Schooled in Mumbai
Dada Narvane High School · B.Com, Gokhale College · Diploma in Computer Science.
Three decades of seeing the future — and building the school for it
First-generation entrepreneur. Educator. Social changemaker. For 35+ years, Mahesh Anant Joshi has built the schools India needed next — computers, English, IT, now drones — and used skilling as a force for jobs, dignity and empowerment.
Explore his ventures
Awards & press
- 35+Years skilling India
- 6Brands founded
- 100+Centres nationwide
MJ
35+ years building India’s skills
From commerce student to computer pioneer
A commerce graduate from the University of Mumbai, headed for Chartered Accountancy — until he saw what computers would do to work itself. He changed course, and never looked back.
Chose to teach
Offered a programmer’s job at Sun Infotech — he turned it down. Teaching was the calling.
Started Plus Point
In 1989, with his parents’ blessing and savings, he opened Plus Point — the first computer institute in Mumbai’s suburbs after Andheri.
A career timeline across 35+ years
Six chapters, one through-line: spotting the next big skill before the world catches on.
Chapter 1 · The beginning
1989
Plus Point Computer Center
Founded from his Kandivali home with his parents’ support — becoming the first businessman in his family and opening the first suburban computer institute after Andheri.
Chapter 2 · Scaling up
1990s
Plus Point Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Grew to 15 branches across Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Rajkot & Baroda with government-recognised diplomas, plus Computer Literacy Programs across 8 schools and labs for underprivileged communities.
Chapter 3 · The pivot
2003
Into spoken English
Anticipating the call-centre and service boom, he identified the English-communication gap and pivoted to make youth job-ready.
Chapter 4 · Going big
2006
Speakwell Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
Started by Mahesh in 2006, later incorporated with co-founder Aslam Moosa. Seed funding from Mumbai Angels, then investment from Gray Matters Capital (Atlanta, USA). Diversified into Speakwell Overseas, S-Tek IT, Promising Academy & NSDC programmes.
Chapter 5 · Resilience
2019–2021
Leadership in crisis
With 100+ centres shut during COVID, he pivoted to online English at ₹999, gave hundreds of paid TV interviews driving enrolments, and built a 40-member call centre — later repurposed for SAP FICO training.
Chapter 6 · What’s next
2026+
ADTA — Aerospace Drone Technology Academy
His current vision: drone pilot training, assembly, repair & maintenance, preparing India’s youth for an industry projected to create 10 lakh+ jobs by 2030.
Strengths of Mahesh Joshi
A resilient, focused leader shaped by both success and setback — calm under pressure, and strategic when it matters most.
Calm & strategic
Composed under pressure; navigates the hardest situations with clarity.
Trust-first
Integrity and long-term relationships — the foundation of every brand he’s built.
Master networker
Builds ecosystems that compound into sustainable growth.
Creates leaders
Shares knowledge and lifts everyone around him as he grows.
Why he builds — the mission & vision
One belief drives every venture: skilling is the surest path to jobs, dignity and a future-ready India.
Mission
Empower India’s youth with job-ready skills
Bridge the gap between education and industry needs — turning learning into confidence, dignity and real employment.
Vision
Build future-ready professionals
Equip India’s workforce for tomorrow’s economy through technology, communication and emerging skills like drones.
35+ years, measured in numbers
Reach that turned skilling into a movement — across learners, centres, cities and brands.
4,00,000+Learners trained
100+Training centres
15+Cities reached
6+Brands founded
College tie-ups include Gokhale, Somaiya, Thakur, KES & Shankar Narayan. Corporate training for Infosys, TCS, WNS Global, Taj Hotels and the U.S. & Singapore embassies. Active CSR partnerships with organisations such as CCD.
More than a businessman — a social changemaker
Mahesh measures success in lives changed, not just centres opened.
Champion of women & Mompreneurs
He built Speakwell’s pioneering Mompreneur concept — empowering mothers to earn, lead and build businesses of their own. His work for women’s empowerment has earned recognition and awards across India.
English as a ladder to jobs
By making spoken English accessible, he helped thousands of learners secure employment — turning a communication gap into a career, and a paycheck, for families who needed it most.
Education for the underserved
Free training for the needy and special subsidised fees for specially-abled (Divyang) learners — a lifelong commitment to making opportunity inclusive.
Civic & rural leadership
Working alongside Skill India and serving as Chairman of the Education Division (Shiv Sena), he equips people across Maharashtra with business, AI and social-media skills — fuelling grassroots and rural empowerment.
The person behind the work
Mumbai-made, family-rooted
Born in Kandivali, Mumbai on 28 January 1967, Mahesh is a proud son of the city he still calls home. As the first businessman in his family, he started his first venture with his parents’ blessing and savings — an origin that shaped a lifelong belief in family, roots and giving back.
Three decades on, the same values guide him: stay grounded, keep learning, and lift others as you rise.
- Born 28 January 1967
- Kandivali, Mumbai
- First-generation entrepreneur
“I have never believed education ends with a certificate. It begins there. My life’s work has been to put a skill, and with it a sense of dignity, into the hands of as many young Indians as I possibly can.”
Every venture I have built started with the same question — what will India’s youth need next, before they know they need it? Computers. English. SAP. Study-abroad. And now, the skies, with drones. The technology changes; the mission never does.
If there is one thing I want people to remember, it is this: a business does not run on its own — it must be driven, every single day, with intent, integrity and heart. That is how you skill a nation.
Mahesh Joshi
Mahesh Anant Joshi · Founder & Mentor
Questions people ask about Mahesh Joshi
Mahesh Anant Joshi lives and works in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, where he has built his ventures over the past three decades.
He holds a B.Com from the University of Mumbai (Gokhale College, Borivali) and a Diploma in Computer Science from the Maharashtra State Technical Board, and trained at ICM — Institute of Computer Management.
He believes in collective success over individual achievement, building trust-based long-term relationships, and that “no business runs on its own — it must be driven with intent and effort.”
Want to learn from, hire from, or build with Mahesh?