Gene (88) and Martha (84) Finney share their story of hope from the 1950s.
Gene is a World War II veteran who served the navy for about two years. After the war ended, Gene took the option of taking a course under the GI bill which offered a cosmetology course and a sheet metal course. Gene did not have a chance to go to school before joining the navy. In the interview, he relates how he started making money by the age of 8 by selling gum and taking on different jobs, constantly hoping to do better, until he joined the navy at age 17. Having the eye of an entrepreneur, Gene took on the cosmetology class (which he knew would pay better) and later became a hairstylist for Gould’s Salon Spa where he retired from just last year at the age of 87. He was a hairstylist there for 63 years. He’s done the hair of Elvis and Cybill Shepherd. Gene is also an avid harmonica player. He’s played individually, with a band and lately with his eldest son, Rick. Gene uses his gift of music to share hope to a lot of people – he plays in retirement homes and churches and wherever his music takes him! Click the links below to watch Gene Finney play harmonica and make wonderful music.
Martha is a nurse and is an accomplished bowler. She is a city and state champion for bowling. Martha and Gene met when Martha was 15 and Gene was 19 in a dance and met again after a year where they’ve decided to get married. Martha fondly recalls how Gene had sent her out every morning from 11th to 12th grade to finish high school. When their last child went to school, Martha then took up nursing and later worked as a nurse for 25 years.
Gene and Martha have been married for 67 years and are the proud parents of three children, Ricky, a pilot/crop duster, Sharon a teacher and Jeannie a caregiver. Gene and Martha believes that in life, we shouldn’t give up and that we should know that there’s always a way to make it through.
Mpumi was admitted to the inaugural class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which opened in 2007 in Henley-on-Clip, South Africa, and graduated in 2011 amongst the top of her class. It was all part of a communal expectation for Mpumi, whose name means "success" in Zulu. “
From the social extreme of a young South African girl losing her mother to HIV & AIDS and being orphaned at the tender age of nine, to speaking across the United States at conferences, panels, fundraising events and being listed amongst motivational speakers such as Gloria Mayfield Banks; Schroeder Stribling, the executive director of N Street Village (a nonprofit for homeless women) and the media mogul powerhouse Oprah Winfrey herself– Mpumi Nobiva continues to reach for her dreams. In May this year, Mpumi Nobiva co-keynoted with 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Peace Activist, Leymah Gbowee at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina.
She has spent the first half of 2015 in the City of Cape Town, as part of Ciee International Arts & Sciences study abroad program at the University Of Cape Town. Whilst attending to her studies at the University of Cape Town, Mpumi became an official Relate Bracelets International Ambassador, 17th April 2015. Mpumi has launched an international empowerment campaign titled: #ShareYourStory, Inspiring Courage.
I am 41 years old, a husband, a father, a farmer, a musician, a carpenter, and the co-founder / director of a small non-profit organization, ECOVA MALI. ECOVA MALI is dedicated to increasing food security and promoting economic development in Mali by providing technical (and occasionally financial) assistance to Malian farmers.
Adrienne Tingba is a 22 yr old Liberian Blogger and Writer who is using her voice to retell the Liberian story with Liberian voices. As the Founder of The Colloqua Dialogues (thecolloquadialogues.com), Adrienne highlights Liberia's progression and its shortcomings in an effort to increase awareness, and promote the overall development of the nation.
Nisreen Nasser is a Lebanese television producer and music instructor. She holds a Masters degree in Media and Communication, and a Bachelors in Audio-Visual Journalism from the Lebanese University. In 2014, she started an initiative to offer alternative education to children of Syrian and Palestinian refugee camps and underprivileged zones in Lebanon. In April 2015, she quit her career in television and co-founded Solidarity Through Humanity, an initiative that allows towns and communities around the world to come together and raise funds to support people in crisis. STH started a ripple effect across the United States, Europe and Asia promoting the concept that every single person can make a huge difference in someone else's life, and that saving lives does not really take superheros... it simply takes hope, a good intention and continuity.
Moses Owen Browne, Jr., is Global Youth Ambassador, A World at School, United Nations Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative. He’s advocating for Education for all. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications and English with emphasis in Telecommunications Management and Broadcasting (Cum Laude) from the United Methodist University in Liberia and a prospective student of International Relations, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York University.
Moses is originally from Liberia and has worked around the United Nations in New York advocating for global education at the United Nations General Assembly. He is currently the Media and Communications Manager for Plan, the international children charity organization, www.plan-internationa.org.
