hi good afternoon everyone
as you just heard my name is Shantanu
Prakash but the reason I’m here today is
because I come from a family of refugees
my father was a refugee in 1947 he was
put on a train he hanged from his really
comfortable existence in Lahore in
Pakistan and thrown into a completely
alien land where he knew no one not a
soul well he was one of the 15 million
or so people who were dramatically
displaced during the partition of India
at age 15 he had to restart his life
from zero and today I run a global
education business that operates in
several countries of the world and
employs more than 8,000 people quite a
transformation in just one generation my
story is by no means exceptional if you
look back into history if you rewind the
clock you’ll figure out that from from
the times of thousands of years before
Christ 740 BC the exodus from Israel go
back to the Ice Ages in some sense the
world has been shaped by this powerful
thing we call refugees and migration and
there are plenty of examples of people
from more recent times exceptional
people who despite having been uprooted
from the place that gave them their
sense of self-worth and the sense of
self managed to leave their mark on the
world have a look at some of these
really exceptional people Sergey Brin
Madeleine Albright Henry Kissinger Rita
Ora Albert Einstein Sigmund Freud and of
course Freddie Mercury we know all of
them right but did we know that all of
them are refugees
and you might say that these are
exceptionally talented people and it
doesn’t really matter you can put them
in any situation and these people would
do exceedingly well well then let’s have
a look at a few ordinary people have a
look at this picture on the left is
Abdul Alim he traveled 4,000 miles from
Syria to Germany and he comes with a
Bachelor of Science degree with
distinction from the University of
Damascus in the middle you have Ghulam
Rasool 60 years old general manager of a
consumer products company from Somalia
and a PhD in social sciences but the
world calls him a refugee and then there
is young fatima Lubner all of 14 years
old you can see the glint in her eyes
because she is the topper of her class
from Afghanistan I look at these
so-called ordinary people and I’m
reminded of the days when I was
graduating from business school in a
small town in India and I was thinking
of the next big step of my life I wanted
to start a business I wanted to become
an entrepreneur and I spoke to my
professor and I said look I’m the first
in my family to do this I have come from
a refugee family I’m really nervous
about this step that I’m going to take
so he looked at me and he said son you
must take this step by all means but do
some introspection first and see if you
have these few qualities the capacity to
deal with failure take risk have passion
flexibility resilience and the ability
to start again if you fall and stumble
then for a moment I had some kind of an
epiphany I thought of my dad he started
as a penniless refugee he had a business
plan but not a business plan for a
business
he had a business plan for his family
and that business plan had one defining
characteristic and that was how do how
does he ensure safety and well-being for
the family and of course the one
ingredient that he believed would be the
passport to success yes education well
his determination paid off and many
years later I graduated with a degree
from the University he was a refugee but
think about it he was also an
entrepreneur before I started dreaming
of creating business plans he had
already built built one not for a
business but for his families but the
characteristics of these people we label
as refugees seemed all of a sudden to me
very similar to the characteristics of
these people we glorify as entrepreneurs
the ability to take risk create
something where nothing exists
resilience passion Drive determination
and flexibility these brilliant young
men old men women we define them as
refugees if you look back at history I
doubt if there’s ever been a word that
is more loaded than this word we call
refugee in fact this word is quite
special it evokes a whole range of
emotions inside us
anger distrust compassion tolerance
revile ment all kinds of feelings and
sometimes all within the very same
person but when I look at these refugees
I see them not as refugees but as global
entrepreneurs but I want you to think
about refugees from a different
dimension think for a moment close your
eyes if you want
what was there ever a moment in your
lives when you felt unwanted uncared for
where you felt that the whole world
hated her existence and did not believe
in your ideas
nobody had faith in you remember the
time when you were bullied at school
the time when you were turned down in
your first job interview when people
posted mean comments on your facebook
wall that first date when your proposal
was turned down yes we’ve all been there
we’ve all had what I call our refugee
moment dear friends we are all united in
this world by what I call a refugee
moment we’ve got out of the refugee
moment we built a life for ourselves but
are we giving the same chance to the 15
million people in this world that the
United Nations and we label as refugees
are we giving them an opportunity to
grow out of their refugee moment I was
recently nominated by the World Economic
Forum to something called the global
