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Harvard Project (HPAIR) beckons a Rodinhooder! :)

By Prashant Kumar Sharma on 20 Comments / 2284 views

 Hello Fellow Rodinhooders,

To start off, I would like to give a very short introduction on my background. I am Prashant currently the city lead for Start-up Saturday Bangalore, an aspiring entrepreneur working on my own start up (Adding new dimension to digital marketing, launching soon) and also working as a consultant for an Analytics Start-up in Bangalore.

Before I jump to my main motive behind writing this post, I must also share on how I got awed by the generosity and super humbleness of Alok.  It is very seldom that you leave a message to a person that goes to other’s folder on Facebook, and the person you sent bothers to see your message and reply to it.

I did the same as I was looking to garner support from the Indian start-up eco-system to help me go on for the conference, I am about to detail. All I got and had sought on Facebook was Alok’s email ID. My first mail to him asked for support, and I was very sure that it was rubbish to think that I am even getting a reply. Two hours later, this is what my email said “Sure, we would love you to go along as a Rodinhooder. Welcome to the community”

.Treading on the path of entrepreneurship there are times when you need your faith to be reposed on goodwill, and this mail just made my belief stronger that there is no dearth of “Genuine good people here”!.:)

Very frankly and honestly I was not an active rodinhooder due to my other involvements, but which aspiring entrepreneur does not follow Alok in India? Same was the case with me!

Have known therodinhoods and the amazing community it has built to serve the Indian Start-up eco-system for quite some time.  And, as Asha says, now it’s time for me to give back to this awesome community as well. So here I am embarking on my first journey in the hope that it would bring in some value to the community! 🙂

On why I am writing this, well it would be fitting to also detail you a little on “The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations”. HPAIR is Harvard University’s biggest conference organised every year at Harvard University and Asia pacific region. It has been running since 1991, HPAIR has continuously bought leaders and top students to engage in dialogues regarding the most pressing issues facing Asia.

500 students from across the world are selected as delegates representing different panels (Finance, Energy and Environment, Security and Diplomacy, Media, International Development and Global Health, Entrepreneurship and Business Leadership). The theme for HPAIR 2013 is “Extending Horizons: – Charting Asia’s Flourishing Future” and I have been selected as one of the delegates in the “Entrepreneurship” panel. HPAIR 2013 is taking place from August 22- 26 in Dubai.

 

Ok, so by now it must have gotten boring and you must be thinking that I am here to boast about it. Sorry, I am not writing this to bore you, but this is my humble attempt to add value therodinhoods community. By bringing back some learnings to share with everyone. (And also by making some noise about therodinhoods amongst many interesting people!)

I hope to meet as many people as possible (entrepreneurs, business leaders, political leaders, journalists and others) at the conference. Some of the notable speakers at the conference in the past include

Frank Jurgen Richter(Director, World Economic Forum)

Kim Dae Jung(Former President of the Republic of Korea)

Ban Ki Moon(Secretary General,United Nations) among others

Some of the plenaries coming along this time are

Stephen Sites(Vice President, Goldman Sachs)

Kelly Watkins(Global Ambassador: The International alliance for women),Mitra Lohrasbpour(Business Development, Dropbox)

Brett Van Zuiden(CEO, INK),

Ahmed shibab-eldin(Co-Founder, HuffPost Live)

Omar AlShehabi(Director, Gulf centre for policy studies) and lots and lots of other very well-known entrepreneurs and dignitaries. Please visit the official link here for the complete list.

I would be more than happy to pose questions on behalf of rodinhooders – so would like to invite all of you to put forth questions you are interested in asking any of the speakers or delegates from different countries.  I will also try to interview some sought-after people. I will be posting a daily diary of the activities in Dubai here on trhs, to update everyone on the conference. And share the answers to your questions as well.

 

PS: – I along with other delegates are making a presentation/demo about the Indian start-up eco-system and how it is shaping up for future leaders and entrepreneurs. I look forward to have suggestions from you on how we can make it short, crisp, meaningful and informative so that delegates from other countries get a first-hand view of our strongly growing community!.:)

Looking forward for your opinions/views/suggestions/ideas.

