Youngistaan Foundation observes Int'l Day for Girl Child

Hyderabad: Observing the International Day of the Girl 2022, Youngistaan Foundation in collaboration with Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC), T-Hub and Y-Hub organised an interactive discussion with young girl innovators, social entrepreneurs and global-girl change makers.

The event was organised in a hybrid mode, over 250 young girls and boys from various childcare institutions and students from colleges joined in person while others joined virtually through YouTube and other online platforms.

The custom-made event was hosted on Saturday night to enable adolescent girls to believe in their agency, leadership and potential for an equal future. The event saw these change makers share the stories behind their impactful journey. The event was graced by Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary of IT and IC, Dr. Shanta Thoutam, Chief Innovation Officer to Telangana, and Arun Daniel Yellamaty, Founder of Youngistaan Foundation.

Participants were taken for a walk-through of T-Works, India's largest prototyping Centre and during the visit, they got a first-hand experience with innovation through prototyping activity and children especially were in awe of the prototypes built by various people, after which they were geared up for the inspiring panel discussions.

The first-panel discussion started off with global young speakers Madina Mamadalimova from Kyrgyzstan, Shaharin Haider Nikita and Amena Rashid Bania from Bangladesh addressing the topic, global voices on a common goal titled, "Our time is now - our rights, our future". The speakers shared that ten years from now they hope to see young girls with equal opportunities and enjoying basic human rights. They encouraged every young girl to take control of her own life and know what she wants.

The second panel discussion had two young innovators, Akshaya Dadigala who created a sustainable menstrual waste disposal machine that segregates sanitary waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories and Dhanni Pavani who created Octocleaner, an underwater drone that cleans trash deep within a water body.

Giving a piece of advice to their peers, the speakers said "You should use all opportunities coming your way and start engaging in various programs. You have to start participating in and implementing various innovations. Don't settle with the knowledge you have, learn more, and achieve more."

The third and last panel hosted three entrepreneurs, namely, B Latha Chowdary, founder of Naarisena Global Women Forum, Priyanka Kamath, CEO and co-founder of Workbucks and Thota Vasantha Mahalakshmi, founding CEO of The Pulse Farm and The Interior Design Studio. They addressed the topic 'Startup ecosystem enabling and transforming the future of young girls'. The speakers highlighted that one does not have to become a huge entrepreneur to get into leadership roles if one is able to help people within a small network when needed, they already are a leader.

In addition to panel discussion and interactions, the event had live music by Anusha Mondol and an energising set of games by Issac.

Young participants who attended the event shared their learning from the day, Rahul S, said, "The prototype walk was very nice, I wanted to spend more time on the campus and wanted to learn more about it." Another participant who came all the way from Medak after getting to know about the event online, Pavani S, "My friend and I came to the event all the way from Medak to learn from all these young leaders and it was truly inspiring". Other participants, who attended students from various colleges, include Roda Mistry and various childcare centres such as Spoorthi foundation, Vivekananda homes, Rainbow homes, Aamanvedika homes, were in awe of the world's largest innovation hub and kept conversing with the young social entrepreneurs and innovators.

Jayesh Ranjan appreciated the young innovators and entrepreneurs who took part in the discussion and encouraged young girls to take responsibility for their actions and adhere to the duty of transforming society for an equal world.

While sharing her inspiring life story, Dr. Shanta Thoutam said that every young girl should believe in herself for having the power to make independent decisions and execute them to her fullest potential. Wrapping up the global 'Our Time Is Now! Our Rights Our Future' event, Arun Daniel Yellamaty, founder of Youngistaan foundation said "Use the opportunities and platforms available to you and dream big until you achieve what you want!"

While introducing what T-Hub has to offer to every young entrepreneur, Vijay Bawra, senior director of Startup Innovation at T-Hub said, "When you see a problem and decide that something has to be done about it, but you do not know who to approach or what to do about it - that is what we try to solve at T-Hub."