Global Indianstory EntrepreneurshipMaanya Singh: 17-year-old empowering women through financial independence

Maanya Singh: 17-year-old empowering women through financial independence

Written by: Charu Thakur

(April 30, 2023) From a deep-rooted interest in sustainability and a love for handicrafts, Sajida from Udupi started Ecoco Creations, a brand that creates beautiful handicrafts out of coconut shells. While her products were getting some traction on social media, her tryst with Incuba Naari filled her with a renewed sense of excitement as their mentorship program helped provide with right “guidance for social media and marketing.” The entrepreneur from Karnataka is one among many whose lives have been changed for the good by Incuba Naari, an NGO accelerator platform that provides free mentorship and business exhibitions for women small business owners across India. The brainchild of a 17-year-old from Bengaluru – Maanya Singh – has impacted the lives of many women entrepreneurs in the last few years. “When you empower one woman entrepreneur, she creates a ripple effect,” Maanya tells Global Indian.

The Class 11 student found inspiration in her mother, and at a young age realised the importance of financial independence. This led her to push the envelope and start Incuba Naari in 2020. With 927 followers on Instagram, it has touched the lives of many small-time women entrepreneurs who were looking for scalability. “Our first cohort was a success, and now we are organising the second one in August this year.”

Maanya Singh

Mom’s the inspiration

The Dallas born has early memories of her mother sitting at the potter’s wheel and carving beautiful pieces at her garage-turned-studio in the US. She remembers running around the garage as young as four or five while her mom worked on her art. “When she sold her first piece at Dallas City Art Exhibition, I was so proud of her.” She adds that her mom quit her corporate job after the birth of her two kids, but it was the weekend pottery workshops that sparked her passion for pottery. She continued following her passion even after returning to India a few years ago, and it soon turned into a full-blown venture. “Our parents wanted us to be in touch with our culture, and that was one of the reasons we relocated to India, and I am glad that we did. It made me understand what it is to be an Indian.”

A few years into settling in Bengaluru, her mom opened a professional studio in the city and gave the reins of social media marketing to Maanya. This was a turning point for the 17-year-old as she understood “how difficult it is for small entrepreneurs to get out there and take their business to the next level.”

This initial realisation led her to dive into research that showed that 90 percent of the small ventures started by women had mothers at the forefront, while the remaining 10 percent were led by college students. At a young age, she started appreciating entrepreneurship, courtesy her mom, whom she saw evolving into a confident entrepreneur. However, she realised that mostly, “there is an inherent belittlement of women’s labour, especially mothers. Even some women brush off their small businesses as a hobby.” This pushed her to take action as she understood that financial independence is one of the ways to empower women. Keen to understand the stories of the women entrepreneurs, she ended up cold mailing a number of them asking to interview them, which gave Maanya a sneak peek into the lives, struggles, and journeys of women entrepreneurs.

The start of Incuba Naari

This was the start of Incuba Naari – a platform that took shape in 2020. A few interviews later, she decided to share these stories on social media for better reach. Soon, more women started joining the community and sharing their stories. The Indus International School student credits being a part of a startup youth program that helped increase the accessibility of entrepreneurship to young people. “After conducting 40 interviews, I published a research paper that helped me understand how financial independence empowers women. However, many of them require mentorship, networking, or digital amplification. Because of my mom and the startup program, I was uniquely in a position to help these women, and I am grateful for it.”

In 2022, the Incuba Naari incubation program came to life, thanks to the MYP Student Innovators Grant, where the teenager was awarded $8000 for her social impact innovation. “The first cohort saw women entrepreneurs from different parts of the country coming for the mentorship session – some to learn social media management, and others came for exhibitions and getting their names out there apart from the revenue boost.”

Ray of hope for women entrepreneurs

The mentorship program turned out to be a “ray of hope” for Assam-based Piyali Dey Maity, a fashion designer-turned-baker, who is the founder of Crusty Tasty. Sharing her journey with Global Indian, the entrepreneur reveals that Covid-19 hit her family hard as her husband, who was in Dhaka, had to cut down his business visa and return home. “While he underwent therapy, we spend all our savings on establishing my home baking business. It was the time I started marketing my designer cakes and the business showed us the light towards financial independence.” It was her husband who found Incuba Naari on Google, and soon Piyali joined hands with Maanya for the mentorship program. “Maanya is an amazing woman for her age and doing incredible work for women entrepreneurs like us. Incuba Naari has emerged as a ray of hope in my life and their mentorship programs are greatly helpful,” she adds.

The scaling up of businesses, thanks to Incuba Naari, has helped these women entrepreneurs to not only achieve financial independence but also put their talent on the table for the world to see. Minali Furia of Ras Creations is one such woman entrepreneur whose life changed after she joined forces with Incuba Naari. A handmade jewelry designer, she never found the support of her husband. It wasn’t until 2021 that she started selling her work through Facebook pages and WhatsApp as she wanted to afford the education of her daughter. After sharing her story with Incuba Naari, her business started expanding. “Even my husband started supporting me, so thank you Incuba Naari for such a great platform and initiative.”

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The vision

At 17, Maanya has been able to create a community for women entrepreneurs, and she is happy that she could “establish trust and credibility.” These last two years have been a learning curve for the teenager who could help deliver what these entrepreneurs wanted. She is currently working on the website of Incuba Naari – a digital platform where mentors and entrepreneurs can interact. With 20 active volunteers in tow, Incuba Naari is making a difference in the lives of women entrepreneurs – by not just helping them scale their businesses but also making them confident entrepreneurs who are ready to take on the world.

