He shot to fame with his alternative school in Ladakh that encourages students to learn through experience rather than textbooks, and more recently the ground-breaking Ice Stupas they developed to address water shortage and climate change in a cold desert region. An unassuming man, with a warm smile, Sonam Wangchuk has a mind full of ideas and innovations. And it was to discuss these ideas and his journey as an entrepreneur that he made his way to the city, to speak at the recently-held event by Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Chennai.
In a chat with MetroPlus , Wangchuk talks about the need for entrepreneurship, alternative learning and his steps to tackle climate change.
Tell us about your decision to involve yourself in the talks held by Entrepreneurs’ Organization.
I think entrepreneurship is a great way for young people to engage, express and challenge themselves. It’s a way for them to find a career and livelihood. At these talks, I happen to share my journey with people and I always like to meet and talk to young entrepreneurs. I also mentor entrepreneurs back in Ladakh, where we’ve been doing a lot of work.
Your thoughts on people turning to entrepreneurship.
That’s how it should be. People should work towards something they are passionate about; not what family or society wants. After all, you have to do that job for the rest of your life. When you do something that fulfils you, then that work is not tiring; it’s refreshing.
What led you to turn to entrepreneurship yourself?
When I was doing my Engineering at NIT Srinagar, I had to teach to finance my education. That experience taught me a lot; it taught me the importance of doing something fulfilling. Within a couple of months of teaching, I was able to make enough money to fund my education for the next couple of years; not just for that year. So while I started the business of teaching to make money, this realisation that I could make money any time, rid me of that hankering after money.
I figured I’d rather do something to satisfy my soul.
I am an entrepreneur of the social kind. At 19, this was a major lesson I learnt.
Tell us about your recent appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati .
Honestly, that was a difficult decision to make. I’m not normally for big publicity. But then I remembered the secret of the success of our educational campaigns in Ladakh was the people. It was when they changed their priorities from just rice, water and subsidies to larger things, that there was a big social change. If you want to change a system, you don’t change the minister, you change the people. KBC is a programme with a much larger reach; hence an effective medium for me to spread the word to a much larger audience.
While I did manage to get the word out, on the other side, I now find that people at the airport, like the security officials or the coffee person, strike up a conversation with me. It’s a sign that my message has reached them; it’s not so much about recognising me.
What is one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs in Ladakh face?
The fact that business is only seasonal. The biggest business there is tourism, but it comes to a halt in winter. However, winter can be a major attraction. Where else in the rest of the subcontinent can you get to play with snow and experience -20 degrees Celsius? I’m working on making Ladakh a winter hotspot as well. So that business will be for 12 months. It’s so doable. People look at winter as harsh and dreadful, but to me, it’s a wonderful thing. We hope to do ice-themed explorations — ice hotels, ice sports etc. Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), the new alternative university we’re setting up, will have a school of sustainable tourism to work on this.
The Ice Stupas you’d developed with the students of your alternative school SECMOL have done exceptionally well.
Well, SECMOL is about two things. One, is to give those whom the system has failed, a chance to relaunch (this is a school where percentage does not matter, but the fact that they’ve failed does). Two, it is hands-on; applied knowledge. It’s all about learning through experience. Not just science and math but about life; managing situations, accountability etc.
The Ice Stupas were started with these students and then piloted by those who passed out. It’s still run by them. In fact, now the Ice Stupas are not just in Ladakh but also Sikkim, Peru and Switzerland. The local governments of the counties in these places approached us (they’re looking at these Stupas from the point of view of tourism and climate change). We started in Peru last year.
Sonam Wangchuk and the ice stupa building team with the remains of an ice stupa. From left to right: Stanzin Norboo, Sajjad Hussain, Namgail Tashi, Sonam Wangchuk, Rizen Mingyur,Suryanarayanan Balasubramanian.
What would you say are your biggest achievements at SECMOL?
I wouldn’t say we have any great achievements; it’s a work in progress. It’s a long journey ahead. If we can do something significant towards climate change, then I’d consider it an achievement.
What will HIAL be all about?
It will have various schools looking for solutions in various sectors — climate change, income generation, sustainable tourism. It’s a whole set of generations of solution. It is a people’s university, started with the support of the people of the world. We started it when I won the Rolex Award late last year and contributed around ₹ 1 crore towards it. We then launched a crowd-funding campaign on Milaap that started last November to help set up the university. The campaign comes to a close this year end and we’re hoping to be able to reach the remainder of our target by then. In fact, we had a seventh grader in Delhi who started his own campaign to fund ours and managed to raise ₹ 1 lakh. Seventh graders doing so is a lot more meaningful than a corporate giant.
- Join the Next Learning Revolution by supporting Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh by logging on to https://milaap.org/fundraisers/hial
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