Tennis legend Andre Agassi has an advice for young Indian entrepreneurs: Address societal challenges with private-sector solutions that can be scalable with meaningful investments.“If you find a real, expensive, daunting societal issue and you can provide a private-sector solution, that’s an opportunity with scalability and sustainability. That’s it, we’re already on floor one,” he said on the sidelines of an event organised here on Wednesday by non-profit TiE, a network of entrepreneurs.

The player, who has won eight Grand Slam titles, also emphasised that leveraging technology in education can fill a huge vacuum of personalised learning that every child deserves, especially in underprivileged communities.

Agassi has backed Square Panda, an edtech company using technology to enhance literacy and language learning for children. The firm is providing early education in India by leveraging multisensory learning tools.

“Technology plays an essential role, not just in scalability but also in personalisation, and has the potential to address gaps in traditional education systems,” he said, adding that private investments can drive change.

The American, who has completed a Career Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slams, said by relying on a philanthropic fund of $200 million raised over a decade, he could only build one school. However, with an infrastructure real estate fund, the model proved to be more sustainable. “With that money, I built one school. But now doing it the way I’m doing it, I’ve deployed about $1.3 billion, built 130 schools, and that $1.3 billion looks a lot more like $1.8 billion in returns.”

According to the athlete-turned-businessman, this model allows investors to fund school infrastructure, while operators pay it back through tax bond refinancing. The system reduces costs for operators and enables scalability, creating a win-win for all stakeholders.Agassi, who struggled academically and dropped out of school in the 8th grade to pursue tennis, is keen on bringing change through educational initiatives.

Beyond education, the tennis player has ventured into India’s sports ecosystem with Duper, a pickleball rating company, and plans to expand the sport in the country. “Pickleball has the potential to bring communities together and complements tennis rather than competing with it,” Agassi said. He is set to launch a pickleball league in India on December 13 in Mumbai.

Tennis legend Andre Agassi has an advice for young Indian entrepreneurs: Address societal challenges with private-sector solutions that can be scalable with meaningful investments.“If you find a real, expensive, daunting societal issue and you can provide a private-sector solution, that’s an opportunity with scalability and sustainability. That’s it, we’re already on floor one,” he said on the sidelines of an event organised here on Wednesday by non-profit TiE, a network of entrepreneurs.

The player, who has won eight Grand Slam titles, also emphasised that leveraging technology in education can fill a huge vacuum of personalised learning that every child deserves, especially in underprivileged communities.

Agassi has backed Square Panda, an edtech company using technology to enhance literacy and language learning for children. The firm is providing early education in India by leveraging multisensory learning tools.

“Technology plays an essential role, not just in scalability but also in personalisation, and has the potential to address gaps in traditional education systems,” he said, adding that private investments can drive change.

The American, who has completed a Career Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slams, said by relying on a philanthropic fund of $200 million raised over a decade, he could only build one school. However, with an infrastructure real estate fund, the model proved to be more sustainable. “With that money, I built one school. But now doing it the way I’m doing it, I’ve deployed about $1.3 billion, built 130 schools, and that $1.3 billion looks a lot more like $1.8 billion in returns.”

According to the athlete-turned-businessman, this model allows investors to fund school infrastructure, while operators pay it back through tax bond refinancing. The system reduces costs for operators and enables scalability, creating a win-win for all stakeholders.Agassi, who struggled academically and dropped out of school in the 8th grade to pursue tennis, is keen on bringing change through educational initiatives.

Beyond education, the tennis player has ventured into India’s sports ecosystem with Duper, a pickleball rating company, and plans to expand the sport in the country. “Pickleball has the potential to bring communities together and complements tennis rather than competing with it,” Agassi said. He is set to launch a pickleball league in India on December 13 in Mumbai.