The Lexicon Group: Creating Sustainable Education Ecosystem

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In India, the education market is expected to reach US$ 4 billion by 2025. Indian education is changing with large private individuals contributing to improve education in the country. The Educational institutions focus more in enhancing creativity of student and progressive education.

There are several educational institutions under the brand name Lexicon. The Lexicon group of institutes provides visionary and progressive education to children. Read to know the success story of The Lexicon Group, its founders, the startup story, marketing, acquisitions, and more.

Lexicon Group - Company Highlights

The Lexicon Group - About
The Lexicon Group - Industry
The Lexicon Group - Founders and Team
The Lexicon Group - Startup Story
The Lexicon Group - Name, Tagline, and Logo
The Lexicon Group - Getting Students after The Launch
The Lexicon Group - Challenges Faced
The Lexicon Group - Marketing
The Lexicon Group - Acquisitions
The Lexicon Group - Future Plans

The Lexicon Group - About

Many individuals turn into entrepreneurs to start a new venture but when they started their transition from the business of publishing into making their vision of creating a school that provides accessible quality education, they were clear that they wanted to make a difference and that is how The Lexicon Schools were conceptualised.
Their endeavors are:

• Developing a mindset of ‘Believe In Yourself’
• Focus on Value Education
• Recognise each student is ‘unique’ and hence the approach
• Evolving Pedagogies
• Develop a thought process on how you can add back to your family, your community, your country, and humanhood at large.

They want to set up schools, where they would help children learn how to exhibit qualities and emotions of love and respect and learn important lessons in honesty, punctuality, respecting time, and most importantly loving oneself… being an ambassador of positivity.

The students should be known for more things than just being professionals or academicians’- this is the thought with which they started establishing the schools. One thing led to the other, and they decided to branch out into graduate and post-graduate education too. They wanted the learning philosophy to flow into their lives, leading them to hit the ground running when the time comes. As they have grown various companies touch every part of their lives from when they are babies to the education they undertake or prepare for competitive exams or when they are on the rocking chair reading the Pune Mirror lazily on a Sunday.

The Lexicon Group - Industry

They believe in the philosophy to compete with yourself only. Competition is not about sizes, it is not about other brands, Competition should be a benchmark that helps you become better than what you were yesterday. The best is to compete with yourself; there are dangers of feeling you are the best too soon. They never looked at market sizes. They focussed on how to overgrow and then become new in itself.

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The Lexicon Group - Founders and Team

Mr. S. D. Sharma is the Founder of The Lexicon Group.

Mr. Pankaj Sharma - President & Management Trustee, The Lexicon Group.

Mr. Neeraj Sharma - Vice Chairman, The Lexicon Group

The Lexicon Group - Startup Story

After they set up the Education Ecosystem revolving around Lexicon Kids, The Lexicon Schools, Lexicon Institute of Hotel Management, and Lexicon Management Institute of Leadership & Excellence, the remaining businesses happened because of the people around. They never ideated what to start, but when they come across people with passion and expertise they become the platform to amplify their potential. So over the last few years they focused on meeting nice human beings and creating meaningful relationships and the businesses that have grown have been a by-product of the same.

Let’s take the example of EduCrack, one of their professors was keen to create a technology ecosystem for the preparation for competitive exams. They supported his vision with the technology know how, his academic knowledge, their marketing and brand acumen and build EduCrack from the first click. Similarly for Thinker Place or any of the other companies. It revolves around the Concept of ‘P.I.P – People, Integrity, Passion; and the rest falls in place.

If the person has the zeal to do something and a plan and a dream; they are willing to gamble bucks on it. Investing in people has usually paid off well.

Their initial focus was to create a sustainable educational ecosystem to contribute to the society and country. A holistic approach towards model citizens, better community outreach and most importantly value-based individuals contributing to the greater good personally and professionally. Their diversification also has the same goal, where each of the products and services are in one way or the other contributing to the betterment of the individual or/and the society.

