akshay.
Akshay Muralidharan · Co-founder & CEO, The School of Future

A degree is no longer the goal. Capability is.

I'm building a school in Kochi to find and train the next 10,000 builders from Bharat: the people who will start the companies and lead the teams of India's next decade.

Previously CEO, Eduport · MBA, National University of Singapore · Bosch, IBM, Neuron Mobility

SIN 1.35°N 103.82°E COK 9.93°N · BLR 12.97°N
Portrait of Akshay Muralidharan
Akshay Muralidharan · Kochi & Bengaluru
Engineering seats in Kerala3,000 → 60,000+

1990s to 2026. The scarcity that made the degree valuable is gone.

What families pay vs. get₹15L → ₹15k

Typical cost of the degree, against a typical starting salary per month.

Graduates rated unemployable80%

And 97% can't write competent code. The degree is not the skill.

Figures as cited in my essays below.

Building

What gets my days
Co-founder & CEO · Since Jan 2025

The School of Future

Building the talent that builds Bharat's businesses. No attendance rules, no exams. The curriculum is real project work with founders and operators, and the only thing we grade is what you ship.

  • Tom M JosephCo-founder, Executive Chairman
  • Coomar Prantik BaruaCo-founder, COO
Curated, not crowdedPractitioner mentorsProof of work
theschooloffuture.com ↗
Launching next academic year

UG in Leadership & Entrepreneurship

The same model, taken to 18-year-olds: curated practitioners, small cohorts, selective intake.

Before SOF · CEO, Eduport
200 → 800 people

I led Eduport through its steepest growth and owned the full P&L. I learned what it takes to scale an education company without losing the student in the spreadsheet.

Before SOF

Twelve years of practice for this one
  1. 2013 – 2016 · Chennai, Kochi, Madurai, Delhi
    600

    Dhakshina

    Co-founder & Director

    Started as students with a mission. Grew into 600 volunteers across four cities, running on commercial thinking for social good. My first lesson in building something people choose to join.

  2. 2014 · Chennai
    120

    Enactus SRM

    President

    Led a 120-member team to build a sustainable business model for families below the poverty line. It won Best Agricultural Project at the national championship, awarded by Mahindra & Mahindra.

  3. 2016 – 2018 · Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Delhi
    $1M

    iLearn IAS

    Strategic Alliances & Growth

    Pitched partners, built the B2B channel and helped an education start-up reach its USD 1 million revenue goal in 17 months. That's where I learned to sell education.

  4. 2018 – 2020 · Chennai
    ₹20L

    Dissolved OxygenPlus

    Co-founder & COO

    Set up a manufacturing unit from scratch. Top 5 agritech start-ups in the Government of India's incubator programme, a ₹20 lakh grant for best-performing team, and NABARD's Best Agritech Start-up award.

  5. 2021 · Singapore
    NUS

    MBA, Bosch & IBM

    MBA · Strategy · Sustainability

    An MBA at the National University of Singapore. At Bosch ASEAN I shaped go-to-market for an AIoT product for sustainable shrimp farming. At IBM I led an APAC sustainability programme.

  6. 2022 – 2023 · Singapore
    APAC

    Neuron Mobility

    Management Consultant

    Ran OKR, KPI, budget and year-end planning for a fast-scaling mobility company. I saw how a disciplined operating rhythm lets a young company move fast without breaking.

  7. 2023 – 2025 · India
    200 → 800

    Eduport

    Chief Executive Officer

    Grew the team fourfold and owned the full P&L. I came home and proved that an Indian education company can scale fast and still be judged by its outcomes.

  8. 2025 → · Kochi & Bengaluru
    SOF

    The School of Future

    Co-founder & CEO

    The mission from Dhakshina, the grit from two start-ups, the global standard from Singapore and the scale from Eduport. Every chapter led here.

Inside SOF

Knowledge Park, Kochi
The SOF cohort and team together outside the Kochi campus, dressed in traditional Kerala kasavu
The SOF cohort, in kasavu
SOF students and team at an SOF Insider session
SOF Insider
A student in the SOF library
SOF Library
Render of the SOF learning space with study booths, a long work table and a library wall
The new campus (render)
Jacob Joy, founder of Jakobi Chocolatier, speaking at SOF
Jacob Joy · Jakobi Chocolatier
Ayan Biswas, founder CEO of Akili Impact, leading a mentor session
Ayan Biswas · Akili Impact
A mentor working through a laptop with students
Build sessions

In the room

Taking SOF to the people who build Kerala
Akshay and a colleague presenting the SOF prospectus to a business leader in his office
Sharing the SOF prospectus
Akshay speaking at the podium at the SOF inauguration
Inauguration
Akshay receiving a book from a guest at SOF
Guests on campus
Akshay and a colleague presenting the SOF prospectus to a guest
Building partnerships
The Chief Minister's visit to the SOF campus
CM at SOF

Writing

On Medium
All essays on Medium ↗

What I believe

The short version
Measure output, not input.
Attendance and hours studied tell you nothing. Problems solved and value created tell you everything.
Bet on the good generalist.
The next decade needs people who execute, think clearly and work well with others, more than narrow specialists.
Small towns produce serious builders.
Give people real access and responsibility early, and teams grow from hundreds to thousands. I've watched it happen.

Now

Updated Sep 2026
Shipping

Getting the undergraduate program ready for its first intake, while running SOF's current cohort.

Listening

Sitting with Kerala families who are deciding what their kids should study next, and what it will cost them.

Posting

Building in public on Instagram and LinkedIn: what's broken in education and what we're doing about it.

Story

Chennai → Singapore → Kochi & Bengaluru

I did a B.Tech at SRM that I barely remember the branch of. What stayed with me was outside the classroom: leading Enactus, co-founding Dhakshina, and meeting my wife.

After that I sold education at a start-up, built an agritech company from zero, did an MBA at NUS and worked across Singapore with Bosch, IBM and Neuron Mobility. Then I came home to lead Eduport from 200 to 800 people.

Every chapter taught me the same thing: capability is built by doing. So now I split my weeks between Kochi and Bengaluru, building the school I wish I'd had.

  1. 2013 – 2016 · Chennai

    The builder years

    SRM, Enactus, Dhakshina. The degree was a wash. The people weren't.

  2. 2016 – 2020 · Across India

    Learning to sell, then to found

    Growth at iLearn IAS, then co-founding Dissolved OxygenPlus.

  3. 2021 – 2023 · Singapore

    The global classroom

    NUS MBA, then Bosch, IBM and Neuron Mobility.

  4. 2023 – 2025 · India

    Scale

    CEO of Eduport, growing the team from 200 to 800.

  5. 2025 · Kochi

    The School of Future

    Launched at Knowledge Park with Tom and Coomar.

  6. 2026 →

    Undergraduate program

    Next: the first UG cohort in Leadership & Entrepreneurship.

Say hello.

Parents weighing a degree, builders who want to teach, or anyone who thinks we've got it wrong: write to me.

LinkedInakshay-muralidharan ↗
Instagram@akshay_sof_official ↗
Medium@akshay-muralidharan ↗