Divya Gokulnath

In this Indian name, the name Gokulnath is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Divya.

Divya Gokulnath
Divya Gokulnath in 2022
Born1987 (age 36–37)
NationalityIndian
Alma materR.V. College of Engineering
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • Educator
Years active2008–present
TitleDirector and co-founder of Byju's
SpouseByju Raveendran
Children2

Divya Gokulnath (born 1987) is an Indian entrepreneur and educator who is the co-founder and director of Byju's, an educational technology company founded in 2011 in Bangalore, India.[1][2]

Early life and education

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Divya was born and raised in Bengaluru.[3] Her father worked as a nephrologist at Apollo Hospitals, while her mother was a programming executive with Doordarshan an Indian Government broadcasting company.[3][4] Divya is the only child of her parents.[5] During her childhood, Divya's father taught her science.[6]

Divya, a graduate of Frank Anthony Public School, went on to receive a Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology from RV College of Engineering.[3][7]

After her graduation in 2007, she met Byju Raveendran,[8] her instructor for GRE preparation.[3][9] Byju encouraged her to become a teacher due to her questions during breaks between the classes.[3]

Her career as a teacher began in 2008[3] at age 21.[10][7] In 2020, she told Fortune India, "It was an auditorium-style class with 100 students. They were just a couple of years younger than me so to look mature I wore a saree to the class."[3] During her teaching career, she taught mathematics, English, and logical reasoning.[3]

Career

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In 2011, Divya and her husband co-founded Byju's, an online education platform initially providing in-person education to support school learning, followed by an online app that features video lessons.[11][12][13] With her expertise, Divya has served as a teacher in some educational videos.[14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Divya took charge of user experience, content, and brand marketing to ensure uninterrupted learning for students.[3] As a result of these efforts, Byju's educational content was made available for free to students during the pandemic, leading to the addition of 13.5 million new users, bringing the total to 50 million by April 2020 and a total of 70 million students by September 2020, eventually garnering 4.5 million subscribers.[15][16][17]

According to Forbes, as of 2020, Divya, her husband Byju Raveendran and his brother Riju Raveendran, have a combined net worth of $3.05 billion.[12]

Divya also writes online, including about the future of education, parenting, and women's participation in STEM fields[18][19] and has been an advocate for mitigating the gender pay gap in India.[20] She has also spoken with Mint Startup Diaries about challenges for women entrepreneurs,[21] and co-written an opinion article with Byju Raveendran in Vogue India about educational technology in India.[22]

In March 2022, Divya Gokulnath was appointed as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry's's EdTech Taskforce Chair.[23]

In February 2024, the Karnataka High Court stopped an attempt by some Byju's shareholders to remove leadership roles from Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, and Riju Raveendran, pending further court proceedings on 13 March.[24][25]

Honours and awards

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Year Title Ref
2019 LinkedIn Top Voices: India [26]
2020 [18]
2020 Business Today Most Powerful Women in Indian Business [27]
2020 Femina Power List [19][28]
2020 Forbes Asia's Power Businesswomen [29]
2020 Fortune India Most Powerful Women [1]
2021 Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women In Business [30]
2021 Kotak Private Banking's Hurun Leading Wealthy Women List for 2021 [31][32]
2022 Fortune India 40 under 40 [33]
2022 The Indian Express' ExpressAWE [34]

Personal life

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Divya is married to Byju Raveendran.[35] As of April 2020, Divya lived with eleven other family members, including their young son[36] and then their second child was born near the beginning of 2021.[37] Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked long days at the office, but during the lockdown, began working from home.[3][36][38]