Lets look at CITTA – Whilst Akanksha Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of CITTA was pursuing her bachelor’s degree in apparel industry management from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles she came across various articles of ‘Baby Care giants came under huge media scrutiny a few years ago as multiple lawsuits were slapped stating companies were using asbestos-containing talc that can cause cancer..’ This got her working on CITTA (inspired by the Sanskrit word chit, which means “pure consciousness”) - a natural baby bath and skincare brand that is cruelty and toxin free.

The Lexicon Group - Name, Tagline, and Logo

The word Lexicon means a dictionary. The name comes from my philosophy of an educational institution - a school for example doesn’t necessarily only stand for academics or sports... it means and adds more. Like a dictionary has meaning for all the words, so do The Lexicon Schools provide a meaning for every student- wherein the student learns academic subjects, engages in extra-curricular activities, understands the nuances of life, starts believing in himself or herself, and lot more.

The logo is equally simple – a shield signifying an environment which is safe, secure and nurturing and each of the colors on the shield focusing on different elements of growth. So Blue stands for Learning, Red stands for Innovating, Orange for Excelling and Green for Growing… these four elements have a 360° approach and are not restricted to academics, professional or personal but more.

The moto for The Lexicon School and The Lexicon Group is mindfully chosen.. ‘Believe in Yourself’, probably the three strongest words listed together which have the potential of changing lives if you believe in them and that is what Lexicon group try to ensure. Their team across works toward instilling a mindset of believing in Yourself as you are what you are because of your beliefs. Tomorrow you will be what you will be only because of your beliefs too. Belief is probably the core of any human being and if you can believe in yourself, you are a winner. That is how the name Lexicon came about.

The President of the Lexicon Group was into selling books and the maximum he sold was the Lexicon Encyclopedia. The meaning of Lexicon always stood strongly in his mind and when he had to name the Schools, there was natural synergy to choose the name – The Lexicon Schools and registered it.

The Lexicon Group - Getting Students after The Launch

This was probably the most difficult thing to do, forget the first 100, the first student was a challenge and it took years to get the first 100 in… there was no looking back as today only in Pune Maharashtra, the Student-Parent community stands at 20000 +. After they launched the school they did multiple marketing activities which included the use of billboards, (something that was not standard practice 20 years ago) for everyone in Pune to know about it.

They got an Expat Principal who was working with Cambridge Board to lead the school. Lexicon group invested in experienced teachers with repute. The mix was perfect but unfortunately what they lacked were students. They launched the school and they had EMIs to pay, loans to be paid and salaries to be given. But they weren’t making a penny.

They admitted 19 students in the first year. After much struggle, the 19 became 40 in the next year and then the 40 became 60. The progression was slow but every year they grew… the first 5 years were very difficult personally, financially and professionally but one thing stood out… they believed in ourselves and Lexicon group was committed to win. After they got the first 100, it turned to 10,000 very quickly.

The 100 to 10,000 was all about delivering the promise. So, if you can continue delivering all that you have promised then 100 to 10,000 becomes easy. Once you pursue excellence with integrity and put people first the journey is easy. Over the years, they have ensured that everyone they associated with, they have been honest in the interaction and in the engagement. They also strongly believe that they have not only delivered their promises but have exceeded expectations across and thereby made their hard work, diligence, and commitment to deliver on the promises the catalyst to their growth.

The Lexicon Group - Challenges Faced

There were many things which didn’t work. There were very few things that worked. But overcoming each needed persistence. Eventually, things worked out. The founder and team toiled and made it successful. Things that have worked have taken my focus, energy, and persistence along with help from the right people who have ensured to see things come to their culmination and succeed.

The best part is that you don’t run an organization or your home or any enterprise, the people you associate with do that. As the Patron of the Lexicon family, my role is to look after the members in it. So, you don’t run the organization, but you look after the people and the people look after the organization. They have just built relationships with the people, they have done wonders for the organization.

