Corporate Front: Start-UP [Countryside Outdoor's Trek to the Top]

But S. Pandit and M. Bhide need to professionalise their management programmes-or find a new route.

FACT FILE

S Bhide (left) and S Pandit

Names: Shantanu Pandit, Milind Bhide, Seema Bhide
Ages: Shantanu: 35; Milind: 32; Seema: 32
Education: Shantanu: B.Sc (Physics), Bombay U, 1983; MBA in Marketing, South Gujarat University, 1985; Milind: B.Sc (Statistics), Bombay U, 1986; Seema: B.Sc, Bombay U,1986
Business: Adventure tourism, outdoor management programmes
Company: Countryside Outdoor Programmes Pvt Ltd
Initial Investment: Rs 50,000
Track-Record: Turnover grew from Rs 0.80 lakh in 1993-94 to Rs 34.57 lakh in 1997-98
No of Employees: 7
Work Style: Hands-on
Management Credo: Personalised service and safety
Hobbies: Shantanu: Sketching, Reading; Milind: Reading travelogues; Seema: Writing

On the 26,000-ft climb to the summit of the third-highest peak on earth were the genes of Countryside Outdoor Programmes (COP) sown. Ten years ago, in February, 1988, young Shantanu Pandit quit his job with a Mumbai-based shipping company, Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co, and took off on a three-and-a-half month expedition to Mt Kanchenjunga. It proved to be fulfilling in more ways than one: not only did Pandit experience the thrill of conquering the sacred peak, he ended up discovering what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, and met his future business partner, Milind Bhide, along the way.

Last year, COP, which designs adventure holidays and outdoor management development programmes for corporate India, recorded a turnover of Rs 34 lakh and net profits of Rs 2.42 lakh. Says Pandit, its 35-year-old Director: ''It is an inevitable extension of our passion for the outdoors with its various challenges.'' That's why it was hardly surprising to learn that Bhide, also a Director at COP, was not available to speak to BT as he was away in Ladakh on a 25-day trek.

What happened in the 4 years between Kanchenjunga and success? While Bhide began his career as a stockbroker in 1989-the year he also married Seema-Pandit set up a company, Great Outdoors, to manufacture tents, sleeping-bags, and rucksacks in Thane (Maharashtra). After a year, he realised that it was no substitute for the real thing. ''I disassociated myself from the venture, which is doing well today. But I have no regrets,'' says Pandit.

Then, in 1990, he signed up with a Sheffield (UK)-based adventure tourism company, High Places, which needed trained climbers to accompany its customers to the Himalayas. For the next 3 years, Pandit spent 6 months a year in the mountains as a guide. In 1993, as part of an internal restructuring, High Places terminated all its contracts with all Indian climbers. And Pandit was jobless when he met his old buddy Bhide, who was being torn apart by the larger players in the stockbroking business.

That's when they decided to set up an adventure tourism company. ''And I joined them because I wanted to stand by my husband,'' smiles Seema, who manages COP's liaison work. To demarcate their venture from the numerous state-subsidised clubs offering adventure tourism packages, they positioned it at the top end of the market. Says Pandit: ''We decided not to compromise on hotels and transport, so that the spirit of adventure was not subsided by the lack of luxury where it was available.'' For instance, a 7-day river-rafting expedition in Rishikesh was sold by them at Rs 11,000 per head. Explains Seema: ''We were selling a new concept of enjoying holidays while sweating it out.''

It, however, took a while for the idea to sink in with the customer. In the first year, COP made a loss of Rs 0.57 lakh. Admits Seema: ''Our marketing efforts were not upto-the-mark.'' With adventure tourism picking up only slowly, the trio realised that they would need another line of business. That's when Pandit and Bhide started exploring the potential of offering corporates outdoor management development programmes. In 1994, Pandit invited K. Jayshankar, a 38-year-old management consultant who runs Empowered Learning Systems, to discuss the potential of combining management training with Mother Nature.

Says Jayshankar, who agreed to work with COP: ''Outdoor management development programmes are effective because emotions come down when people are close to nature. Managers get a chance to look at each other, but not from the workplace-based role-angle.'' In just a few days, COP received its first break: a call from the Rs 8,574.90-crore Hindustan Lever, which had decided to include a day's module of outdoor training for its managers instead of only closed-door programmes.

Now, COP conducts 18-20 outdoor management development programmes a year. On an average, a programme costs a company Rs 1,500-Rs 1,700 per day per employee. As proximity to Mumbai is important for COP's clients-which include the Rs 1,246-crore Wipro and the Rs 260.37-crore Infosys Technologies-Pandit and Bhide have developed sites in the Sahaydri Hills, near Pune. Explains Pandit: ''No company can afford to send 25 managers out for a long time.'' Also, COP relies heavily on its human resource consultants-who charge the company between Rs 10,000 and Rs 17,000 a day-to get companies to attend their programmes.

A typical programme begins with warm-up exercises to get people in shape, followed by a primer on basic outdoor skills, like map-reading, reading a compass, rope-work, and camping. It is followed by events like the Trust Fall-when a manager, blindfolded on a ledge, 5-metres high, falls, his teammates below, hands outstretched, must break it-and more complex team-building exercises like the Treasure Hunt.

These tasks, which follow a progression of increasing complexity, are examined in the context of individual performances, and then related to organisational frameworks. These reviews are either conducted by in-house human resource personnel, or COP's team of human resource professionals. Warns Jayshankar: ''Each programme should be designed keeping in mind the specific objectives of the company. It cannot be a vanilla programme for one and all.''

Peter Theobald, 31, the Managing Director of the Rs 4.50-crore it Secure Software, has used COP's outdoor management development programmes twice. He says: ''They give my employees a chance to know each other, and me, better. And vice-versa. The benefits do not translate into money immediately, but the programmes definitely have long-term intangible benefits if the physical aspects are translated to address emotional issues.'' Adds Tarun Chandna, 30, CEO, Discovery, a Delhi-based provider of these programmes: ''The programmes should be more business-oriented. The physical aspect of it is really secondary.''

That should ring warning-bells for Pandit and Bhide, who are not human resource professionals in their own right. As the training market becomes more savvy, such companies-like Erehwon, High Places, and Discovery-will score over companies that rely solely on outsourced human resource professionals. Perhaps that's why COP now plans to target foreign tourists for its adventure tourism programmes. And discover another route to the top.