Moses is 29 years old, born May 15, 1986 unto the blessed union of Moses Owen Browne, Sr. (deceased) and Mother Beatrice Johnny, a peasant agri-business family from Grand Bassa County, one of the first three Counties that founded the Republic of Liberia.
Moses is a devout Christian, happily married and blessed with four children. Moses Browne is a professional career development practitioner with idea-range of experience in the related fields of mass communications, telecommunications management, broadcast management, policy formulation and implementation and agribusiness farm radio program.
As part of the Global Youth Ambassadors program, A World at School has launched several Global Education initiatives and campaigns drawing world leader’s attention to the plights of the 59 million children out of school. The #UpForSchool campaign was launched in September 2014 to galvanize support in promoting quality education and ensuring every child is in school and learning before the MGDs expires. Moses used his negotiating skills to pursue several businesses in Liberia and the World to support the #UpForSchool campaign.
Moses believes with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in place, the World is in a great position to use its strengths and the external context to be a powerful force to help improve children's lives through the delivery of quality education for all. He’s also excited about introducing and sharing his own leadership values, which include trust, problem-solving, empowerment, transparency and collaboration amongst students of the World.
Moses is executive director and founder of Browne Global Leadership Foundation (BGLF), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, registered in Liberia and is independent of any government or corporate interest founded in September 2015 as a response to the global call to intensify efforts for youth development and Education.
Its founder draw experience from the historic 70thUnited Nations General Assembly where he had gone to New York from Liberia to create awareness for global education and leadership for young people. As a Global Youth Ambassador for Education, Moses Owen Browne, Jr. decided to establish the Browne Global Leadership Foundation to promote full participation of youth in national and global development processes. Moses believes for any global goals to be achieved it would require the active participation and involvement of young people, but advance that education is that platform that would engender the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Moses Owen Browne, Jr. is a well-known and household name in the Republic of Liberia, especially in the field of Media, Communications and Advocacy. He has worked for several media outlets in Liberia and Civil Society Organizations at least for a period of 15-years.
He has used his skills to engage thousands of young people in the world to pursue and advocate for quality education encouraging them to see education as the only way to a leading a successful life and contributing the growth and development of their respective countries.
Moses’ achievements would not have been possible without a cordial, interconnected, good working relationship and networking with other international organizations across the world. He is very passionate about education and has cultivated a positive habit to deliver impactful projects to students across the world.
He has gained the respect of many young people in Liberia, at his job and across the different networks across the world. Moses has strong values and ability to deliver. He does this with a positive attitude and in a spirit of cooperation. He uses humor along the way which softens the path and gets people along.
Blair Glencorse is Founder and Executive Director of the Accountability Lab, an incubator for creative, youth-driven ideas for accountability and transparency around the world. Blair is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Anti-Corruption and Transparency and a Social Impact Fellow at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Blair was an advisor to the now President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, and worked for the World Bank on issues of governance and development. He is an Echoing Green Fellow and winner of the World Technology Award.
Tafadzwa Nyamuzihwa, founder of the organization Shine on Africa, grew up in an orphanage since the age of one. He attained primary and secondary education in Harare, Zimbabwe, and went to study in South Africa towards a Diploma in Sports Management in 2006. Tafadzwa, at the age of 25, became totally blind in 2009 due to a retinal detachment that resulted from cataracts. Consequently, he found life tough and felt his window to the world had been shattered.
As a Christian, he never gave up on the Lord and he received grace and strength. He went for rehabilitation in unaided mobility and brail in 2010 and proceeded to obtain a Certificate in Counselling from Connect Zimbabwe. Later that year, he featured in a local national television drama series that ran from September 15, 2010 to March, 2011. In the same year, he received a one-year scholarship to study at the International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs in Trivandrum, Kerala, India (Southern India) in 2011. Through such opportunities availed to him, he embarked on a path to change the lives of blind people in Zimbabwe.
He was a delegate at the UN African Youth Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2012.
In 2014, Tafadzwa was amongst the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. He was at Northwestern University, Illinois, Chicago, USA, where he was studying Business and Entrepreneurship. His highlight was when he attended a 3 day presidential summit were he shook hands with President of the United States of America Barak Obama and first lady Michele Obama in Washington DC.
The Junior Chamber International (JCI) awarded Tafadzwa in the 2015 Top 10 outstanding young Zimbabweans for his Humanitarian and voluntary work he has done with people with disabilities.
I was born on the 20th of February in 1975 and at my birth there was something visibly wrong with me. My legs were large and my feet very large and deformed (for want of a better word to use).It wasn't until a few weeks later that i was actually allowed home with my parents as the doctors did not know if i would live or die, but hey I'm still here at 39 having fun!
On reaching school age I attended a special school being there we all had physical problems so we knew that we had limitations, but we accepted that.
On reaching 14 I was enrolled part-time in a comprehensive school to do my GCSE's came away with 4 GCSE's.
After taking a quiet year of study and doing a course in Sign Language, i followed that with a desire to be a counsellor. 3 long years of the course lay ahead.
So after this the media wheel started to turn and the rest as they say is history. See media appearances section for how life changed in 2006/7 and beyond.
So after all the media coverage I have had, 2010 brought a year of big change, after living with infection after infection for up to 12 years, my ulcer on my left foot developed blood poisoning. This meant that it had to be amputated or it would have killed me.
I was very ill at the time and it took 6 months for me to be discharged from hospital and then I had to start all over again to gain my independence and get my life back on track. It is now 2012 and I am still on the road of recovery, but I have belief in myself that one day I will achieve what I need to have a full and independent life.
Here we are in 2014:
So here we are in 2014 & I am still striving for independence and I will get there, I am due to get a new vehicle soon that will mean I can drive from my wheelchair. This will make a huge difference to my life and will mean that I can actually leave my home on my own for the first time in 4 and half years! I still need a new wheelchair that I can get in and out of without hurting myself, but that will hopefully be in the pipeline soon, so watch this space for pics of me whizzing around in my WAV (wheelchair Accessible Vehicle)
So here he is, Walter, my new Wheelchair Accessible vehicle. There have been a few ups and downs since we met, mainly due to problems with the adaptations, but he certainly making my life easier.
Izzy is a former middle school teacher who quit his job to follow his childhood dream: to become a ninja. That lead Izzy to Japan where he intensively studied Aikido for 4 years. Presently, he is on a journey to train 1,000 hours in the best dojos in the world.
Beth Steinberg is the executive director and co-founder of Shutaf Inclusion Programs, offering year-round, informal-education programs for children, teens and young people with disabilities in Jerusalem. Shutaf is committed to an inclusive teaching model that welcomes all participants - with and without disabilities - regardless of religious, cultural and socioeconomic differences.
Beth moved, with her family, to Israel in 2006 from Brooklyn, NY. She regularly writes on parenting issues for Times of Israel, and is also the artistic director of Theater in the Rough, offering engaging and affordable theatrical opportunities for Jerusalem audiences.
Ben Kubassek was born and raised in a religious commune founded by his grandfather near Kitchener, ON. Canada. However Ben chose a different path for his life. He left the security of the commune at the age of 21 and started his own electrical contracting business. Ben quickly became a serial entrepreneur and started numerous other companies in the home building/land development, construction, retail, and speaking/training arenas.
He is also the founder of Missionary Ventures Canada, Hands for Humanity and Life Legacy Foundation.
Ben now lives in Romania and calls himself a mission entrepreneur. He believes entrepreneurs and not traditional missionaries and relief workers are the key to providing the long-term to poverty and hunger in the world.
May 2012 – Present
Humanitarian (founder/Pres.) - Life legacy Foundation – Working in Romania, development of many social, cultural and educational projects
May 2001 - Present
Humanitarian (founder/Pres.) - Hands For Humanity. - Working in Romania on relief, community development and business development projects. Building churches and community centres. Developing project for street kids. Developing agriculture projects including 10 chicken barns, a feed mill, and a hatchery.
1992 - 2000
Humanitarian (founder/Pres.) – Missionary Ventures Canada. - Built 12 schools for poor children in the country of Guatemala. Developed feeding centres for starving children and built housing for poor families.
1986 - 1996
Mechanical Contractor (founder/Pres.) – Kubassek Mechanical Ltd - Plumbing and heating contractor on commercial, industrial and residential projects.
1984 - Present
Real Estate Developer (founder/Pres.), – Kubassek Holdings Ltd. - Developer and builder of residential communities completing over 700 homes, www.3ehouse.ro, www.canadianvillage.ro
1981 - 1996
Electrical contractor (founder/Pres.), – Kubassek Electrical Ltd. - Electrical contractor on commercial, industrial and residential projects.
1972-1981
Farmer – Community Farm of the Brethren - Managed a flock of 7000 laying hens. Set up a new slaughter house. In charge of electrical maintenance for the farm. Setup new feed mill.
