Dhaka Tribune | Latest news update from 10 Minute School in Bangladesh, World", 2020).

10.2 Core Offering and Brand Differentiation

The Masterclass has been sold to a new range of target audiences–business professionals. Much of the
subjects discussed in Masterclass were often assured that they still had a free version, with the Masterclass
focus being on the professor. This, therefore, helped to put the premium edition as an 'add-on' for the next
step, with free access to the standard product.

In the case of the IELTS content, it was marketed as a digital variant of the existing British Council offline
module, which the users had to already pay for. The price was set well below the offline module to make
the product look attractive. And, given that the extra user in the digital space will not cause any
improvement in company expenses, the possible rise in sales and access to new consumers that would have
been geographically unavailable, the British Council is helping to subsidize future cannibalization.

Finally, the Premium Exercise Playlist, being a strictly academic one, was explicitly opposed to the core
offering of free education. The separate brand Orfy was therefore established and no association with the
10 Minute School was promoted.

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 Chapter 11: Recommendations

With its core offering of providing free education to all, rolling out and initiating the first few premium
courses has been nothing short of a learning experience and a challenge for 10 Minute School. For future
such releases, courses and modules, recommendations might be:

● Focusing more on reaching out to the new audience. The current chunk of users of 10 Minute
School isn’t the primary target market for paid courses.
● Having proper market research to get an idea of how much money people in Bangladesh are
actually willing to pay.
● Make contents in English as well or incorporate subtitles, so that these modules can be applicable
for global users as well.
● Increasing the number of full-time employees.
● Increasing offline marketing efforts alongside the online ones.
● Looking for more B2B marketing opportunities and partnerships.

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 Chapter 12: Conclusion

10 Minute School has emerged as a start-up and has paced up the game in e-business like no other and in
just a few years, it has come a long way. The premium section of 10 Minute School is a right step in that
direction. It is still surprising how a bunch of University going students have made it this far and sustained
without charging the users a penny. But, an organization needs to sustain and thus, scalability is a necessity.
Like 10 Minute School, no business is without obstacles and shortage of resources. Start-ups sustain when
they are fueled by other experienced people around who share their ideas with the young talents around. 10
Minute School has made it possible to emerge as a start-up and sustain in the economy of Bangladesh using
the given resource in the best possible way and this has encouraged thousands of others around to come up
with their ideas to get funded by investors around.

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References
10 Minute School - The largest online classroom of Bangladesh. 10minuteschool.com. (2020). Retrieved
31 March 2020, from https://10minuteschool.com/.

Arthur, J. (2012). Research methods and methodologies in education (1st ed.). Sage publications.

Cousin, G. (2015). Learning from Cyberspace. In R. Land & S. Bayne, Education in cyberspace (1st ed.,
pp. pp.117-129). RoutledgeFalmer. Retrieved 17 October 2015, from.

Dhaka Tribune | Latest news update from 10 Minute School in Bangladesh, World. Dhakatribune.com.
(2020). Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://www.dhakatribune.com/hashtag/10-minute-school.

Bruner, J., & Olson, D. (2013). Learning through experience and learning through media. Prospects, 3(1),
20-38. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02196942

Spector, J., & Ren, Y. (2015). History of educational technology. In J. Spector, The SAGE encyclopedia of
educational technology (pp. 335-344). SAGE. Retrieved 6 February 2020, from.

Van Deursen, A., & Van Dijk, J. (2014). Digital Skills (p. 129). Palgrave Macmillan.

van Dijk, J. (2020). The digital divide. Polity Press.

Weekend, S., People, S., & Karim, E. (2020). Learning in 10 Minutes. The Daily Star. Retrieved 31 March
2020, from https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/star-people/learning-10-minutes-1344346.

Woolf, B. (2019). A roadmap for education technology. Computing Community Consortium. Retrieved
from https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00588291/document

Robi-10 Minute School app launched. Robi.com.bd. (2020). Retrieved 31 March 2020, from
https://www.robi.com.bd/en/corporate/media-room/press-release/robi-10-minute-school-app-launched.

(2020). Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/learn-anywhere-anytime-

1519441.

Youth, S., & Misbah, J. (2020). Accessing quality education at your fingertips. The Daily Star. Retrieved
31 March 2020, from https://www.thedailystar.net/star-youth/news/accessing-quality-education-your-
fingertips-1696405.

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 Appendices

Appendix-1

The Survey Qustionnaire is as follows:

1. What is your preferred language for an online course?

2. What kind of online courses would you like to pursue?

3. Do you think premium online courses that provide certificates are valid?

4. How much would you pay (maximum) for an online course?

5. Would you go for an online course if you knew that it won't provide you with a certificate?

6. Why would you go for an online course?

7. Should all forms of online education be free for students?

8. ''Business is bad"-do you agree to this statement?

9. ''Education Business is bad"-do you agree to this statement?

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Appendix-2

The Survey results are as follows:

1. What is your preferred language for an online course?

Pie Chart: 1

2. What kind of online courses would you like to pursue?

Pie Chart: 2

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3. Do you think premium online courses that provide certificates are valid?

Pie Chart: 3

4. How much would you pay (maximum) for an online course?

Pie Chart: 4

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5. Would you go for an online course if you knew that it won't provide you with a certificate?

Pie Chart: 5

6. Why would you go for an online course?

Pie Chart: 6

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7. Should all forms of online education be free for students?

Pie Chart: 7

8. ''Business is bad"-do you agree to this statement?

Pie Chart: 8

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9. ''Education Business is bad"-do you agree to this statement?

Pie Chart: 9

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