Icon of Quality Education – Archana Merchant
Archana Merchant is the CEO and Founder of Aspire Education Academy and Mind Boosters Educational Services. She has recently won the Leader in Women’s Education Award at Impact Leadership Global Awards 2024.
Education creates the very foundations of a nation and educators hold great responsibility towards making a strong and healthy society. Dubai boasts of thousands of dedicated leaders in education who have been working day in day out to ensure quality education is strengthening the roots. One such devoted leader is Mrs Archana Merchant. She is a well-known name in the realm of education. She owns two companies in the UAE namely, Mind Boosters Educational Services and Aspire Education Academy. Meet with her in this interview to understand how she has been rising through hard work, effective growth strategy and sheer devotion in the UAE competitive education business ecosystem.
About Mrs Archana:
Mrs Archana Merchant is an entrepreneur for past eight years. She chose the field of education to play a vital role in the lives of young people who seek knowledge and are eager to build a thriving career. She is the founder and CEO of Mind Boosters Educational Services – an institution that has operated for eight years in Sharjah and has moved to Dubai since 2022. It is an institution based in Dubai specialized in conducting teacher training workshops. Her second venture, Aspire Education Academy, is a consultancy and training center associated with renowned universities from India & Europe and Awards for Training and Higher Education (ATHE) UK. Aspire Education Academy offers educational programmes for working professionals such as educators, company leaders & managers, administrative personnel, school leaders, and school employees.
Purpose and mission of Mrs. Archana’s work:
Talking about the early days of her entrepreneurial journey, Mrs Archana shared interesting facts about her business. She conferred, “Our company started as a children’s skill development center based in Sharjah in 2013 specialized in conducting abacus and phonics training programme for children. However, I always wanted to educate and empower women which motivated me to start the teacher training programme in 2017. The course, related to this objective, is known as Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education. This literally catapulted the business as the enrollments soared. Majority of the teachers appreciated the quality of our training, which further encouraged me to focus into teacher training courses such as Diploma in Education and Bachelor in Education programme”.
At present her company is known for offering high
quality development programs and even degree programs in various professional disciplines such as Bachelors of Education, Bachelor in Business Administration, MBA, PhD , Honorary Doctorate awarded to individuals for their achievements and contributions in their field, Computers, and various professional development diploma programmes.
Mrs Archana is very passionate about her business. She fosters clarity and commitment. Talking further about her goals, she shared, “My goal as a business owner is to provide working professionals in every job sector with an opportunity to enhance qualifications with their busy job schedule”. And no doubt she is committed to achieve her goals.
Major achievements of your companies:
Under Mrs Archana’s leadership, her companies have made commendable developments. She believe it was a great achievement to receive the approval for teacher training workshops at Mind Boosters Educational Services, which is initially a children’s learning center. Another achievement that makes her really proud is that her second company, Aspire Education Academy, has managed to get association with renowned universities such as European International University, Paris (EIU), Sunrise University, Chitkara University, and Awards for Training and Higher Education (ATHE) UK.
Aspire Education Academy has been successful in enrolling more than hundred students per batch for education programmes offered by partner universities. The company is quite a known name for quality training programmes and maximum number of student placements per batch.
Mrs Archana’s Views about How Technology has Revolutionized Education:
“It is a great opportunity for every student for being able to access education due to technology in today’s world regardless of their financial situation. There are online schooling and university options which are quite reasonable and convenient for many students providing them an opportunity to complete their qualification” Said Mrs Archana Merchant when we talked to her about the current technological revolution and its impact on education sector. “The integrated education approach provides an inclusive learning environment with students from every background learning together enhancing their social skills and pro-social ability with creating a sense of equality”.
She further added, “Also, it is a good learning opportunity for students with special needs as peer support can contribute to their sense of belongingness in the classroom, which will encourage improved academic performance and personal development. Individualized coaching combined with group teaching is encouraged at schools for students with academic and behavioral difficulties, which can effectively enhance their skills and well-being. Indeed, technology has played a crucial role in breaking down geographical barriers and facilitating educational opportunities for students from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Germany, and beyond. Students are connected with us for lectures, assignments and exams can be done seamlessly from any part of the world and acquire their degree”.
Mrs Archana Merchant’s View about Role of Ai in Education:
Mrs Archana believes Ai is a good tool for collecting quick information. She believes that “Teachers and Educators can allow students to check information online from articles, however they can encourage students to write the assignment in their own words after referring to journal articles, books, and online information. Teachers can discuss with students about the importance of creative work completed by own self, positively encouraging them to also complete research and assignments on their own”. She encourages educators to focus on fostering creativity and individual skill development.
Mrs Archana’s Role in helping Women Grow:
Mrs Archana has been working devotedly towards supporting women’s education. As an entrepreneur with over a decade of business in education experience, she has been able to created easy to afford high quality educational opportunities for women who have suffered due to cultural, financial limitations or family obligations and have not been able to avail higher education opportunities.
Talking about her efforts she stated, “The motive at Aspire Education Academy is to provide women with an opportunity to complete education qualifications with their busy work schedule and family responsibilities by offering flexible lecture timings conducted on zoom during the weekend, which is feasible for working women to effectively attend lectures and complete their qualification despite their busy work schedule. Also, the aim at Aspire Education Academy is to provide career support to its students and encourage women for professional career development and assist with job seeking while they are enrolled for a course with our institution”. She continues to support women and offers them ways to grow in career and aspirations.
Her message for Readers:
“I am very happy to be able to develop this education business which was challenging; Support and motivation from the society can help me succeed further. I am happy to see so many women entrepreneurs and read their success story magazines, which motivate me a lot to work with my business. I also hope to motivate more women, young entrepreneurs, men and everyone to start their own business to contribute towards building a stronger society of successful individuals. We must try our best to do something that effectively
contributes to the society and creates employment
opportunities for people for financial independence”.
“Be creative in your thinking and try thinking out of the box rather than just following what everyone else around you is doing. Also, take the first step towards what you are passionate about and work hard consistently. Don’t give up and keep going believing in yourself and you are sure to succeed”.
Connect with Mrs Archana Merchant:
You can check the company Website Aspire Education Academy and Mind Boosters Educational Services and call or message on the given number on our company website.
Aspire Education Social Media
Website: https://aspireea.com
Instagram: Aspire Education Academy
Facebook: Aspire Education Academy
Contact No: +971 50 9172839, 04 3317524