futures Council on migration we are a
group of about 25 people or so CEOs of
large corporations ministers from
different countries Director General’s
for not-for-profit organizations and we
all sit together and we talk we talk
about solutions about integration about
how we can make this world a better
place for Refugees how we can resolve
the conflict that exists today but
instead of talking I decided to do
something about it
I decided to start an online Academy for
Refugees not simply an academy that
teach you skills a lot of them exist but
an Academy for Global Entrepreneurship
and Academy that would teach these
people we call refugees how to transform
how to morph the business plan of their
lives into a sustainable economically
viable business plan I am sure this
Academy will have some impact maybe a
lot of impact but what I’m really
concerned about is the refugee mentality
amongst all of us maybe instead of
teaching the refugees maybe all of us
need to learn we need to foster a sense
of belongingness eliminate the feeling
of being unwanted because friends at
some point of time or the other in our
lives we’ve all been there we’ve all
experienced a refugee moment as you know
I’m an entrepreneur education is a
business for me but more important than
a business it is a passion and even for
a second if none of you share my passion
for education you cannot deny that the
advantages that all of us have often
educated a skilled refugee population
are immense and perhaps incalculable
when can we start
honoring the enterprising zeal of
refugees and allow them to be a part of
the solution instead of part of the
problem if we do not invest in refugees
today all of us will end up paying a
really big price in the future a heavy
burden that I’m sure none of you want to
carry with yourself but if you look at
the data the data puts forward an
extremely decimal picture that all of us
should be really concerned about
according to the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees 3.7 million
refugee kids in the world
less than 40% even have a chance to get
a basic education and that’s a violation
it’s a violation of the 1951 Refugee
Convention it’s a violation of the 1989
Convention on the Rights of a child but
what are we doing about it
these people who traveled thousands of
miles are not refugees they are global
entrepreneurs who are highly motivated
to rebuild their lives despite all the
hostile environment around them despite
all the challenges around them when I
look at refugees I see a population that
is perhaps going to transform the world
like never before and I can attest for
it myself because if it hadn’t been for
a few very ordinary very unassuming
people 50 years back I wouldn’t be
standing here in front of you today and
giving this TED talk well I’m making a
small beginning in my own way by setting
up this Academy for Global
Entrepreneurship for Refugees this
Academy will provide business plans
education mentorship maybe also some
seed funding there is a big difference
between the 740 BC world when you had
this huge migration there’s a big
difference from 1947 when 15 million
people including my father were
displaced the world has changed my
friends the fourth Industrial Revolution
is now in front of us but what’s
different in the fourth Industrial
Revolution can ask you this question
what’s more important is it intellectual
capital or is it financial capital
what’s important the color of your skin
are the beauty of your talent what’s
important changing the world through the
power of religion or changing the world
with the power of ideas it’s more
important to be a
job creator than a job consumer isn’t it
and it’s not important
where you came from what passport you
had or what label you put on yourself it
is more important where you are heading
the sad story is we all talk about
refugees and skills and jobs but we have
a bottoms-up approach to them when you
look at large corporations who have
pledged to give jobs to these refugees
they are looking at the bottom of the
food chain to give them jobs janitors
people who sort out male low end jobs
what I want to do is use the immense
skills that these people already possess
to have a top-down approach in the
fourth Industrial Revolution 70% of the
jobs that we think exists today will not
exist over the next five years why can’t
you think of these refugees these
entrepreneurs as data scientists as
programmers Internet of Things
professionals like under work in
artificial intelligence legal art and
design we want to be top down and not
top down and not bottoms up yes it seems
kind of ambitious but is it impossible
the answer is no I think all we need to
do together is to provide guidance
skills and more importantly a safe
trusted and a welcoming environment so
today dear friends I am asking you for a
very small part of your lives if we want
a better world for ourselves and our
children can we make a pledge to do
something different something new
something hopeful a change in mindset
perhaps can we smile at a refugee child
can we go out and volunteer can we teach
someone a new skill can we do something
the
or that you take to yourself today is
going to change this world the moment
you walk out of that door remember we
all had a refugee moment and perhaps
it’s – it’s time to transform our
refugee moment into a refugee movement
thank you so much [Applause]
