Inspiration is often derived from ordinary people who do extraordinary things. These everyday people have one thing in common- they are all innovative and daring risk-takers who strive to make a change. The Youth Speak Forum, which was hosted by AIESEC on 23rd October at Fortune Inn brought four personalities who turned global insights into opportunities for real world impact.
The hall was buzzing with energy as cheerful AIESEC-ers handed out bottles of Coca- Cola to all the guests. Shail Pancholi, the host, started YSF with a small activity where everyone had to note down the three things they hoped to learn from the talk. As people started scribbling down their expectations from the event, the first speaker walked up to the podium to enlighten us on the impact of digitization in the world. This was followed by a brief interactive session where the audience was allowed to ask a couple of questions.
A band performance by Chicken Sambar Production was next on the table. The show had a unique twist, with a beatboxer instead of a drummer. Songs like ‘Here I Am’ by Bryan Adams and ‘Closer’ by The Chainsmokers were covered beautifully. The soothing music gave the crowd a chance to unwind and enjoy.
Unfortunately the second keynote speaker, Mr. Venkatesh Kini, the President of Coca-Cola, wasn’t physically present for the talk. But a Skype call was made and he gave us advice on how to go about pursuing our dreams. According to him, in order to make it big in a particular field, you have to be passionate about it, good at what you’re doing, and it needs to be something that is going to be useful to the world. When these three elements intersect, you have taken the first step towards achieving your goals.
Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t. These words are an apt description of the lifestyle of the third speaker. Farrhad Acidwalla, who is undoubtedly one of the world’s youngest entrepreneur’s got his first major deal at the mere age of 12. He exuded an aura of charisma and approachability as he took to the stage. Mr. Acidwalla, who is also a TEDx speaker was completely at home on the podium, animatedly narrating his success story and what he had to do to climb up the corporate ladder.
“One of the secrets to my success is probably how I was adamant on compromising on my health, sleep, dating and clubbing just so that I could focus on my work. Every time I thought of going out and chilling, I remembered that there are many other people out there who don’t have such distractions. For me, work was my priority. Everything else came second in line.” The one thing he expressed disappointment in was how fickle our generation has become. “Start-up companies have become the new trend now. People are doing it just for the sake of it, devoid of any passion. Don’t talk. Just do. That’s the policy that I follow,” he added.
The last speaker of the day was Priya Sunil, the lead manager for Teach For India. She played a couple of videos that of children and their thoughts on quality education. Her primary aim was to create awareness about the appalling number of students who receive a mediocre education that can’t really help them get proper employment. According to her, compulsory education is not good enough if it is of low quality. The videos of the small, endearing kids left the audience with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside and helped us understand the dire situation that they’re in.
AIESEC did a magnificent job with the Youth Speak Forum. Their goal was to inspire us to become young, entrepreneurial, and agile leaders and they delivered with a finesse that left the crowd reeling. A few technical glitches did make an appearance, but they were quickly covered up. YSF was a sublime experience that was completely worth the money and time.
-Nikita Ann Varghese for MTTN
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