Do you enjoy meeting, mentoring as well as learning from ambitious, creative and passionate young people?

Then this opportunity is for you!

The recruitment of our professional mentors is NOW OPEN!

The Skills for the Future Academy, in partnership with Chanakya University, is a one-week immersive and expertly facilitated learning experience for 14-15 year old students to explore the future of work and skills, learn how they map to their emergent Ikigai (their purpose in life) and start to practice key future-ready skills.

Fill in the form below to express your interest to volunteer up 3 hours of your time as a mentor.

A bit about us

IKiGAi DATA is a careers insights, education and training company.

Working with a creative and interdisciplinary team of experts and associates, we offer a graded Ikigai curriculum as well as end-to-end employability programmes for students in primary, secondary and post-secondary education. For teachers and mentors, we craft bespoke training programmes and provide advisory services on career education and Ikigai curriculum alignment.

Our research and data science team has developed an occupational model that underpins our labour market insights as well as a proprietary Ikigai mapping student-facing app.

What makes the Skills for the Future Academy different from other Summer programmes

Fronted with peers and experts, not generalists, the learning is participatory, collaborative and action-biased and the content is grounded not in generic frameworks, but the real-life world.

Unlike traditional offerings, the ethos of the Skills for the Future Academy is one firmly grounded in the belief that a greater sense of worth and purpose can build learners’ confidence and opportunities around their unique strengths and ambitions. With this, learners meaningfully connect to the real world and develop into capable contributors.

Through our three flagship experiences, Bangalore students develop greater clarity and confidence in their motivating passions, strengths and their Career North Star. Then they learn how to pitch them to potential employers.

"Discovering Me" (Who am I, what are my driving motivations and my talents?)

"Exploring Possibilities" (What's out there, what's changing, what resonates?)

"My Path Forward" (What is my Career North Star and what should I say yes to today, to make it happen?)

And now, for our dedicated mentors!

Our Mentors play a key role in the Summer Academy! On the last day we hand over the mic to our mentors to share their own Ikigai journey and take us into a day of their life at work. The young people then take part in a mentoring AND a reverse-mentoring 90 minutes session with all mentors. Sign up now to help a young person embark on a purposeful life journey and a fulfilling career - and to benefit from their wisdom too!

We are particularly excited to hear from professionals in the energy; engineering & technology; impact; healthcare sectors and the creative industries.

Fill in the form to get in touch, find out more and support local youth this Summer!

From our Founder

I founded IKiGAi DATA on the belief that pursuing fulfilment at work and managing a healthy career is everyone’s right and responsibility. But it can feel like a privilege. As a technology consultant and investor-turned-founder, I experienced quite the 21st Century, squiggly career journey myself.

It took me time to find true alignment in my work with my values, my passions and my unique strengths. This did not happen by chance. It was the result of an intentional process of looking inwards as well as outwards into what drives me, what brings me joy, my unique talents and what the world needs.

It turns out, my Ikigai is helping others find theirs! The Bangalore Skills for the Future Academy is an important milestone in our journey at IKiGAi DATA, building on earlier successes with institutions like the University of North Carolina, the London School of Economics and many schools in the UK. This is our the response to the gap that we see in what is out there for young people today: a welcoming space and a guided journey through challenges, discoveries and deeply reflective moments, to prepare authentically for the world of work, grounded in a community of high trust and connected to the real-world. With this, we believe, young people can develop into the capable contributors and inspired change-makers that we most hope for them, with every inch of our being!

Come and share, or find, your Ikigai alongside them!

From Gaia Ines Fassò, our Founder and CEO