Switching careers in one’s late 30s is often to do with survival or about reaching a dead end in the workplace or just seeking a break from boredom and burnout. For Atul Temurnikar , it was all about believing he had what it takes to tap a market opportunity. His career change saw him venturing into the education space after a 14-year stint in information technology (IT) firms HCL Technologies Ltd and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM). 

By 2001, Temurnikar, in six years with IBM, had become its country manager for retail in Singapore. His professional and social life involved a lot of interaction with Indian expats and most of them complained about the difficulties in getting their children to adapt to the school system in the city-state. 

“Almost nine of the 10 kids who came to Singapore from India were studying at a lower class here due to the difference in the education systems,” he recalled in an interview. “The academic year was also different between both countries. This created psychological problems for some kids, and parents also found it difficult to downgrade their children to a lower class.” 

“The curriculum was different—Singapore has a Cambridge derivative and India has its CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education)—but for language and mathematics, there was a lot of disconnect, and a real need in Singapore for an international Indian school,” he said. 

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