Saurabh N. Saklani is a co-founder and director of Delhi-based Inme Learning Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2009), a company focused on providing adventure-based experiential learning programmes to children in classes IV-XI. Inme’s experiential leadership and life skills development programmes are conducted in owned/leased outdoor campuses sited in Uroli, Tons, and Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), Coorg (Karnataka), and Yercaud (Tamil Nadu).

Newspeg. Inme celebrated its fourth anniversary (an annual event observed after completion of each summer season) in July 2012. During the past four years, over 5,000 students of top-ranked private schools (in addition to another 10,000 students in summer open programmes) including The Doon School, Dehradun; Inventure Academy, Bangalore; NSS Hillsprings International, Mumbai; The International School Bangalore (TISB); Sanskriti School, Pallikoodam, Kerala; Bangalore International School; Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar; The Lawrence School, Sanawar; Assam Valley School, Tezpur; and Vasant Valley School, Delhi, among others have enroled in its 5-10 day life skills development outdoor programmes, conducted by behaviourial science practitioners and qualified outdoor experts of Uttarakhand’s reputed Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.

Direct talk. “Our Whole School Leadership (WSL) life skills curriculum approaches the entire school ecosystem by first understanding the needs of students, teachers, and school leaders including owners. The programme is unique inasmuch as its components include teacher empowerment and student leadership workshops, culminating in a recommendation report for school leaders providing them expert inputs on their school environment and needs,” says Saklani, an alumnus of Knox College, USA and INSEAD, France with a specialisation in organisation behaviour, who together with three co-founders — Tarun Chandna, Gaurav Saklani and Satindra Sen, all alumni of XLRI, Jamshedpur — staked their entire savings to promote Inme Learning in 2009. Prior to starting the Inme programme, Tarun and Gaurav co-founded iDiscoveri in 1996 where they created and managed the Youreka summer programmes until 2006.

History. A former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who studied and worked in the US and France for a decade before setting up base in the national capital, Saklani has also authored What Teens Need But Can’t Quite Say (Rupa, 2005) and written a number of comment columns on enhancing personal effectiveness at work.

“Inme’s curriculum was inspired by our own beyond-the-classroom learning experiences as students. Those experiences powerfully complemented our academic development by helping us build real life skills which have helped us professionally. We believe adventure-based challenges provide opportunities to engage and learn by doing. We also believe that the great outdoors instill a sense of awe, which opens young minds to introspection and hands-on education,” says Saklani.

Fees. Rs.10,000 + travel (per student) for a four nights five day programme.

Future plans. Inme’s target is to sign up 100 “forward thinking, ambitious schools” across India to inculcate valuable life skills and a culture of self-discipline and leadership in students. “We are constantly building our school relationships and are well on track to attaining this ambitious objective,” says Saklani.

Wind in your sails!

Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore)