The bond that ties entrepreneurs from Hyderabad to Jamaica – Anu Acharya’s GES2017 story

The Bond That Ties Entrepreneurs from Hyderabad to Jamaica — Anu Acharya’s GES2017 Story

By Anu Acharya, CEO, MapmyGenome

Honestly, I did not know what GES was until this year. I first heard about it from NITI Aayog, the premier think tank of India, for which I have tremendous respect. I was subsequently invited to speak and moderate a panel on “From the Lab to the Market: Connecting Science to the Entrepreneurship World.”

As the city readied itself for this mega event with 1,500 participants from 150 countries — with a theme to empower women by getting more than 52% participants as women — I was taken aback by the massive focus on Ivanka Trump for somewhat wrong reasons, as is usually the case when women are in focus. I hope we can change that thought process soon.

Day One: Rockstars and a Shared Battery Pack

The inaugural function was a display of some technologies with hi-tech dances and speeches. The best part was the company — Vani Kola, Radhika Aggarwal, Megha Mittal, Anjali Bansal, Rama Akkaraju, Anousheh Ansari, and more rockstars. We were soon escorted to meet with the Prime Minister, where I took a selfie. After my first one with the Prime Minister became the famous selfie at Startup India and was published on the front page of many dailies, how could I not take another?

One of the things I hope changes in the next few years is the number of women at the main table. There was a table for 101 people at the Falaknuma Palace to have dinner with the PM and Ivanka. At the table, the number of women was nowhere close to 52% as the rest of the conference was. I was lucky to be one of them, but hopefully next time the ratio is closer to 50-50.

The Most Impactful Voice

The person who was most impactful and powerful at this summit, according to me, was Cherie Blair — who drove the points home about how men need to do their share, and that India was leaving behind a largely untapped resource in women who are graduates and those who don’t get educated. Strong and impactful, yet humble and accessible.

Day Three: The Panel

My panel early on Day Three featured Dr. Sonam Wangchuk — an amazing and delightful person who is often thought to be the inspiration behind the character in ‘3 Idiots’ (something he doesn’t agree with) — and Dr. Ramesh Jagannathan, Vice Provost at NYU Abu Dhabi. We had a lively discussion with the audience on connecting science to entrepreneurship.

I met entrepreneurs from Fiji, the US, Jamaica, Canada, Bangladesh, UK, and more. The bonds that tie entrepreneurs together — the joy of changing the world, one product, one service, one customer at a time to impacting millions of them — is indeed strong.

Jai Ho!