Lakhs of aspirants appear for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations every year but only a chosen few make the cut. Did you ever stop and wonder what awaits those who never make it? Where do they land up? Do they appear for the public service examinations in their respective states? In Coimbatore, 25-year-old Vaishnavi Rajalakshmi Sampath wondered all these and so, she launched CosmicOne in 2019 to train civil service and government job aspirants, and also upskill those who don't clear the exams, so that they are ready for other jobs. CosmicOne is currently being incubated at Coimbatore-based AIC Raise.
Speaking about the origin of her start-up journey, Vaishnavi, who is a UPSC aspirant herself, says, "When I began training for the UPSC exams, I realised that the syllabus of that and other government exams overlapped to a great extent. For example, there are only minor differences between the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) and the UPSC. Most students are unaware of this fact and they spend extra to attend coaching for TNPSC as well, in case they fail to clear the UPSC exams. There is no need for that."
At CosmicOne, Vaishnavi says, students are provided with holistic training for all kinds of government exams. "This includes even banking exams," she avers. CosmicOne conducts classes by clubbing the syllabus of the different government-level exams together, she explains, "We make small changes in the syllabus wherever necessary. The core idea is that a student should be able to crack all the exams after the coaching. The course duration is, therefore, longer than other centres."
The start-up has partnered with employment officers, civil servants and government officials to train and mentor its 100+ students. But that's not all. They are also upskilling government school students to bring them on par with their contemporaries. "They lack certain aspects, like speaking in English, and fall behind due to that. We want them to compete with other students at the same level. We also teach them things beyond their textbooks like photography and graphic design," adds Vaishnavi, who dropped out of law school to work as a social entrepreneur.
Speaking about upskilling students, Vaishnavi says, "We want everyone attending CosmicOne to be job-ready. We train them in the fields of event management, data analytics and so on. If an aspirant is unable to clear the exams within three attempts, then we ensure that they are employed elsewhere." Vaishnavi has been training students since 2018 as a freelancer. "The students I've trained cracked the TNPSC Group IV and NDA exams," says the Visual Communication graduate from Rathinam College of Arts and Sciences in Coimbatore. Speaking about her future plans, Vaishnavi says, "We are looking forward to partnering with NGOs and CSR initiatives to upskill underprivileged students. We are also in the research and development phase of adapting the latest technology in online education."
