Two Hyderabadi women represented India at the recently-ended World Economic Forum in Davos. Kanika Kumar and Dipika Prasad were chosen as part of the Global Shapers team, which selected a delegation of 50 young entrepreneurs from across the world. While Kanika spoke about the importance of providing equal opportunities to social entrepreneurs, the latter spoke about how to build inclusive cities.
Dipika, co-founder of Lakeer, a civic initiative, said, “The WEF mostly deals with senior leadership of big businesses and yet, here we are, a bunch of start-ups and social entrepreneurs, conveying what the youth want from the world.” Kanika, who has been helping find solutions for social entrepreneurial ventures through a Mumbai-based start-up called Aavishkaar Intellecap, said, “Hyderabad is really showing the way. They are creating a good eco-system for entrepreneurial ventures to grow. The T-Hub is one such venture but we need more of those and events like GES and WEF are only going to show the way forward.”
Dipika, on the other hand, has different goals for her city. “Hyderabad is a dynamic city. We are looking forward to working with the government and my target is to develop at least 10 model wards where citizens of Hyderabad and government can work in partnership. These wards must be across all economic sectors and not just another hi-tec City,” she said. The duo also met Telangana's IT Minister KT Rama Rao and his team in Davos.
