Edukwest interview with Vikas Pota
Young Global Leader announcement
VIKAS POTA SELECTED AS A YOUNG GLOBAL LEADER BY THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The World Economic Forum & my company released this info today: http://www.gemseducation.com/media-centre/press-releases/Vikas-Pota-CEO-of-the-Varkey-GEMS-Foundation-selected-as-Young-Global-Leader-by-the-World-Economic-Forum/534
What is a Young Global Leader?
I am hugely excited and thrilled to have been selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Having had the opportunity to attend a few regional WEF summits, I’ve always been impressed with the positivity that flows out of this community, and look forward to joining it.
You can read more about the programme here: www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_YGL_Brochure.pdf
What do you hope to achieve?
I am lucky to have had the chance to build a business, work with talented people, travel, commit to making our world a better place, and, importantly, do something about it. Being selected to join the Forum of Young Global Leaders will provide me with invaluable opportunities to connect and collaborate with other people who also share my passion and goal to fix perennial issues that are solvable within our lifetimes.
The diversity of intake – from ages, professions, and countries, allows me to the chance to tap into this mix of experience and ideas, which is key to creating sustainable change.
What issues interest you?
Inter-dependence & collaboration is what creates value. Change cannot & will not come if we work in silos.
I enjoy bringing together change makers from politics, business and NGOs to solve problems that for decades seemed unsolvable.
I find that you really make progress when you bring together people from completely different worlds. Globalisation has created the possibility for powerful collaborations and I believe we have only just started realizing how these connections are going to change the world forever.
I’m trying to change the following:
1. Education – as I believe that there is no greater equalizer. I’m currently leading an effort to raise $70million to train 250,000 teachers in some of the most desperate countries of the world. The Varkey GEMS Foundation, which I am the Chief Executive of, has devised a programme that will see a dramatic improvement in classroom outcomes, which ultimately results in a more secure and prosperous world for everyone.
2. Raising the bar of government & politics – I’m increasingly troubled by the way our world is governed. At one end structural reform issues form a key area of interest and the other end, we need a more conversant electorate that demands a higher standard from its representatives. Later this year, I am launching an initiative in India that will hopefully raise the bar of politics and provide a model that many other nations can emulate.
3. How to harness the energies and expertise of those who share my world view that there are infinitely more people who want to do good in this world that those that don’t. By connecting these people no problem is insurmountable. I’ve been lucky to be part of a founding team of do-gooders, through Sewa Day, who have motivated over 50,000 in 20 countries to provide their time to either help relieve hardship & poverty, protect the environment, or to bring a little joy to those who have little. Our aim is to get 1 million people swinging into action with us within the next five years.
A quote from a wise man from India – Swami Vivekananda – perhaps, sums up what I think best: “Get up, and set your shoulder to the wheel – how long is this life for? As you have come into this world, leave some mark behind. Otherwise where is the difference between you and the trees and stones? – they too come into existence, decay and die.”
Let’s work together
I’m experimenting with all three areas, and am keen on learning what others, who may share these interests, are doing. Leave a comment on this blog if you want to share your experiences (or tweet me on @vikaspota).
David Cameron’s visit to India
Last time DC went to India, I commented on the BBC that he may as well concede that we were the junior partner in that relationship as well, just as he had referred to relations with our American cousins who he had visited immediately prior to India.
This time things are a little different. Let me explain.
Last time DC visited it was in the immediate wake of forming the coalition. This time, I would suggest that this visit is focused on creating opportunities that are specific to the UK electoral calendar – electioneering has started!
The same can also be said of India and her politics. With Narendra Modi’s success at the polls, the only real discussion taking place is whether he will be the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Electioneering in India has also begun as polls are due in 2014.
Such a cycle can play a major role in how these visits are organised. What do you think the major goals of this visit should be? How should DC’s success be measured? Volume of commercial deals done, parity provided to the Opposition, agreements on counter security… ? Interested in your opinions. Leave a comment
If you’re interested in trends, then take a look at the attached – quite spectacular…
Richard Watson, who’s a futurologist created this, and he claims that those on the outer fray of this tube style map is already taking place.
Incredible stuff. Enjoy.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I visited Ethiopia to attend the World Economic Forum’s Africa Summit – a choice which confused many of us, as, like many other African countries, doesn’t strike you as being a natural choice to host such an event, but when we scratched beneath the surface, what impressed was their total focus on applying science and engineering to boost their economic and agricultural productivity, which is obviously working as they’re now the world’s third fastest growing economy. Imagine that! I remember, as a young boy, cycling to my local record shop to buy the charity single that brought Ethiopia into focus, and where we all sang along to “do they know its Christmas time at all”.
And it’s not the only example of a country that we think of as ‘developing’ as being in a vastly different economic environment than we might think. While we all know of the rise of the BRIC economies, but did you know that a country like India produces more engineers & doctors than the whole of Europe put together?
