The Young Indian Women Entrepreneur Who Dared To Be Different
New Delhi: These Indian and African entrepreneurs are young and dared to be different - to change the lives of those around them.
One of them developed a $2 clean birth kit that the potential of saving the lives of one million mothers who die annually in India during childbirth. Another is empowering Nigerian youth to be informed citizens and effective future leaders by utilizing e-forums and innovative television programs that educate them about good governance and about their democratic rights.
The third partners Africa's principal telecom operators, leading pharmaceutical industry associations on the continent and Fortune 500 technology powerhouses to enable African patients and consumers protect themselves from the fatal effects of pharmaceutical counterfeiting, which kills nearly a million people a year, and maims countless more, in vulnerable parts of the world.
"What can I say? I'm speechless," National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) chief Rajendra Pawar remarked Monday evening after hearing their success stories - all because they had the conviction that tomorrow would indeed be a better day.
The entrepreneurs, India's Zubaida Bai and Nigerians Kingsley Bangwell and Bright Simons were speaking at the "Africa and India: The Spirit of Youth Entrepreneurship" session organized by INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future in partnership with The Young India Fellowship and The Idea Works. It is funded by the public diplomacy division of the external affairs ministry.
"We're addressing a need at source, said Zubaida Bai, a masters in engineering and an MBA in social and sustainable enterprises, of her Janma clean birth kit to help hospitals and non-profit organizations prevent infection at time of birth and reduce maternal and infant mortality. The kit contains simple tools recommended by the WHO to provide sanitation and sterility at the time of childbirth. Janma has been chosen as one of the 61 products globally designed to improve life by INDEX Awards.
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