Page 8 - Nooraine Fazal

HISTORY

milestones

ooraine Fazal was born and raised in a family that has lived in Bangalore for gener-
N ations — her mother is a former minister of the Karnataka government and father
a well-known businessman. While an undergraduate student at Bangalore’s top-ranked
Mount Carmel College, she was a students union leader, represented Karnataka state
in women’s cricket and basketball, and worked part-time/interned with several corpo-
rates.

In 1991 she proceeded to the US and was awarded a Master of science degree in busi-
ness management by Boston University. In the US Fazal began her professional career
as an intern at IBM Inc, and later worked with the Reuters Group Plc where she served
as a senior sales, marketing & business development executive posted in Dubai, Abu
Dhabi, Sydney and Hong Kong for nine years (1993-2001).

After taking a year-long break for reflection during which she learned to ski, play golf
and tennis, and explored Canada, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Argentina, Fazal experienced
the pull of an India that was at the cusp of change in the new millennium. “I wanted to
contribute to the process of helping India develop into an inclusive, developed, liberal
democracy, confident of its global standing. After my plans of establishing a B-school
in partnership with a leading US university were stymied by red tape and bureaucracy,
I started researching the possibility of promoting a new age K-12 school,” recalls Fazal.

After five months of market research, consultations with industry leaders and educa-
tionists, she teamed up with Bangalore-based real estate tycoon Irfan Razack, chairman
t e
of the NSE-listed Prestige Group, to co-promote the Inventure Academy, Bangalore.
“We resolved to build an institution that celebrates the individuality of every child,
helping her attain her life’s ambitions by applying knowledge and skills and becoming
a lifelong learner. Our objective was academic excellence through challenging students
to use their minds, and to nurture their all-round development — physical, intellectual
and ethical,” says Fazal.

The outcome of these deliberations and brainstorming is Inventure Academy, a CISCE,
Delhi and Cambridge International (UK)-affiliated K-12 school which has acquired an
enviable reputation for its unique proprietary curriculum balancing rigorous academics
with co-curricular sports, community service, and environment education. Currently,
Inventure has 1,230 children, including 564 girls, mentored by 211 teachers on its mus-
ter rolls.

90 | 21 Leaders Transforming Indian Education