as you just heard my name is Shantanu
Prakash but the reason I’m here today is
because I come from a family of refugees
my father was a refugee in 1947 he was
put on a train he hanged from his really
comfortable existence in Lahore in
Pakistan and thrown into a completely
alien land where he knew no one not a
soul well he was one of the 15 million
or so people who were dramatically
displaced during the partition of India
at age 15 he had to restart his life
from zero and today I run a global
education business that operates in
several countries of the world and
employs more than 8,000 people quite a
transformation in just one generation my
story is by no means exceptional if you
look back into history if you rewind the
clock you’ll figure out that from from
the times of thousands of years before
Christ 740 BC the exodus from Israel go
back to the Ice Ages in some sense the
world has been shaped by this powerful
thing we call refugees and migration and
there are plenty of examples of people
from more recent times exceptional
people who despite having been uprooted
from the place that gave them their
sense of self-worth and the sense of
self managed to leave their mark on the
world have a look at some of these
really exceptional people Sergey Brin
Madeleine Albright Henry Kissinger Rita
Ora Albert Einstein Sigmund Freud and of
course Freddie Mercury we know all of
them right but did we know that all of
them are refugees
and you might say that these are
exceptionally talented people and it
doesn’t really matter you can put them
in any situation and these people would
do exceedingly well well then let’s have
a look at a few ordinary people have a
look at this picture on the left is
Abdul Alim he traveled 4,000 miles from
Syria to Germany and he comes with a
Bachelor of Science degree with
distinction from the University of
Damascus in the middle you have Ghulam
Rasool 60 years old general manager of a
consumer products company from Somalia
and a PhD in social sciences but the
world calls him a refugee and then there
is young fatima Lubner all of 14 years
old you can see the glint in her eyes
because she is the topper of her class
from Afghanistan I look at these
so-called ordinary people and I’m
reminded of the days when I was
graduating from business school in a
small town in India and I was thinking
of the next big step of my life I wanted
to start a business I wanted to become
an entrepreneur and I spoke to my
professor and I said look I’m the first
in my family to do this I have come from
a refugee family I’m really nervous
about this step that I’m going to take
so he looked at me and he said son you
must take this step by all means but do
some introspection first and see if you
have these few qualities the capacity to
deal with failure take risk have passion
flexibility resilience and the ability
to start again if you fall and stumble
then for a moment I had some kind of an
epiphany I thought of my dad he started
as a penniless refugee he had a business
plan but not a business plan for a
business
he had a business plan for his family
and that business plan had one defining
characteristic and that was how do how
does he ensure safety and well-being for
the family and of course the one
ingredient that he believed would be the
passport to success yes education well
his determination paid off and many
years later I graduated with a degree
from the University he was a refugee but
think about it he was also an
entrepreneur before I started dreaming
of creating business plans he had
already built built one not for a
business but for his families but the
characteristics of these people we label
as refugees seemed all of a sudden to me
very similar to the characteristics of
these people we glorify as entrepreneurs
the ability to take risk create
something where nothing exists
resilience passion Drive determination
and flexibility these brilliant young
men old men women we define them as
refugees if you look back at history I
doubt if there’s ever been a word that
is more loaded than this word we call
refugee in fact this word is quite
special it evokes a whole range of
emotions inside us
anger distrust compassion tolerance
revile ment all kinds of feelings and
sometimes all within the very same
person but when I look at these refugees
I see them not as refugees but as global
entrepreneurs but I want you to think
about refugees from a different
dimension think for a moment close your
eyes if you want
what was there ever a moment in your
lives when you felt unwanted uncared for
where you felt that the whole world
hated her existence and did not believe
in your ideas
nobody had faith in you remember the
time when you were bullied at school
the time when you were turned down in
your first job interview when people
posted mean comments on your facebook
wall that first date when your proposal
was turned down yes we’ve all been there
we’ve all had what I call our refugee
moment dear friends we are all united in
this world by what I call a refugee
moment we’ve got out of the refugee
moment we built a life for ourselves but
are we giving the same chance to the 15
million people in this world that the
United Nations and we label as refugees
are we giving them an opportunity to
grow out of their refugee moment I was
recently nominated by the World Economic
Forum to something called the global
futures Council on migration we are a