Publication(s)
Succeed Without Burnout (book, 1995)
Five F-Words That will Energize Your Life (book, 1998)
Achieving Real Balance (training manual, 2001)
Accomplishments
Finalist – Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 1994
Listed – Who’s Who in Canadian Business, 1995
Listed – Who’s Who in Ontario, 1996
On November 3, 2014, Ms. Nicole M. Forrester became the President & Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), an independent, nonprofit corporation that serves the educational community in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), Guam, Hawai‘i, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
Ms. Forrester has over a decade of cross-cultural, global leadership experience in the education, community, business, think-tank and government sectors. Throughout her career, Ms. Forrester has built enduring relationships and created partnerships across diverse disciplines to lead innovative and complex initiatives which address multifaceted global, regional, and local challenges by implementing holistic, culturally responsive, stakeholder-owned programs.
Most recently, Ms. Forrester served as director of the Young Leaders Program at Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Her deep roots in the Pacific underscored her career as an associate lecturer at her alma mater, Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Studies Unit, where she focused on health promotion and advancing educational outcomes for Indigenous students.
Following her time at QUT, Ms. Forrester joined the Australian diplomatic service and was appointed Consul in Los Angeles and later, Acting Director of the United Nations and Commonwealth Section. She subsequently accepted the role of Senior International and Government Relations Advisor for the Australian Industry Group. In 2011, she moved to Hawai’i to become a fellow at the East-West Center’s Asia-Pacific Leadership Program and was awarded the Amanda and Natalie Ellis Women Leaders Scholarship. At Pacific Forum CSIS, she concurrently held a WSD-Handa Fellowship for her research on the impact of social media on Next-Generation attitudes toward international issues.
She has been published on Australian foreign policy, Australia-U.S. relations, and modernizing the U.S. alliance system in the Asia-Pacific region. In February 2014, the U.S. Congress recognized her leadership of the Young Leaders Program and its contribution to cross-cultural interaction, education in policy making, and facilitation of inter-generational dialogues.
Ms. Forrester is of Wiradjuri Australian decent, a heritage that serves as the foundation of her life-long personal and professional commitment to Indigenous communities in Australia and across the Pacific. She is a sought after thought-leader with U.S., with extensive international media exposure.
About PREL
PREL envisions a world where all children and communities are literate and healthy, global participants grounded in and enriched by their cultures. Throughout the Pacific, a region of diverse languages and cultures, PREL collaborates with clients and partners using the proven results of research to improve schooling and promote community change. For more information about PREL, visit www.prel.org.
Bisi Alimi is a CONTROVERSIAL, PASSIONATE, and POWERFUL internationally renowned researcher, public speaker, policy analyst, television pundit and campaigner. His expertise on Social Justice ranges from Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity to Race and Race Relations, Feminism, Education and Poverty Alleviation.
He has appeared on many international television stations as a social and political pundit, including, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and CCTV, and outlets like NPR and the Washington Post has profiled him.
His TEDx talk, “There should never be another Ibrahim” has been listed as one of the 14 most inspiring queer TEDtalk of all time, his talk at the Aspen Ideas festival left the audience asking for more. Alimi gave the closing speech at a Daily Beast event hosted at the New York Public Library titled, “I am Bisi Alimi and I am not a victim.”
“The Development Cost of Homophobia” is his most successful article that was translated into over 15 languages globally. His most recent article for the Guardian: “If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history” has gone on to great review and cited in many news article globally.
He has many laurels for his work
globally. He consults for World Bank on Economic impact of
Homophobia and serves on the Bank advisory board on SOGI. He was a
2014 New Voices fellow at the Aspen Institute. Listed 19 most
important LGBT person in UK 2015 and was named 77 on the World
Pride Power List 2014.
Ruth Ebenstein is an American-Israeli writer, historian and health activist who loves to laugh a lot and heartily. She has published her writing on both sides of the Atlantic and won two first-place Simon Rockower awards, sponsored by the American Jewish Press Association, One was for an essay that ran in Tablet about her Israeli-Palestinian breast cancer support group's trip to Sarajevo to meet other survivors who support each other across religious and ethnic lines. Through the group, Ruth befriended Ibtisam Erekat, a devout Muslim Palestinian woman whom she now calls sister. She has written about this friendship for The Atlantic.
Ruth graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and completed an M.A. in German history magna cum laude from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A native of Southfield, Michigan, Ruth lives with her husband, three sons and two stepdaughters in Jerusalem. She is writing a memoir about her experience, tentatively titled, Ibtisam and I: An unexpected friendship across the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Ruth's story has been covered by the BBC, NPR, The Atlantic, & Alhurra TV. Her uplifting message: you can turn something bad into something good.
My name is Dennis Gyamfi, born and bred in Ghana but moved over to the United Kingdom at the age of 10. At my arrival I had the opportunity to meet my siblings and mother for the first time. In the United Kingdom I lived on Somerleyton estate and attended Christ Church Primary school all in the South London area Brixton. Living and going to school in one of the deprived areas in London, Great Britain after moving from Africa I found myself involved in small drug dealing which lead me to a young man in my estate by the name Solomon, Solomon got me involved with a youth project because he saw the potential in me to do well. He got me involved with a youth programme by the name of X-it programme. I worked with X-it programme for over 3 years and in those 3 year i helped the programme achieve Public Service Award and and 72% of non offending young people.
In 2008 I started my own company by the name of Endz2Endz, the name means to bring community together. We do this through media. Endz2Endz was started through friends, I went to college and got together with my friends to start Endz2Endz which was to promote the positives that young people were up to rather than the Negativity. Endz2Endz won Spirit of London Award, won Cinemagic award through Quiet Storm an advertisement company run by a very good friend of mine Trevor Robinson. I also interviewed most of London Mayor candidates for the London mayor Election, I interviewed Brian Paddick (Lib Dem), Jenny Jones (Green Party), Siobhan Benita (Independent Party) and Valerie Shawcross (Labour Party) all on the subject of unemployments, Education, Racism and community unity.
From the time I won my Spirit of London Award in 2010, I got diagnosed with Leukemia which is a form of cancer. I was in hospital for 3years (2013), but while in the hospital I was still working on Endz2Endz projects. When I came out of hospital in 2013, I decided to run courses with Endz2Endz teaching young people photography, film making, graphic designing etc. I believed in empowerment and encouragement and through Endz2Endz I was able to deliver them both
Joan Pons Laplana is a proud Nurse, a change agent and a Care Maker.
He is on a mission to turn the healthcare system upside down and empower frontline staff & patients to lead together.
Joan is also a Dignity Champion, a Dementia Friend and a PFD Champion. He is involved in promoting Equality and Diversity across all his activities.
Recently he has also become an ambassador for the Mary Seacole statue appeal and very recently has join the HSCVoices Core Team.
Joan became a Hubble (Change Day volunteer) and a Care Maker for the chance to encourage other frontline staff to make a difference and to convince them that you don’t need permission to initiate change. As a Nurse he tries to transfer his passion and ignite other people’s hearts, and hopefully inspire courage for others to take the first step to try to improve the place they work.
He is very active in Social Media and in 2014 won the Nursing Times Tweeter Nurse of the Year. You can follow him at @thebestjoan
Person-centered care is his passion. Making a difference is what motivates him to get up every morning and go to work with a smile. Honesty and transparency are also vital and they are part of his core values.
Joan is an example of the new sort of nurse entrepreneur who never stops coming up with ideas. The difference between him and those who just talk about new ways of doing things is that he is unafraid to change his role, job and even location. He just gets on and delivers
One of the world’s foremost experts on pharmaceutical supply chains in emerging markets, is a senior research fellow at the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute and director of the institute’s Health Care Research initiative. He was previously a professor of supply chain management at the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program and a research affiliate at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics.
Prashant is an advisor and consultant to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, and the Government of Zambia. Recently, he worked on a project in Tanzania to study suppliers’ incentives for making artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) drugs available and affordable for the treatment of malaria. The Clinton Health Access Initiative is sponsoring this project with funding from the Gates Foundation.
Earlier in his career, Prashant served as a Senior Strategic Modeler at Health Products Research in New Jersey and as an Operations Consultant at KLG Systel and HOLTEC Consulting. He is a Chemical Engineer by training and has an MBA and PhD in Management Science.
English psychotherapist and author of The Mood Cards which is a card deck of 42 moods and emotions for self-awareness, empathy, connection, emotional intelligence and healing.
Co Founder of The Kindness Offensive (or TKO for short).
The Kindness Offensive (or TKO for short), founded in 2008 by Robert Williams with three of his friends, had mobilised volunteers to donate, wrap and then deliver 38 tonnes of toys across the capital.
Recipients included children in hospitals across London, while the children of prisoners were also supplied with gifts so they could give their parent a present at visiting time.
It was just one of the latest initiatives undertaken by the group as part of its commitment to undertake "random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty".
So far, these acts have included: going round festivals giving out pineapple drinks to revellers; giving spare change to people instead of asking for it, like most charities; cooking free pancakes on Shrove Tuesday; and handing out chocolate bars to random people on streets of London.
Daniella Cohen is a senior at Highland Park High School in Illinois and is passionate about empathy and education. She currently serves on youth advisory boards to Born This Way Foundation and Ashoka’s Youth Venture. She is also the co-founder of her own project, G.I.V.E. (go.innovate.volunteer.educate). G.I.V.E. funds and installs internet, films educational peer to peer videos, and sends computers, pen-pal letters, and flip flops signed with messages of hope to schools in India, Uganda and Rwanda.
Daniella has spoken at TEDxRedmond, numerous universities, conference and has led multiple Ashoka’s Youth Venture workshops. She was featured in a Belgian documentary: “30 under 30 International Social Entrepreneurs” by GoYoung. Daniella has received several awards including the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, the Build-A-Bear’s Huggable Hero Award, and the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. (www.DaniellaCohen.co www.GoGiveProject.com)
I'm just a regular dude, a nurse, a father, husband, a nerd and founder of a non-profit that builds EPIC costumes for kiddos in wheelchairs!!!
I look at life through eyes that try to see the best in all. I cling to hope and happiness and know that no matter what comes my way if I just hang onto my faith, do right and good, things will work out the way they are supposed to. That's me a simple regular dude. I love life!
-Ryan Weimer
Currently the Executive Director & Founder Compassion Society, a non profit organization that assists in the growth of a generous community of people who help one another to lead improved lives. Ms. Mina Wahidi has a history of local and international volunteer work. Having visited Haiti and Afghanistan. Also, through efforts with Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar, achieved a $3000 donation for Badilisha Day Orphanage in Kenya.
A Dyslexic by birth and a Dreamer by Choice , he’s often addressed as ‘The Madman’- Swapnil manifests the name to its core. Starting up in his early twenties post a coveted career at RBI, his Journey throughout has been the core of his Inspiration. His work has spanned poverty alleviation, opportunity creation, exploring and saving endangered civilizations in the Naxal Jungles of India through his venture Naked Colours. (estd. 2011). He now spins his learning from footpaths, gruelling jungles, kidnappings and empty bank accounts into a unique behavioural psychology based module called Livemad. His sessions have helped spread Hope among people with suicidal tendencies, depression, abuse and rape victims, sex trade workers and children with special abilities.
Inspired by the power to create, he has innovated with products ranging from contraceptives to mattresses, that heal! With 8 patents in process in the areas of Women Safety, Marketing Information dissemination, physiological efficiency, and concepts based on universal ratio. ‘Invention for Change’ remains his vision and has helped beget Joy in more than 35 regions across underdeveloped and developing economies of the World. As a vow to provide safety and honour to our Women, he developed World’s cheapest self defense device, Shakti, a unique whistle dagger that can be worn as a bracelet. The device accentuates the power to fight back and lets women defend for themselves. The idea is currently open for funding and support.
Swapnil, with his venture Naked Colours is a case study at Newcastle University (NCU) and LBS (U.K.), University of Tampa, Florida. HBR and IISc Bangalore. At the age of 25, Swapnil’s became the Youngest Social Entrepreneurship enterprise to be featured in Forbes Magazine (International). ‘Indian Express’, ‘The Better India’ magazine and Himalaya Foundation Award recently featured his Life story.
A freethinker, and a devotee of Creation, Swapnil loves to create and is in the process of developing a 700 syllable rich language and its lexicon.
Three books based on the inspiration he derives from the one Life we all have, are en route to find their way into bookshelves and hearts, soon.
His Life story is soon to be portrayed in a feature film, as well.
He may be reached at swapnil@livemad.org
A professional athlete from Singapore in the sport of Rowing. In 2013, She took the risk of losing her job to train full-time. She went over to train in Sydney where the training environment is more conducive for high performance rowers. She used her savings to support herself in Sydney. The whole experience was worth it because I became Singapore's first individual Gold medalist in the South-East Asian Games in 2013.
Now, Saiyidah is embarking on the journey to become Singapore's first rower to qualify for the Olympics. The journey has been long and arduous since she won 2 years ago with events that hinder her performance like injuries, having self-doubt and all the other distractions in life. She has been 5 months away from the qualifiers and I am not going to let anything get in the way between me and my dreams.