of street vendors surveyed reported access to free, clean water at work.
WIEGO, 2026 · July 2025 survey
INDIA GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMME · 2026Mumbai, India · Radosław Botev / Fundacja Nomos
GIFT’S FLAGSHIP GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMME
INDIA FIELD PROJECT · WORLD TOILET ORGANISATION
Street food.
Sanitation.
A new way
to lead.
12 days for high-potential leadership talents.
Hong Kong · Singapore · Chennai
Create a bold, new model for India’s urban food hubs. Help scale up sanitation, hygiene, and livelihood improvement. Put your leadership skills to the test.
AN EVERYDAY ESSENTIAL.A GROUNDBREAKING OPPORTUNITY.A DIFFERENT KIND OF LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE.
Incredible street flavours.
Engineering a healthy ecosystem.
of street vendors surveyed reported access to toilets at their workplace.
WIEGO, 2026 · July 2025 surveyof sanctioned food safety officer posts were vacant across States and Union Territories.
Ministry of Health, March 20261,211 of 4,208 posts; October–December 2025 data. Officers cover the wider food sector.
Delhi: 494 food and non-food vendors across 17 markets. Access figures calculated from the 89% and 79% reporting no access. An indicative local survey, not a national estimate.
GIFT’S FLAGSHIP GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMMEFIELD PROJECT · CHENNAI, INDIA
The challenge:
adapt Singapore’s hawker-centre model for India’s urban markets.
An international cohort of high-potential leadership talents will develop a model for scalable, financially viable, well-managed food hubs.
Sanitation & hygiene
Shared infrastructure that supports safer food and healthier urban markets.
Vendors & affordability
Practical transition strategies that protect livelihoods.
Operations & partnerships
Management, digital integration and public-private collaboration.
PROJECT PARTNER
In partnership with the World Toilet Organisation.
The project draws on the World Toilet Organisation’s extensive network to connect the cohort with the people and institutions shaping India’s street-food ecosystem.
PROGRAMME STAKEHOLDERS
National Association of Street Vendors of India
NASVI
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
FSSAI · Tamil Nadu State Office
Greater Chennai Corporation
Health & Revenue Departments
National Agro Foundation
Training centre for street vendors
Clean water. Safe toilets. Handwashing. Drainage. Waste collection. Bring them together, and a food street can work better for everyone.
Health & productivity
Support safer food and reduce the disruption that preventable illness brings to work and daily life.
Livelihoods & dignity
Make reliable shared services part of a model that vendors can afford and sustain.
Culture & tourism
Protect the food traditions people love while building confidence in the places they eat.
Grounded in FSSAI’s common-facilities checklist and its Healthy and Hygienic Food Streets initiative.
WORLD TOILET ORGANISATION
A global movement.
A real-world partner.
JACK SIM · FOUNDER · “MR. TOILET”
He made toilets
impossible to ignore.
A hero of the global toilet movement, Jack Sim has used humour, persistence and unlikely partnerships to put sanitation and human dignity on the world’s agenda.
2001
Jack founded WTO and launched World Toilet Day.
WTO’s story ↗2013
The UN made World Toilet Day an official observance.
UN-Water ↗MR. TOILETThe World’s #2 Man
Watch the official trailer · Loads YouTube
RECOGNISING WTO’S GLOBAL CONTRIBUTION
“The World Toilet Organisation’s efforts have made a significant contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation for all.”
Tharman ShanmugaratnamPresident of Singapore
From his 2021 message marking WTO’s 20th anniversary, when he was Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies. Read the message ↗
SINGAPORE’S HAWKER CULTURE · UNESCO, 2020
A national treasure.
A model to reimagine.
On 16 December 2020, Singapore’s hawker culture was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
It recognises a living culture: everyday community dining, Chinese, Malay, Indian and other culinary traditions, and skills passed from experienced hawkers to the next generation.
More than a meal.
Shared dining spaces bring people of different backgrounds together and sustain a sense of belonging.
A future for the craft.
Singapore’s Hawkers’ Succession Scheme supports apprenticeships and mentorship so retiring hawkers can pass on their skills and recipes.
Learn from Singapore. Design for India. Our cohort will explore how sanitation, shared infrastructure and support for vendors can work together while respecting India’s own food traditions and livelihoods.
