The world pauses to admire the contributions of visionaries shaping sustainable and thriving societies. To understand a nation’s growth, exploring innovations in technology and their connection to education is a great starting point. Today, Business Outreach Magazine connects with its diverse readership to explore the phenomenal success story of Rajath Navas, whose expertise in bridging the vast realms of technology and education continues to inspire awe.
Rajath Navas founded Pace Lab with the goal to bridge the gap between education and the industry. Rajath has been profoundly receptive to the intertwining of technology with education and how it can help students, professionals, researchers or industry enthusiasts to develop skills and grow in their careers.
There is so much to explore, harnessing the limitlessness of technology and education. And with Pace Lab, Rajath aims to focus on the urgency of experiential learning, where industry and academics go hand-in-hand. Rajath believes in addressing a curriculum that offers students with the proficiency to perform jobs, as per current market needs. He understood that students, especially from the tech and engineering sectors are proactive in exploring pathways to advance their skills. Rajath Navas noticed a significant gap in skill development for students in technology who are pursuing jobs. Determined to make a change, he recognized the urgency of bridging this gap. He also saw that students lacked exciting experiences and quality learning facilities, which hindered their growth.
Upon completing his Bachelor’s in Technology, Rajath Navas moved to Kochi to launch a skill development business. He visited engineering colleges across Kerala to convince faculty and department heads to let him run training programs. Although this step was filled with many rejections, Rajath did secure his first breakthrough at Mar Athanasius College’s Electrical Department.
Rajath Navas came to know that faculties had a high demand for experimental kits — but existing ones were bulky, costly, and prone to damage. So Rajath provided the solution where he formed a team to design cost-effective experimental cards that made training more efficient and accessible. This innovation sparked the interest of College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET), where Rajath and his team sold products to the Power Electronics Research Lab (PERL) — one of the most advanced power electronics labs in India. Under Rajath’s innovative prowess, experimental kits were used in laboratories at engineering colleges for practical learning. Furthermore, they trained CET’s faculty and M.Tech students on how to use these cards, paving the way for expansion into many more engineering colleges across the state.
Rajath Navas reflects on his journey of scaling Pace Lab. During the early days, he took on every role in the company — from sales, marketing, and operations to product development, ideation and finance. With time, the Pace Lab team grew to about 45 members and he has never been prouder of how far they have come. Rajath Navas has appreciated knowledge throughout his life. He has a Bachelor’s in Technology in Electronics and Communication and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), majoring in marketing and strategy. Working with the marketing department for his company, he realized the need to learn digital marketing, which he studied and applied to establish a strong marketing structure. He also got certified in product management, which helped shape their product development strategy.
Alongside the implementation of a Learning Management System (LMS), Pace Lab is integrating advanced learning methods—including metaverse technology, AI-powered learning tools, gamified structures, experiential learning, networking programs, and makerspaces—to enhance student engagement and skill development. Being the Chief Executive Officer at Pace Lab, Rajath Navas aims to expand globally and extend monumental impact of experiential learning to more students. Along with Learning Management System (LMS), Pace Lab are integrating advanced learning methods such as metaverse technology, gamified structures, networking programs, makerspaces, and AI-powered learning tools to enhance student engagement and skill development.
Rajath is bullish on PaceLab’s mission to accelerate the process of learning and growth. Through the PaceLab Internship Program they have trained and certified over 10,000 students. Pace Lab delivers institutional training, workshops, industrial visits, and certification programs in collaboration with top universities like IIT Bombay and IIT Hyderabad. Pace Lab also provides blockchain-powered NFT certifications that are globally recognized, tamper-proof, and highly secure. On the product side, Pace Lab develops hardware solutions in power electronics and electric drives. For training, they cover cutting-edge domains such as artificial intelligence, data science, cloud computing, blockchain, cybersecurity, web and app development, and structural design. A pretty broad bandwidth of services!
Pace Lab’s students secured placements in top tech companies such as Accenture, TCS, Deloitte, Infosys, Capgemini, Amazon, Flipkart, DRDO, ISRO, Schneider Electric, Tata Motors, Tata Elxsi, UST Global, Nest, and more. In 2020, during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many businesses were forced to shut down, Rajath and his team at PaceLab launched an online platform that allowed thousands of students to gain technical skills through an automated certification and training system. When we asked Rajath Navas on his views on growth, he said, ”Hard work gets you by; Passion with hard work turns you to greatness.”