The Lexicon Group - Marketing

They always believe in PR-led campaign. So, whatever they have done, they have put it into the newspaper or they have promoted it digitally. They have always used this communication strategy because they would like their stakeholders or prospective customers to know what they are doing right now. With advertisements, you are telling what you want to sell but through information and PR-driven thought process you are giving your customers and users a peek into the real you, what you are doing, what your initiatives are, what worked for you. They like to talk about what is happening now, how they are making news in the present, and what they plan to do as they grow. They are also extremely particular to be honest in their communication.

A simple example goes like this…. Years ago, The Lexicon Group got in a few scientists of the city together and they made their students meet these scientists and said since now they are all in one room where they have the top scientists and you students... can they all together and create something that this city or this country have never seen before? So that’s when their students and the scientist got together and created the cheapest computer then of the country. As an organization, they could bring about innovation and contribute.

In India, it's unfortunate that we don’t have a research bent of mind. Getting children to explore, think and innovate is something Lexicon Group want to do. They want to encourage them to develop a research bent of mind. To create a curious mindset and hence they continuously encourage at all levels, be it their pre-schools, K-12 schools or their other institutions.

Once, through an event, they instilled a spark of survival and entrepreneurship in the students of Lexicon MILE (PGDM and Global MBA Courses) and the results were unbelievable. They gave a task to the students and took away their money, gave each of them Rs. 500 and asked them go out and fend for themselves. One ground rule was set – Nothing Illegal will be done and no borrowing of money. Odd jobs were done like selling flowers, wiping cars, teaching dance to some society members and things like this. This discovery of being able to fend for themselves without prior support was a priceless reward for all together. This is one reason students of Lexicon Group of Institutes develop self-reliance and an entrepreneurial bent of mind.

The Lexicon Group - Acquisitions

Lexican group has recently acquired MultiFit. MultiFit has a Pan-India, UK and UAE presence with close to 40 gyms across. The company once a power-house lost out in the pandemic and they have taken it over giving an entry into the arena of health and fitness. Their focus is to resurrect the brand and take it to its destined success.

They also acquired Pune Mirror from Times of India. As a 180 years company, it is for the first time that they have liquidated some of their assets. They are amongst the only people who have acquired something from the TOI and this endeavor has done extremely well under them. This has also given them an entry and a foothold into the media industry. They have plans for Indian media to look different. They are focused in going into multiple cities with multiple mediums. It could be a newspaper today, could be digital, or even electronic tomorrow. So electronic media is their next bet. Their attention centered on existing brands that are ready to sell and they would be very keen to buy that. If they do not get an existing brand, they will eventually get into making one on their own.

The Lexicon Group - Future Plans

Each of the verticals of Lexicon group is exploring and aiming for growth.

• With educational institutes they want to have a pan-India footprint in the next 5 years and are looking for like-minded partners.
• At MultiFit the goal is to achieve a milestone of 200 gyms in the next 3-5 years.
• At EduCrack they are looking at 5 lakh users per month as the the online coaching platform for all the competitive examinations.
• They have a brand which is called CITTA specializing in baby products made with natural ingredients. They want to expand the brand to pan India and help all millennial parents in their parenting journey.
• They are also looking at a multi-country spread soon.
• Thinker Place is a unique company which has got huge plans of replacing books with educational toys. It is again going to be traveling across the length and breadth of the world.
• They want to create The Lexicon University in future and they are all working towards the same.

FAQs

Who is the founder of The Lexicon Group?

Mr. S. D. Sharma, Mr. Pankaj Sharma, and Mr. Neeraj Sharma are the founders of The Lexicon Group.

When was The Lexicon Group founded?

The Lexicon Group was founded in 2006.

What are the schools under The Lexicon Group of Institutes?

Some of prominent schools under The Lexicon Group are:

• The Lexicon Kids pre-schools
• The Lexicon Schools
• The Lexicon Rainbow School
• Lexicon Management Institute of Leadership and Excellence