News - Talking the walk

by Life Positive

GJ Siddharth at TEDx TED is an annual event in the US where some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about. “TED” stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design — three broad subject areas that are collectively shaping our future.

The speakers at the event were 16 remarkable people, including GJ Siddharth, who, despite suffering from cerebral palsy, educated himself and bagged the job of associate manager at IndusIand Bank Ltd and Shweta Chari, an electronics engineer who abandoned a conventional career to found Toybank which reaches out to poor children through fun and play using toys.

Toybank now also runs in Bangalore, Pune and Delhi with the support from core Toybankers Vinay, Bharath, Surendra and Swetha.

Professor Nandini Vaidyanathan, who has mentored over 500 start-up entrepreneurs across domains, across geographies, spoke on becoming an entrepreneur. Srini Swaminathan is a BE (Hons) EE from BITS, PIlani Class of 2001 and a fellow at Teach For India, a movement working relentlessly to give children from low income communities the same education and opportunities that are available for those from privileged backgrounds. He is the class teacher for 43 children in the second grade at Dharavi Transit Camp Municipal School.

To watch and hear all speakers at the TEDx Gateway in Mumbai log on to www.tedxgateway.com