Today, I hopped into the car of Sri Gowri Shankar Rao, CEO Bank of India, Kenya along with Prof Raghu of IIT Madras, from the Data Science AI Retreat that we all were part of, for an hour to attend and address the IITMZ interactions with parents and children, at Hindu Council, Nairobi. It was an amazing experience. Let me share a quick story…

On Feb 12, 2024, I was on a Air India flight to Delhi from Nairobi. After I occupied my window side seat, there came a couple, in their 50s, and I wished to the gentleman while they settled in their seats. Later I had some interaction with him and got to know him to be Mr Raju, and they were heading to Hyderabad via Delhi. All the while, the lady was silent. After landing in Delhi, we alighted the flight, and started taking the long walk to the immigration, towards the fag end of the walk, the lady revealed to me that she is the Chairperson of the Hindu Council in Nairobi and is involved in education endeavours too apart from other things. I realized that she is a very silent listener and a person of action.

On Feb 19th, I got a pamphlet forwarded by Ms Sujata Kotamraju, on WhatsApp about the IIT Madras Zanzibar interaction with parents at Hindu Council, asking me whether I will be in town.

Of course, I am going to be in Nairobi, because we are doing the Data Science A I Retreat, at Nairobi, partnering IIT Madras Zanzibar and Zindi, and that is the reason the director of IIT Madras Zanzibar, Prof Preeti Aghalayam, and Prof Raghunathan Rengaswamy are going to be in Nairobi. And since they are in Nairobi, IIT Madras Zanzibar, being a prestigious initiative by India, is being promoted, and facilitated by the Indian High Commission in Nairobi, headed by very dynamic high commissioner, HE Ms Namgya Khampa in various fora.

As I was not sure, whether I will be able to wriggle myself out from the DSAIRe, I told her, it is difficult to promise and I shall try to find a way.

And it was just by coincidence, that Mr Gowri Shankar Rao, Chief Executive of Band of India, Kenya, and also chair of Indo-Kenya business council, who was attending the DSAIRe, rose to exit the retreat room to take Prof Raghu, the chief facilitator of the DSAIRe for a quick visit to the IIT Madras Zanzibar session at the Hindu Council hall.

I missed a big meeting last evening, organized by the IHC, Nairobi in Serena hotel because of the DSAIRe, and I got to know this morning, that it was a fantastic meeting with all the eminent people of Kenya had congregated and I felt bad, that I missed it.

As Gowri ji and Prof Raghu were heading out, I request them to wait for a couple of minutes, to ascertain with my fellow facilitator at DSAIRe, whether my stepping out for an hour to the IIT Madras Zanzibar session to meet parents and students is fine. Dr Sathish assured me that he will take care. I quickly went to Hindu Council along with Gowri ji and Prof Raghu.

As I was not expected to be there, I chose to sit at the back of the halluu. Somehow Ms Sujata Kotamraju noticed my sitting there, and she came all the way to meet me, and introduced me to the National General Secretary of Hindu Council of Kenya, Mr Surendra Bhatia ji. It was very humbling!

All the while interaction was going on between Prof Preeti Aghalayam, and the parents and students. While listening to the concerns of parents and students, that were being addressed by Prof Preeti and Prof Raghu, I felt like I was in a time warp, as all those concerns were what I heard from parents in Dubai in 2001, a good 23 years ago.

Soon, Sujata ji insisted that I must address, and the MC invited me to, as I could relate to the challenges of families and children, a similar situation that I found myself in the UAE in 2001, when I sowed the seeds of CL Educate in MENA.

I had gone to the GULF countries with a suitcase, to understand the concerns of school leaders, parents and children, after we found that the majority of the users of our website, compassbox.com were from the Gulf and Central Asia. And I ended up living there for 5 years to transform the outlook of education leaders and families, about education and career spaces, in UAE, to infuse confidence among the children of Gulf that they are as good as anyone from the subcontinent and they can crack any entrance exam the world has to offer. The principals of reputes schools did not believe in their children’s capabilities to crack tough exams like IITJEE, NLS, or CAT.

There was a principal of the largest school in gulf, Indian High Dubai, after giving an appointment to meet, for morning 10am, did not even meet me till 6pm, but I never gave up, and sat outside his office, on the sofa, till he found me and called me in. And I gave him my piece of mind about how a leader of institution that grooms young minds need to be.

The principals who did not even bother to meet me in the first instance, came around, to invite me to their schools, after the very first year, when their school children, who attended test-prep classes at Career Launcher centre in Khaleed Bin Al Waleed Street, Dubai could crack all these entrances in the very first year. Eight students from various schools made it to Various IITs and NITs.

In fact, when XLRI Jamshedpur stepped into Dubai, and they created the first batch of 30 Exec MBA students, 26 of the 30 who got selected were Career Launcher students whom I had taught for a month, in a crash program, to crack the XLRI entrance exam.

It has been 24 years since, many of our then students, both IIT and CAT conquerors are now CXOs in the Gulf and in many countries. Parents of that time are still in touch… Today a couple of 1000s walk into our classrooms every day in UAE and Gulf, to realize their dreams.

This afternoon was a deja vu!

I did address parents, students and eminent people in the audience, for a quick 5 minutes, just to share that story of Dubai, and tell them they are no less than any children with dreams in their eyes. I really felt good and happy, that I am starting one more journey, on one more continent, that we and also the parents of East Africa will look back to cherish, that CL Educate has indeed made some difference.

As our core purpose says, “Enable every child, every individual realize his / her potential to make their career dreams come true.”

We hope to impact the children, youth, families and education communities, as much as any other nationalities as Indian… in Africa, starting with East Africa.

Thanks to Ms Namgya ji, the High Commissioner of India to Kenya, and to Ms Sujata ji, the chairperson of the Hindu Council of Kenya, for being great catalysts and supporters, in initiating this transformational journey for IIT Madras Zanzibar and CL Educate and also to the children and families of Nairobi and East Africa!

Soon, we will certainly start facilitating children in Kenya, Tanzania, East Africa, other African countries, to gain confidence and conquer themselves to not just appear for any entrance examination, including that of IIT Madras Zanzibar, the way we do in Indian subcontinent and in middle-east, and also to conquer the world!

if anyone is keen to connect with me for any kind of facilitation and interaction for anything related to education, career and life of children or even grown ups, kindly feel free to connect with me.

R. Sreenivasan (call me Sreeni)
Co-Founder, CL Educate Ltd,
India whatsapp number – +91 9958539995
Kenya (incoming when in Kenya) – +254 796 826 158

Thanks,

God bless!