Both examples show that investing in STEM education makes good economic sense. Education can be the driver for economic growth. But it’s not always universal and girls and women are often being left behind. There’s an obvious moral argument to this – how can it be right to leave behind so many people – but there’s also an economic argument. On what basis can we look at ourselves if we don’t do more to ensure that we create generations of female mathematicians, scientists, engineers, and technologists?
Did you know that since the inception of the Nobel Prize for Physics, only two women have won this prize? Only four have won the Chemistry prize. How can this be right? We can drill even further as the statistics for women “of colour” are even more alarming such as; only 2% of all women professors in the US are “of colour”.
How can this be right?
The work that the Varkey GEMS Foundation does with UNESCO concerns the recruitment of more women into the teaching profession, the skilling of these recruits to ensure girls advance in STEM subjects, and an ongoing commitment to their professional development as educators.
As a company, if there’s one thing that GEMS has learnt from educating children is that good teachers matter. Who stands at the front of a classroom often makes the essential difference to a child’s prospects of success.
As a charitable foundation we believe that the role & status of teachers has become so derided that we fail to appreciate their critical contribution to a country’s progress. We also fail to understand the way in which the teaching profession is changing, for example as technology allows for easier transfer of knowledge, the classroom teacher takes on an ever more critical role – that of a “mentor”. In this avatar, teachers can have an incredible influence on parents, students and the wider community, and can convince those who don’t believe that science pays, of the rewards advancement in STEM subjects can hold for families and communities – whether in cosmopolitan cities like London or Paris or in the most rural locations in Lesotho or Kenya, where our intervention is targeted.
No longer are STEM subjects taught in isolation, real world challenges demand an inclusive, combined approach. In this new way of learning, teachers become even more vital as they join the dots for students to make the subjects real and practical.
We need to be clear in our minds that a focus on STEM education can boost a country’s economic chances – which in these challenging and austere times is important to understand. But, clarity of thought is one thing, we ought to also bear in mind the moral argument in training girls and women, for they have been neglected for far too long by a male dominated political culture, which is hard to defend on any basis.
Teachers are the backbone of the education sector. By investing in them, we invest in ourselves.
As a father of two daughters, I wanted to convey my thanks to H. E. Ms. Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO for convening such an alliance to further the education of girls and women and look forward to reporting back the progress we’re making in Lesotho & Kenya over the next few years.
Vikas Pota
Chief Executive Officer
The Varkey GEMS Foundation
Remember those words? Remember Bob Geldof on TV during Live Aid launching into a tirade asking people to call in to pledge money for the people of Ethiopia? Well, guess what?
I’m on my way to Addis for the Africa Summit of the World Economic Forum, which last year was held in Cape Town – in Africa’s largest economy – South Africa. So, when they announced that this year it’d be in Ethiopia, I, and many others, looked a little puzzled – about their choice.
Since then, I’ve paid attention to everything “African” and am actually looking forward to attending, knowing that Ethiopia is one of world’s fastest growing economies – YES, you read correctly – Ethiopia’s BOOMING – who would have thought!!
Take a look at this BBC report if you want to learn more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15739706
I’m going to be live tweeting from Addis, so please do follow me on Twitter if you want to know what’s being said.
This interview was first featured on www.indiaincorporated.com, where I write a column called The Social Capital
The Social Capital with Vikas Pota – What giving really means?
Vikas Pota speaks to Nigel Walsh from the world of financial services…
Nigel Walsh is Business Development Director, Insurance, at Capgemini Financial Services.
1. Is giving important? Why?
Yes. Pay it forward, helping others is always more rewarding than helping yourself.
2. What charities do you personally support?
I do a lot of cycling and this is mainly organised by Action Medical Research (www.action.org.uk) that has provided some great research into premature births and much more. Other charities that organise cycling events include BHF (British Heart Foundation).
I also support many other charities through my involvement in Freemasonry and I am a trustee of a national charity focused on health in the community, Hertsmere Leisure.
3. What was your first ever donation to a charity?
Possibly, to the British Heart Foundation.
4. Do you have a focus on where you donate your money?
Children’s charities.
5. Which individuals stand out for their support to charitable causes?
People like David Walliams and Eddie Izzard are a real inspiration. It’s too easy to give money. Giving time, especially training time, goes way beyond leveraging their brand to get more for the charity of choice.
6. What percentage of our income should we give to good causes?
At least one per cent.
7. What do you personally gain from contributing?
That everyone can make a difference, not everyone is as fortunate. There is always someone better and someone worse off than you.
8. What was the last donation you made?
This was my fifth consecutive year as part of a team of 11 cyclists from London to Paris. We raised over £25,000 as part of a bigger group that collected a total of £600,000. Something different awaits in 2012!
9. Have you taken part in any adventure events to raise money?
Cycling to Paris, among other charity bike rides.
10.·Is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and charitable giving by companies a marketing gimmick?
No. It brings emotion, usually in a few key individual’s minds, to bear to a brand that by nature can’t have a personality.
Through these in-depth interviews with industry leaders, Vikas Pota asks charity-related questions that unearth the driving force behind their philanthropy and social responsibility.