group of about 25 people or so CEOs of
large corporations ministers from
different countries Director General’s
for not-for-profit organizations and we
all sit together and we talk we talk
about solutions about integration about
how we can make this world a better
place for Refugees how we can resolve
the conflict that exists today but
instead of talking I decided to do
something about it
I decided to start an online Academy for
Refugees not simply an academy that
teach you skills a lot of them exist but
an Academy for Global Entrepreneurship
and Academy that would teach these
people we call refugees how to transform
how to morph the business plan of their
lives into a sustainable economically
viable business plan I am sure this
Academy will have some impact maybe a
lot of impact but what I’m really
concerned about is the refugee mentality
amongst all of us maybe instead of
teaching the refugees maybe all of us
need to learn we need to foster a sense
of belongingness eliminate the feeling
of being unwanted because friends at
some point of time or the other in our
lives we’ve all been there we’ve all
experienced a refugee moment as you know
I’m an entrepreneur education is a
business for me but more important than
a business it is a passion and even for
a second if none of you share my passion
for education you cannot deny that the
advantages that all of us have often
educated a skilled refugee population
are immense and perhaps incalculable
when can we start
honoring the enterprising zeal of
refugees and allow them to be a part of
the solution instead of part of the
problem if we do not invest in refugees
today all of us will end up paying a
really big price in the future a heavy
burden that I’m sure none of you want to
carry with yourself but if you look at
the data the data puts forward an
extremely decimal picture that all of us
should be really concerned about
according to the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees 3.7 million
refugee kids in the world
less than 40% even have a chance to get
a basic education and that’s a violation
it’s a violation of the 1951 Refugee
Convention it’s a violation of the 1989
Convention on the Rights of a child but
what are we doing about it
these people who traveled thousands of
miles are not refugees they are global
entrepreneurs who are highly motivated
to rebuild their lives despite all the
hostile environment around them despite
all the challenges around them when I
look at refugees I see a population that
is perhaps going to transform the world
like never before and I can attest for
it myself because if it hadn’t been for
a few very ordinary very unassuming
people 50 years back I wouldn’t be
standing here in front of you today and
giving this TED talk well I’m making a
small beginning in my own way by setting
up this Academy for Global
Entrepreneurship for Refugees this
Academy will provide business plans
education mentorship maybe also some
seed funding there is a big difference
between the 740 BC world when you had
this huge migration there’s a big
difference from 1947 when 15 million
people including my father were
displaced the world has changed my
friends the fourth Industrial Revolution
is now in front of us but what’s
different in the fourth Industrial
Revolution can ask you this question
what’s more important is it intellectual
capital or is it financial capital
what’s important the color of your skin
are the beauty of your talent what’s
important changing the world through the
power of religion or changing the world
with the power of ideas it’s more
important to be a
job creator than a job consumer isn’t it
and it’s not important
where you came from what passport you
had or what label you put on yourself it
is more important where you are heading
the sad story is we all talk about
refugees and skills and jobs but we have
a bottoms-up approach to them when you
look at large corporations who have
pledged to give jobs to these refugees
they are looking at the bottom of the
food chain to give them jobs janitors
people who sort out male low end jobs
what I want to do is use the immense
skills that these people already possess
to have a top-down approach in the
fourth Industrial Revolution 70% of the
jobs that we think exists today will not
exist over the next five years why can’t
you think of these refugees these
entrepreneurs as data scientists as
programmers Internet of Things
professionals like under work in
artificial intelligence legal art and
design we want to be top down and not
top down and not bottoms up yes it seems
kind of ambitious but is it impossible
the answer is no I think all we need to
do together is to provide guidance
skills and more importantly a safe
trusted and a welcoming environment so
today dear friends I am asking you for a
very small part of your lives if we want
a better world for ourselves and our
children can we make a pledge to do
something different something new
something hopeful a change in mindset
perhaps can we smile at a refugee child
can we go out and volunteer can we teach
someone a new skill can we do something
the
or that you take to yourself today is
going to change this world the moment
you walk out of that door remember we
all had a refugee moment and perhaps
it’s – it’s time to transform our
refugee moment into a refugee movement
thank you so much [Applause]
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