UNESCO inscription ↗National Heritage Board ↗Hawkers’ Succession Scheme ↗
Purpose-driven work.
Challenging assumptions.
Putting ideas to action, at scale.
THE PARTICIPANT JOURNEY
Transforming mindsets.
Cultivating effective leadership.
Classroom
Broaden exposure. Build knowledge.
Explore the forces shaping business and society. Question assumptions through rigorous discussion with peers, facilitators and expert speakers.
Field visits
Develop cross-cultural acumen.
Engage directly with community, government and business stakeholders. Connect new perspectives with lived realities and practise listening with empathy.
Business planning
Think critically. Solve problems.
Take ownership of a real project. Apply systems-thinking and conceptual thinking, work across differences and develop a practical business or policy proposal.
Final forum
Communicate for influence and impact.
Present the team’s ideas to project stakeholders. Make a clear case, respond to questions and put learning into practice in a public setting.
Photographs from previous GIFT programmes. The India GLP applies this learning journey to the hawker-centre field project.
Explore how this experience could develop your high-potential leadership talents.
More learning.
But what changes?
The test of executive education is what leaders do differently afterwards. Research points to a persistent gap between learning, lasting application and measuring its value.
Learning effectiveness
rate their organisation highly effective at meeting continuous workforce learning needs.
Deloitte · Global Human Capital Trends, 2026Survey respondents; workforce learning broadly.Lasting application
strongly agreed their leadership development achieved and sustained its intended results.
McKinsey · What’s missing in leadership development?, 2017Survey of more than 500 executives.Measuring value
of organisations surveyed regularly measured financial ROI from executive education. Nearly half (46%) never did.
UNICON · ROI on Executive Education, 2018, p. 1752 client organisations.Read GIFT’s Beyond Performance article ↗WHY GIFT’S METHODOLOGY WORKS
Turn learning into
observable change.
GIFT’s methodology, refined over 20 years, makes a live field project the platform for leadership development. Participants apply knowledge while facilitators observe, challenge and coach them in action. Personalised evaluations and follow-up connect the experience to the workplace.
Exposure
Broaden knowledge through unfamiliar contexts and perspectives. Challenge assumptions before developing a response.
Application
Work with real stakeholders on a practical proposal. Apply systems-thinking, critical thinking and cross-cultural collaboration.
Feedback
Facilitators observe mindsets and behaviours in action, providing real-time feedback and coaching on how participants lead.
Reflection
Use personalised feedback to set development priorities, then carry them into a personal development plan and follow-up at work.
HOW GIFT EVALUATES LEADERSHIP
See the behaviour.
Understand the potential.
Performance is not the same as potential. Live project work provides the platform for observations, feedback and coaching on: critical thinking, personal resilience, cross-cultural collaboration and responsiveness outside one’s comfort zone.
Knowledge
- Broaden exposure and knowledge.
- Apply systems-thinking, critical thinking and problem-solving.
- Connect global trends with social, environmental and business realities.
Communication
- Communicate for influence and impact.
- Work across cultures and functions.
- Listen actively, build shared understanding and present ideas clearly.
Empathy
- Build cross-cultural acumen and self-awareness.
- Understand different perspectives.
- Connect personal purpose with people affected by business decisions.
12leadership dimensions
19observable behaviours
Real-time feedback grounded in observation.
GIFT draws on participants’ contributions to discussions, teamwork and field projects. Each personalised report combines specific observations of mindsets and behaviours, and practical development recommendations.
Shared with both the participant and the company sponsor.
BEYOND THE 12 DAYS
Bring the learning back to work.
Participant debrief
Discuss the feedback and what it reveals about strengths and development priorities.
Personal development plan
Turn insights into practical actions for continued leadership development.
Line-manager debrief
Connect development priorities with responsibilities and opportunities at work.
Check-in after 2–3 months
Revisit the plan, discuss progress and reflect on how learning is being applied.
GIFT · Leadership Learning Benefits, participant evaluation framework and programme follow-up.
Discuss the capabilities you want your leadership succession talents to develop.
A REGIONAL FOOTPRINT. A WORLD OF PERSPECTIVE.
Ideas to action.
Across Asia.
GIFT cohorts have developed inclusive business and policy projects across countries and sectors. India’s food-hub challenge builds on that experience of connecting leadership learning with real-world outcomes.
