About Us
Real-world training for students with real drive.
We train final-year students in the skills employers actually hire for. We see them into a real career, and stay involved long after.
Our story
Why we exist
Every year, capable graduates leave Tier-2 and Tier-3 colleges across India with a degree and no clear route into a real career. The Quest Center exists to close that gap.
It started with a conviction its founder had earned the hard way: that financial independence is what gives a young person the freedom to decide their own path. Sonal Maheshwari spent over two decades in engineering leadership in Silicon Valley, and knew first-hand that earning her own living was what made every hard choice afterwards possible, and that for most young people in India, the path simply isn't there. She began with young women, then opened the programme to any young person facing the same gap.
What made it work was the partnership at the centre. Sonal's years of hiring and running engineering teams told her what employers need from junior talent. Nidhi Verma brought over a decade in teacher education and curriculum design, and the know-how to build training that first-generation learners could complete and use.
Since we started in May 2023, one decision has shaped everything: meet students where they already are. We don't run our own centres. We deliver our programmes inside partner colleges and nonprofits, in the language students are comfortable in, around the degrees they're already studying for. And we measure ourselves on who got placed into a real job, not who finished a course.
Today we work across four states, training final-year students for the roles employers are hiring for right now.
TEDx Talk
In her own words
The Quest Center grew out of Sonal’s own experience of what financial independence makes possible. She tells that story here.
Our Team
The people behind the work
The people behind the training, the placements, and the students we support.
Nidhi Verma
Co-Founder & Chief of Operations
MSc (Mathematics); M.Ed; PGDGC; M.Phil; PhD, Education (SPPU); MA (Psychology); PGDGC; ICSSR Fellow
Over a decade in teacher education and curriculum design. She builds the training itself, designed so first-generation learners can complete it and put it to work.
The Student Journey
The Dandelion
A dandelion set inside a Q. Its life cycle runs the same shape as a student's path with us.
Governance
Registered, certified, accountable
The Quest Center operates under ASTS Foundation, registered as a Section 8 company in India since September 2023.
80G certified
Donations are eligible for tax deduction under Section 80G.
CSR-eligible
STS Foundation holds a CSR eligibility certificate and can receive corporate CSR funding.
Outcome-based reporting
We track and report placement outcomes cohort by cohort, the same measure we hold ourselves to internally.
Join the Quest
The next move is yours!
Hire from TQC
Meet job-ready talent for the roles you fill often.
Bring TQC to your institution
Run our program on your campus, at no cost to you.
Funding Partner
Back a measured, placement-focused program with real reporting.
Volunteer with us
Teach, mentor, or lend a professional skill.
Volunteer with us
Teach, mentor, or lend a professional skill.
Apply to a Quest
Final-year student? Find your track and apply to our free training.
