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TEDIndia Fellowship YES

It was only in June that TED.com had announced the opportunity to apply for the prestigious TEDIndia fellowship. The selection to this TED Fellows group was limited to bringing together some brilliant future leaders from this region together. I must say that had it not been due to Faisal Chohan, a TED Fellow himself, we in Pakistan would have probably never have heard about this prestigious event, let alone apply

I was fortunate enough to have taken the opportunity to apply and only recently have been informed that I have been selected as one of the 103 TEDIndia Fellow to becoming a part of the Global TED family.



TED.com stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, but in effect it has over time transformed from a mere annual conference to become the center or hub for brilliant innovative ideas for the future. Many creative people from all walks of life come to this organization and ultimately to the TED conference to showcase their creation, in 18 minutes, to an audience of scientists, scholars, creators, and leaders with the hope that it can become the a successful project of the future. For many who have never heard or watched any of the famous 18-minute TEDTalks presentations just take a swing at any of the videos found on the TED.com website

Of the 103 TEDIndia Fellowship inductees there are a total of 5 Pakistanis invited to the TEDIndia event in November at Mysore.

  1. Shandana Minhas (Pakistan) – Print and screen writer; her first novel, Tunnel Vision was published in 2007, she is working on her second
  2. Aun Rahman (Pakistan) – Pakistan Director for Acumen Fund, a global nonprofit social venture fund
  3. Asher Hasan (Pakistan/US) – Founder CEO of NAYA JEEVAN, a social enterprise dedicated to providing low-income families with affordable access to quality, catastrophic healthcare
  4. Shahida Saleem (Pakistan) – Founder of Sehat First, a social enterprise providing access to basic health care and pharmaceutical services across Pakistan
  5. Awab Alvi (Pakistan) – Dentist, orthodontist and author of Teeth Maestro, a prominent Pakistani political blog

The Infosys Campus in Mysore, holds for us an exciting program with a lineup of 40 brilliant speakers, lets hope that we all can be innovators for change.


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