Asian Businessmen!
Not wanting to cite specifics but one of the thing that annoys me is how people’s egos get the better of them. Whether we’re talking personal, professional or other, where is the need to make unfounded claims? By doing so, you’ll likely to get caught out, just like an “Asian businessman” who I had respect for – has had his cover blown in today’s tabloid press.
Asian businessmen have contributed significantly to the UK, for this reason, I hope that today’s very sad episode doesn’t sully all the hard work done by the majority. Let’s hope the media play fair.
World Economic Forum – India derailed.
Such is the faith of people in India that problems, challenges, opportunities, and any successes are often attributed to a divine force – the almighty. I remember a raging argument with my mother when I was a child, in which she basically justified her in-action by citing the same – “if it’s meant to be…”, which I’ve always seen as a cop-out as she avoided taking responsibility for an action.
Well, the reason I mention this is that having participated in the World Economic Forum’s India Summit in Mumbai earlier this week, India’s political & business leadership reminded me of the raging argument between my mother and me. Just that in this case, India’s much celebrated captains of industry became my mum for two days.
The problem is that everyone now recognises that the challenges India faces are possibly too big to overcome. The shine has truly come off. The penny’s dropped and they don’t know what to do. So they’re happy just to bumble on and see what happens (if it’s meant to be…)
Such was the elation of the mid 2000′s, that she was pleased to have been invited to the G20, and other international platforms, it seems that they’ve forgotten that if they desire global recognition, they need to offer solutions that fix problems.
Take, for example, the construction industry which itself will see an investment of a trillion dollars over the next ten years, but where are the skilled tradesman? In a similar fashion, take any profession and you arrive at the same problem.
India’s much talked of demographic dividend stands to turn into the exact opposite if practical solutions are not found. It’s far too easy to say that the private sector needs to play a role by harnessing the opportunity. India’s government needs to follow through by creating a favourable policy environment, else… the risks to her growth are simply too significant to consider.
I’m quite a positive guy, but this Summit knocked the stuffing out of me.
Corruption, a bloated bureaucracy, a ego, all stand in the path of progress. That’s what the India Summit confirmed in my mind.
The Social Capital: Ravi Pandey of Rolta
This interview was first featured on www.indiaincorporated.com, where I write a column called The Social Capital
The Social Capital with Vikas Pota – What giving really means?
Vikas Pota speaks to Ravi Shankar Pandey from the world of information technology…
Ravi Shankar Pandey was the head of the UK Business Unit of NIIT, the global IT education services giant and has recently joined Rolta as their President for Europe and MD of their regional ops in Germany, Netherlands and UK.
1. Is giving important? Why?
Yes, it is very important if someone is in a capacity to do something beyond their regular job and contractual obligation. As long as the ability and desire to help others come naturally.
2. What charities do you personally support?
I would not like to go into details as there are quite a few but I support children’s charities like CRY. I also support national charities like Comic Relief.
I also try and be supportive and sponsor my executives on their charitable missions such as motorbike rides or long treks, both in India and in the UK.
3. What was your first ever donation to a charity?
It is quite a funny story that has stayed with me. I grew up in Jamshedpur in India where there were regular home visits by a leper in search of alms. As children our birthday gift would be some pocket money from the elders, which we would use to buy a cricket bat or a football. I remember one such birthday when I chose to give all my birthday money to this leper.
I am not sure why I did it and it certainly was not a lot of money. But from then he became a regular visitor and was even at my wedding years later.
4. Which individuals stand out for their support to charitable causes?
Among the well-known names there is of course Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who have devoted their time and billions to charitable causes. However, there are many, many unsung heroes who have been giving their money and time but are not in the public eye.
To me it is a bigger inspiration when people with far less means try to still give something back.
5. What percentage of our income should we give to good causes?
This is a very valid consideration. I think anything that does not pinch. Sacrifice is very different from giving, as that requires a higher being. For those with some limited aspirations to make a difference about 10 per cent of your savings could be a good start.
Muslims have the concept of zakaat, which is a great motivator. I think it also makes commercial sense as it ultimately encourages you to save.
6. What do you, personally, gain from contributing?
I feel thrilled by the pleasure it gives my family. My children love being involved and it is a great motivator to see the amount of pleasure they get.
7. How important is it to you that charities provide evidence of their impact?
It is very important to see that the money is used for a worthy cause. Our contributions may be small but accountability is important.
8. Have you taken part in any adventure events to raise money?
If playing cricket for CRY counts, then that is something we did last year. But besides that I am always keen to encourage people who want to take on adventurous missions for charity.
9. Should charitable donations be private?
Charity is a very personal thing. We as Indians are always encouraged not to talk about it too much and I find it quite corny to speak about it too much.
10.· Do you have a focus on where you donate money?
Children’s charities are close to my heart. I have small children of my own and like to contribute in whatever way I can.
Through these in-depth interviews with industry leaders, Vikas Pota asks charity-related questions that unearth the driving force behind their philanthropy and social responsibility.
