Dreams to Reality

"What does success mean to you?"

"How can we learn to adjust with the realities of life?"

"Setting up own business is a challenge. Then why do so many young people set up their startups?"

"How to deal with people smarter than you?"

"What is the impact of the economic crisis in Pakistan for us in India?"

"Are we heading towards a recession? Will we get jobs when we graduate?"

These and many more questions from college students kept all of us, the panelists, on our toes throughout the 90-minute session titled 'Dreams to Reality'. It was part of the 5th Development Dialogue an initiative of Kakatiya Sandbox (KS), Nizamabad and Deshpande Foundation, Hubbali. The Dreams to Reality session was attended by 200 students from a degree college in Kamareddy, IIIT Basar and Skilling Plus program of Deshpande Foundation run by KS, Nizamabad. Development Dialogue reminded me of 'Vikasa Saddasu' (meaning development convention in Telugu), an annual event held in coastal Andhra by Byrraju Foundation, Hyderabad during 2005-2008.

The panelists came from diverse fields as you can see from their brief profiles below:

Jaishree Deshpande is co-founder of Deshpande Foundation, and a trustee of Museum of Science. She is involved with many charitable organisations in USA and India. An alumnus of IIT Madras and Boston University, she is a picture of humility.

G Chandrasekhar Reddy belongs to the Indian Forest Service. He is the Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Telangana State Forest Development Corporation Ltd, Hyderabad. He is currently involved in promoting eco-tourism.

Sireesha Yadlapalli has worked in the pharmaceutical sector for more than 20 years in USA. She sees purpose beyond profits. Her motto "learn fast, fail fast, adapt and repeat" till you succeed.

Harsh Bhargava that is me, was the moderator of the session. After 30 years in Indian Navy working on real-time mission-critical systems, I have been learning and teaching social entrepreneurship for last two decades. Have worked with some incredible MBA students leading to the publication of three books on Rural Transformation and two on Entrepreneurship.

It was a pleasure and privilege participating along with above panelists. The students were initially hesitant in asking questions. But once triggered, they fired a volley of questions. All in all, it was time well spent having travelled all the way from Hyderabad (170 kms one way). Sharing few pictures taken during the event.

Thank you Raju Reddy for this opportunity.

The man who visualised the concept and implemented it, Desh Deshpande the doyen of NRI Philanthropists.

Readers may read more about Kakatiya Sandbox, Deshpande Foundation and their programs in our book  (available on Amazon) 'BITS of Social Impact' released recently.

Entrepreneurship - can it be taught to school children? Yes.

You may browse the story of 9th to 12th graders here who attended a Young Entrepreneurs' Bootcamp.

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Stay connected.

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 7th Feb 2023

Postscript 8th Feb: Raghavendra Suryavanshi, a social entrepreneur from Goa wrote:

"I attended Development Dialogue in Hubli twice when I was a student and once in 2018 as audience. I was among first batch of 20 Leaders when Lead program was started in 2008. Now there are thousands of Leaders in Lead program."

The above comment goes to prove the effectiveness of Deshpande Foundation and its initiatives in nurturing entrepreneurship among the youth of India.

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