A GIFT ALUMNI PERSPECTIVE
“Highly recommended for those who are sick and tired of conventional classroom training where leadership is only taught on paper.”
Patrick Jia Dong Zhu, HSBC
View the original testimonial ↗GIFT LEADERSHIP & FACILITATION TEAM
The people behind
the perspective.
Meet the people who shape GIFT’s curriculum, facilitate learning and connect participants with new perspectives across Asia.
Chandran Nair
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
GIFT’s founder brings more than 30 years of experience across Europe, Africa and Asia. He challenges leaders to understand global change and rethink the relationship between business and society.
Read profile
Eric Stryson
Managing Director, Global Services
Eric has helped design and facilitate 60+ executive education programmes, with field projects across 15 Asian countries. He helps high-potential talents question conventional thinking and broaden their understanding of global issues.
Read profile
Rebecca Yip
Senior Programme Manager
Rebecca manages GIFT’s leadership programmes from design through delivery. Her scientific research background and UK and Hong Kong experience inform her interests in global shifts and socioeconomic development.
Read profile
Angain Gnanasagaran
Manager, Strategic Partnerships
Angain develops GIFT’s Southeast Asian partnerships, following roles in programme management and editorial leadership. His journalism and international relations background spans regional geopolitics, business, technology and environmental issues.
Read profile12 days.
A wider world.
23 November — 4 December 2026
Designed for mid to senior high-potential leadership talents with 10-15 years or more professional experience. Broaden exposure, deepen knowledge and practise leading across cultures and functions.
Hong Kong
Broaden your worldview. Challenge how you think about business, society and leadership.
Singapore
Explore the hawker-centre model and the public systems behind an extraordinary food culture.
India
Engage stakeholders. Build the food-hub proposal. Put your leadership into practice.
PROGRAMME INVESTMENTUS$18,000per participant
Includes accommodation, programme travel as specified in the brochure, most meals, personalised evaluation and one year of GIFT.ed.
View the brochure ↗RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Make the return
visible in your business.
GIFT can support you and your team in identifying objectives for change, establishing baselines and reviewing progress once candidates return to the organisation.
Team productivity & ownership
Look for stronger engagement, clearer delegation and better use of people’s time.
WAYS TO MEASURE
Track team KPIs and estimate staff time recovered from misalignment, low morale and unclear expectations.
Meetings that move work forward
Turn preparation and facilitation into clearer decisions and actionable outcomes.
WAYS TO MEASURE
Compare meeting hours and outcomes. Value time saved using the combined staff cost of attendees.
Clearer communication
Build alignment across cultures and functions, with less confusion and repeated work.
WAYS TO MEASURE
Track time and staff costs lost to misunderstandings, rework and instructions that need clarification.
Broader strategic awareness
Recognise emerging opportunities and make better-informed business decisions.
WAYS TO MEASURE
Assess the potential value of new opportunities and costs avoided through better understanding of external risks.
Suggested measures from GIFT’s Return on Investment framework, to be assessed in each organisation’s business context.
Read more: measuring the returns on leadership development investmentBEFORE YOU ENQUIRE
Programme questions
Who should consider the GLP?
The GLP is designed for senior managers and experienced leaders, including high-potential leadership talents preparing for broader responsibilities. It develops systems-thinking and cross-cultural acumen through wider exposure, critical inquiry and practical problem-solving.
What does the programme fee include?
The US$18,000 fee per person includes 12 learning days, a one-year GIFT.ed subscription, course materials, personalised evaluation reports, accommodation, programme travel as specified in the brochure, logistics and most meals.
See the official programme brochure for details, and contact GIFT to discuss travel arrangements.
How does GIFT support learning after the programme?
Participants and company sponsors receive a personalised evaluation report. Follow-up includes a participant debrief, a personal development plan, a line-manager debrief and a check-in 2–3 months after the programme.
How can we discuss a team nomination?
Speak with Eric Stryson about your leadership succession priorities, potential participants and how the programme fits your organisation’s development needs.
Explore participant suitability, team nominations and the value for your organisation.
A REAL OPPORTUNITY. A DIFFERENT KIND OF GROWTH.
Bring your leaders.
Change the
conversation.
Talk to us about enrolment, team nominations and the leadership priorities you want to address.