Saumil Majmudar is the Co-founder, CEO & Managing Director of Sportz Village (www.sportzvillage.com) – which aims to get 100 million children to play through its EduSports program. Started in 2003, Sportz Village partners with schools, academies, parents, brands, CSR donors & governments; helping them integrate their goals of holistic development of children, consumer engagement and social impact into programs that help children experience the magic of play and sports.

Saumil represented EduSports on India’s leading Social Activism Platform on Television – Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate Sports episode – where EduSports was chosen as the sustainable & scalable model of getting children to play. He has also received the CII Emerging Entrepreneur Award and has been recognized as one of the “Top 50 Leaders influencing Education” by Education World. Saumil has been a core committee member of the National Sports Education Board, CII National Committee on Sports & Delhi Government’s Curriculum Reform Committee amongst others. He regularly builds the case for a more inclusive and fun-based approach to Sports at forums involving school boards, parent forums, federations, brands, ministries and regulatory bodies.

Saumil believes that the only sustainable & scalable way to build a generation of physically, socially and emotionally fit children is by integrating Sports into Education. The EduSports program has covered 1500 schools (private and government) and nearly 5 lakh children across 250 locations in India. The program was made scalable by adding 4 key components:

1. Designed for Limited Time & Space: Structured curriculum that makes the best use of limited space & time that is the norm in most contexts where children experience play. Thereby ensuring Fun for children within the constraints.
2. Teacher Training: Focus on a teaching approach that ensures all children have fun & fall in love with play within the constraints. Not on the select few who can win medals and trophies.
3. Transparency: Daily lesson plans that are age-appropriate, inclusive & fun for children with a reporting module that can be monitored by various stakeholders & therefore ensuring engagement.
4. Accountability: Fitness & Skill Assessment of each child using age-appropriate rubrics to be accountable to various stakeholders with data & analytics to take decisions on interventions and the plan ahead by all the stakeholders.

Since 2010, Sportz Village has been using the data from its assessments for the Annual Health & Fitness Survey to illustrate the state of fitness of India’s children and drive awareness around the need for structured sports programs in schools. The 11th edition (2021) is here.

Prior to starting Sportz Village in 2003, Saumil was the Founder-CEO of QSupport (one of India’s first remote tech support businesses) and worked with Wipro (Global R&D) in the International marketing team. In his student days, Saumil was selected for the Maharashtra Badminton team and represented IIT Bombay & IIM Bangalore in Football. Saumil holds a B-Tech degree & is a Distinguished Service Alumnus from IIT-Bombay, a PGDM from IIM-Bangalore, a Basic Mountaineering Degree from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (Uttarkashi) & a Black belt in Karate. He continues to follow his passion for sports & outdoors through regular karate, Himalayan treks, badminton, football & cricket.