In 2021, she told The Indian Express her typical day includes "juggling son's online classes, meetings, recording video lessons and spending time with a newborn."[37]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Most Powerful Women of 2020 by Fortune India". Fortune India.
  2. ^ Chen, Benjamin; Garcia, David Cendon; Caldas, Amy Espinoza; Andrade, Beatriz; Nicholas, Kayla; Dhesi, Kiman; Costa, Luciana; Huemer, Sarah; Shekhawat, Vaidaansh (23 May 2021). Youth Economist Compilation: For the youth by the youths. Benjamin Chen. ISBN 979-8-5056-5091-2.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ghosh, Debojyoti (21 November 2020). "Byju's better half". Fortune India. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  4. ^ STP Team (12 March 2021). "Women Can Take Care And Take Charge. They Needn't Have to Choose says Divya Gokulnath". SheThePeople.TV. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. ^ STP Team (12 March 2021). "Who is Divya Gokulnath: All You Need to Know About Byju's Co-founder". SheThePeople.TV. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  6. ^ Punj, Shwweta (30 March 2021). "Start-ups must take quick decisions: Byju's co-founder Divya Gokulnath". India Today. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b Kapani, Puneet (9 March 2021). "Divya Gokulnath: Educationist,Entrepreneur". Entrepreneur.
  8. ^ Vedam, Venkatesh (24 January 2022). The Puffin Book of 100 Extraordinary Indians. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5492-361-6.
  9. ^ ET Now Digital (10 October 2020). "With a wealth of over Rs 11,300 crore, meet India's youngest billionaire". TimesNowNews. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  10. ^ DNA Web Team (7 March 2021). "International Women's Day 2021: Meet the 94-year-old whom Anand Mahindra termed 'Entrepreneur of the year'". DNA India. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  11. ^ Gilchrist, Karen (9 June 2020). "These millennials are reinventing the multibillion-dollar education industry during coronavirus". CNBC. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  12. ^ a b "India's Richest - #46 Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath & family". Forbes. 10 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Byju's cofounder Divya Gokulnath claims media reports on FY21 financials were misleading". The Economic Times. 20 September 2022.
  14. ^ Rai, Saritha (20 June 2017). "Zuckerberg or Gates? Billionaires Try Opposite Paths for Online Education in India". Bloomberg. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Free access to BYJU's learning program sees 60% increase in online traffic". cnbctv18.com. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Edtech firm Byju's plans to expand its free education programme". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 10 February 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Roshni Nadar, Divya Gokulnath, Ameera Shah and Vinati Saraf — India's most powerful businesswomen of 2020, according to Forbes". Business Insider India. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  18. ^ a b Chand, Abhigyan (17 November 2020). "LinkedIn Top Voices 2020: India". LinkedIn News. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  19. ^ a b Priya, Ratan (7 January 2021). "10 Female Leaders On LinkedIn Who Are A Must-Follow for 2021". SheThePeople.TV. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  20. ^ "'First acknowledge pay gap, then devise a long-term strategy to fix it': BYJU'S co-founder Divya Gokulnath". The Indian Express. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  21. ^ "Byju's Divya Gokulnath: Why Women Entrepreneurs are missing from India's Start-Up Story". LiveMint. 5 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  22. ^ Raveendran, Byju; Gokulnath, Divya (21 October 2020). "Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath on India's growth potential: "The power of education and technology can transform our country"". Vogue India. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  23. ^ "FICCI announces the appointment of Divya Gokulnath, Co-founder, BYJUS as Chair of the FICCI EdTech Taskforce,Mar 23, 2022". ficci.in. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  24. ^ Mathew, George (23 February 2024). "Byju's shareholders vote to oust founder Raveendran, seek board revamp; company calls EGM invalid". The Indian Express. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  25. ^ "BYJU's investors seek ouster of founders Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath". DNA India. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  26. ^ "Here is the LinkedIn Top Voices 2019 India". Business Insider.
  27. ^ "BT MPW 2020: Business Today honours 'Most Powerful Women' who lead from the front". Business Today. 4 October 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  28. ^ Kamdar, Shraddha (23 November 2020). "Femina Power List: BYJU'S Co-Founder Divya Gokulnath Is A Teacher at Heart". Femina. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  29. ^ Watson, Rana Wehbe (14 September 2020). "Asia's Power Businesswomen 2020: Highlighting 25 Outstanding Leaders In Asia Pacific". Forbes. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  30. ^ Ghosh, -Debojyoti. "Divya Gokulnath - Most Powerful Women in 2021 - Fortune India". www.fortuneindia.com. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  31. ^ Sethi, Vamanna. "Meet Divya Gokulnath, Ruchi Kalra and Neha Bansal — the richest women startup entrepreneurs in India". Business Insider. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  32. ^ Kotak Private Bank Hurun Leading Wealthy Lady 2021 (PDF). Mumbai: Kotak Private Bank. 2022. p. 18.
  33. ^ Dey, -Asmita. "Divya Gokulnath - India's Young & Brightest Entrepreneurs in 40 Under 40 2022 - Fortune India". www.fortuneindia.com. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  34. ^ "ExpressAWE 2022 Highlights: Anu Aga gets Lifetime Achievement award, Nykaa's Falguni Nayar named newsmaker of the year". Financialexpress. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  35. ^ "Byju Raveendran's wife pens emotional post on his struggles, says 'it was tough'". Hindustan Times. 28 September 2022.
  36. ^ a b Phadnis, Shilpa (13 April 2020). "How Women Executives Run Businesses From Home". Times of India.
  37. ^ a b Narayanan, Jayashree (8 March 2021). "'Take time out for yourself': Successful women entrepreneurs share mantra for work-life balance". The Indian Express. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  38. ^ Alves, Glynda (18 June 2020). "Byju's co-founder has turned her bedroom into a work studio during WFH". The Economic Times - Panache. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
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