In Conversation with Rashmi Gowda

“Failure is a great teacher. It teaches you what you are capable of, brings in confidence, teaches you who will stick with you till the end, and trusts in your capabilities”, says Rashmi Gowda, Co-Founder and CO-CEO of Scoreleap Test Prep Pvt. Ltd.

ScoreLeap is an Edtech company that provides support and guidance to students seeking to pursue higher education in universities across the globe. Its services range from counselling and expert advice throughout the application process to test preparation aid for GMAT, GRE, and SAT.

Journey of the Entrepreneur

Rashmi is an MPA Graduate from Harvard Kennedy School. Before that, she graduated from VTU with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science followed by a management program for women entrepreneurs at IIM, Bangalore.

 She began her entrepreneurial career in 2005 with an education company, C Square Learning, and then a construction company, Rashmi Infrastructure. 

“Running a construction company made me stronger as I dealt with bureaucrats, site engineers, and politicians,” she adds.

The challenges she encountered while running Rashmi Infrastructure led her to pursue a Master’s in public administration as a Mason fellow at Harvard University.

“My fulfilling experience at Harvard motivated me to help others achieve their academic goals,” she quotes.

She joined Scoreleap’s board of advisors in 2019. In a year, she was appointed as director, and in 2021 as the COO and Co-founder of ScoreLeap. At present, she is the CO-CEO of ScoreLeap.

“Making education for all a dream come true,” she elaborated while talking about the vision and goals of ScoreLeap. 

ScoreLeap assists students in applying for educational programs abroad by providing full end-to-end service. They have developed hundreds of high-quality test preparation tools. The faculty members at ScoreLeap are masters at their respective tests- exceptional guides who help students acquire knowledge, skills, and the right attitude to build the capacity with grit to excel in the tests with confidence. ScoreLeap guides the students through the application process, particularly on test preparation.

In addition to this plethora of treasured guidance, the team plays a supporting role in scholarship and visa application processes, too.

“We have over 550 interactive videos on the web app and mobile app platforms. We also provide live class sessions and one-on-one sessions to cater to different learning styles,” she says.

Her professional experience covers a wide array of industries spanning education to development. In the last 14 years, she has learned a lot about adaptation, strategic thinking, and communication, which have given her the tools to navigate highly complex and challenging paths.

A Passionate Entrepreneur

Gowda wanted to rule out the challenges such as lack of proper guidance, support, or financial means that many potential students have to overcome in order to pursue higher education. Hence, she decided to apply her leadership skills across politics and multilateral organizations to help students fulfil their academic aspirations. She brings rich experience in Strategy, Fund Raising, Business Operations & Product Management through her role as a CO-CEO.

“Nothing gives me more pleasure and a sense of purpose than seeing or knowing that we helped someone accomplish something that they perceived as out of reach,” she expresses with elation.

Her advice to students about following their passion and reflecting it in their resumes, as participation in extracurricular activities aids in getting admissions to good colleges abroad.

“Our team members have successfully helped students secure admissions to over 100 universities worldwide, including Stanford, Harvard, INSEAD, and other IVY League schools across the globe,” she adds proudly. 

ScoreLeap has helped students obtain five million dollars in scholarships and successfully trained 8600 students to achieve target scores on various tests.

Message to Womepreneurs

“Just do not give up, even when things become difficult,” she adds.

Gowda feels that the entrepreneurialworld is a challenging, and at times unforgiving place. A support system makes a significant difference in handling the issues.

“I am very fortunate to have a very supportive partner in business and life,” she adds.

 Another valuable lesson in optimizing results and achieving the mission is to have a well-functioning team with an open communication line.

“I found active listening to be a great skill in understanding, pinpointing, and harnessing the team’s strengths. I can communicate and convey my vision for the company through listening,” she adds.

“Entrepreneurs need to learn every day,” she says.

To stay connected with changes in technology, she reads news, articles, and podcasts and listens to industry experts. She feels that spending more time online to learn about the latest innovative developments is a great way to keep up with the global tech revolution.

Rashmi, the Mentor

Rashmi is an active member of STEP, where she speaks on entrepreneurship and provides experience-related mentorship to other aspiring women Entrepreneurs.

“I want to create space for new ideas and believe that the likelihood of a more enriched outcome, product, and results in overall would be greater when you are in the presence of diversity, both in perspective and experience,” she says.

She feels that STEP is doing an amazing job in supporting women entrepreneurs by bringing in expertise from mentors from varied fields and admires the quality and passion instilled in the entrepreneurs.

“They cater to people from tier 2 and tier 3 cities which makes their work very supportive and intuitive ” Gowda expressed while appreciating STEP and the team for their efforts. She, herself, finds it a very joyful and fulfilling experience to guide the entrepreneurs, or when they achieve success.

Future Plans

Scoreleap is planning to launch a marketplace where students can connect to mentors who are either pursuing a course in that particular college or have graduated from there, set up a schedule with them, and have mentoring sessions.

Since many of their mentors are alumni of Scoreleap, it helps create a secure and well-connected network of passionate educators.

Rashmi, The Person

Rashmi is an avid reader and yoga practitioner. She loves to enjoy and capture the sunset through her camera. Her love for the T.V. show F.R.I.E.N.D.S stands unmatched. She likes having the local cuisine during her travels. To celebrate her successes, she takes off for a meditative retreat.