Email: – Prashant.Sharma@headstart.in

Facebook: – www.facebook.com/jps.prashant

 

 

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20 Comments

  1. go rock, rodinhooder!!

    🙂

  2. Thannk you so much Asha!.:)

  3. Prashant,

    HPAIR is an amazing platform.and I reckon its think tank and idea sharing. I was a mentor to one of the delegates at HPAIR of 2012 which was hosted in Taipei, so I fathom its gravity. Let me know for any specific help you need on building your case for the conference.

    despite that HPAR is a global affair, let me share with you few insights on the Arab regions, given that DXB is the host city, which forms the background of my question you could ask to the delegation from Middle East. The GCC and The Arab League put together form one of the youngest populace on the planet. Defying the common understanding that all of Arab world is homogenous, it is infact highly heterogenous in terms of culture, traditions, social lives, cuisine and more importantly consumer spending. Few nations in this region produce the best of olives, fruits, defence systems, agri installations and is the global hub for raw materials for the perfumerie industry. Yes!!, this is beyond the NatGas and Crude oil fabric of this region. However, carrying out trade across the region is no easy task . . .especially from a geo-political stance. . For eg, a young firm ( name with held ), as well a large cola manufacturer operate in Gaza but arr not allowed to operate in Israel. . Again, another young agri firm (name with held ), has designed its supply chain circumventing the borders of a neighboring country and taking a longer trade route.

    So my question to the Middle Eastern delegation on entrepreneurship is “How do young firms, or start ups choose to leverage local conditions, and operate in a very tricky inter-regional trade?”

    Any response by the ME delegation to the above condition is a learning as far as operating a venture which heavy on SCM . in a very heterogenous trade climate like India. . and gradually ASEAN, once the treaty is signed. I am sure start ups / young ventures are always looking to expand geo-markets to scale up and achieve a global / regional fabric.

    look forward. . .

    thanks

  4. Hey Rajiv,

    That is such an Amazing question, and really one to have a discussion upon. I on my part was not aware of such diversity(positive) and restrictions. Thank you for bringing into light. Rest assured I am putting this up in front of all delegates and panelists present, and will be posting response once I am there!.:)

  5. Congratulations Prashant!!!

    More than that Proud to see a RodinHooder representing the country as well in HPAIR, which has it’s own Importance as a Person to start with. Are there other Delegates too apart from you in the Entrepreneurship panel from India ?

    Looking forward to your updates as well.

    Wish You Good Luck in your Endeavors!! Cheers!!!

  6. Hey Darshan,

    Thank you for your kind words. Indeed, a rodinhooder is on its way to HPAIR. Yes, there are other delegates from India in the entrepreneurship panel, all of them are rockstars. Will be posting Images with other delegates as well in my dairy to come soon.:)

  7. If any rodinhooder is in Dubai, I would love to catch up. Please leave a message here, so that I can connect.:)

  8. prashant,

    pls share the link of your post on this thread – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/request-for-non-resident-indians-to-connect-via-rodinhood

  9. Asha, shared.:). Thank you for pointing, I had gone through the post, but it didn’t strike me.

  10. Congratulations Prashant 🙂 I think it would be a great experience to be in a conference with such delegates.. will wait for the updates..

  11. Thank you Saraswathi. Will keep everyone at therodinhoods posted!.:):)

  12. hey prashant,

    so when do you leave for dubai???

  13. Hey Asha,

    I am leaving this Sunday for Delhi, and on 21st August Delhi–>Dubai. Rodinhooder is on its way!.:):)

  14. Guys, please do fire any questions you micht be having related to any start-up eco-system in the world, or anything for that matter. There will be delegates from around the world, and I would be more than happy to answer each and every question personally.:)

  15. Prashant…

    Keen to hear out the responses to my question, posted few days back..

    good luck..

    cheers

  16. Congratulations Prashant!!!….keep us updated..

  17. Hey Rajeev,

    Will surely fire your questions to delegates and dignatries and post the response here!.:)

  18. Hey Amol,
    Thank you so much. Will keep eveyone posted.:)

  19. awesome!!! may the force of all the galaxies be with you!

  20. Thank you Alok!.:)

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