Currently preparing for her exams, Maanya plans to take a gap year after finishing school before applying for colleges in the US. However, she is excited for her two-week summer internship at Grameen Bank in Dhaka which works across Bangladesh to reduce poverty through easy financial access to the rural poor, especially women. “It will be a great learning experience.”

Maanya, who loves to swim and watch movies in theatres, credits her parents for being the wind beneath her wings. “My dad helped me write my first business email, and as a 15-year-old, I would practice my pitches on them. They not only gave me honest advice but also kept me grounded and objective.”

Maanya wants to sustain Incuba Naari as long as she can as she has a vision. “I want to create a gender-equal future in India where every woman can unlock the power of financial independence through entrepreneurship,” she signs off.

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Published on 30, Apr 2023

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Teen scientist Atreya Manaswi’s eco-friendly pesticide helps beekeepers combat hive pests

(December 1, 2023) Five years ago, Atreya Manaswi was on a fishing trip with a friend and his grandfather. The friend's granddad, who was an experienced beekeeper, was entertaining the two eleven year olds with stories about his bees. "He was telling us about how, decades ago, he would get dozens of barrels of honey and how that season, he'd gotten merely three," Atreya told Frederick Dunn, Cornell University's Master Beekeeper, in an interview. "He was describing this almost tearfully." Atreya was so moved by the story that he came home and began to do some research. It was the start of a new interest and profound breakthroughs for the young scientist. Five years on, the young Global Indian, who began his university-level research at the age of 12, has a slew of awards to his name, the most recent being the Barron Prize 2023. Now an eleventh grader at Orlando Science High School, Atreya has been conducting research in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida since the age of 12. He has developed a novel, eco-friendly, low-cost organic pesticide that acts against small hive beetles and varroa mites, some of the leading causes

en conducting research in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida since the age of 12. He has developed a novel, eco-friendly, low-cost organic pesticide that acts against small hive beetles and varroa mites, some of the leading causes of hive collapse and the decline in honey production. He is also the author of The Bee Story, a children's book about bees, environment and agriculture, meant to raise awareness about the pollinator crisis. That apart, Atreya is an active public speaker and has spoken at numerous international conferences, with the support of the UN and the World Food Forum. He is a Top Honors Awardee at the BioGENEius Challenge US, made it to the top 30 at the Broadcom MASTERS, won third place at the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals & Society for Science and is a published author in the Journal of Applied Entomology.

[caption id="attachment_34377" align="aligncenter" width="392"] Atreya Manaswi[/caption]

A young researcher is born

Atreya’s research led him to the South Florida Bee College's bi-annual conference, where he first crossed paths with Dr Jamie Ellis, a world leading entomologist. "That's where things really took off and I began my honeymoon research journey," he says. Dr Ellis would go on to become his first mentor. "After the seminar, I went up and asked him a question and we started speaking," Atreya recalls. He made an elevator pitch, daunting as it was for an elementary school student to approach a world class scientist. His other mentor is Dr Charles Stahl, at the US Department of Agriculture, and his ninth grade Chemistry teacher, Mrs Bright, he says.

Born to scientifically-inclined parents in Gainesville, Florida, Atreya's interest in STEM had been encouraged right through his childhood. His father is a physician and he was exposed to science always. "My parents would buy me chemistry kits and tools to play with, like different skeletons I could put together, and Legos, that fostered my interest in science," he said. Although he didn't get early access to labs, he learned early on how to use the cold call approach, which worked out well for him with Dr Ellis. "That's what the real world is like," Atreya remarks, showing remarkable wisdom for his age. "Nobody is going to hand you an opportunity."

Atreya's work and his elevator pitch impressed Dr Ellis, who invited him to take a tour of his labs at the University of Florida. That's where Atreya's own research began, really. During his first year, at the age of 12, he studied nutrition management with pollen substitutes. It was a laboratory study, with ten honeybees in ten different cages. "I was looking at different diet substitutes that can be given by beekeepers where there is a dearth of pollen or if the pollen isn't diverse in the natural environment," he explains. He experimented with wildflower pollen and three forms of commercially made substitutes to see what the bees preferred. He found that the bees preferred wildflower pollen, followed by a substitute called AP 23. He went on to co-author a research paper with his team, which included Dr Ellis, which was peer reviewed and then published in the Journal of Applied Entomology.

Researching hive beetles

In his second year, he began studying hive beetles, which colonise the hives. Found in over 30 states in the US, mostly in places with warmer, more humid climates, these tiny beetles eat and defecate in the hives, leading to the fermentation of honey and in extreme cases, force the bees to abandon the hives completely. There are plenty of treatments available but many are chemical-based. "These chemicals pose a severe risk to wildlife, aquatic organisms, honey bees and humans - and are also extremely expensive, costing anywhere between USD 16-22," Atreya says. Moreover, traces remain in the honey, the wax and the royal jelly, which are either eaten by humans or used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Atreya decided to look into organic substitutes. Apple cider vinegar is the most popular option among beekeepers but is also fairly expensive, leading to very high costs for beekeepers with large apiaries and several hives. "We tested seven organic agents in the form of field trials," he says. "I got stung a lot, and I learned about the hardship and determination that goes into beekeeping. Atreya and his team used seven organic agents - yeasts, scented oils like peanut, grapeseed, cantaloupe puree, mango puree and beer. "They are all odorous, basically. And our control was apple cider vinegar," he says. The beetles are naturally drawn to these substances and are known to feed on sap and rotting fruit. The strategy was to use things that the beetles like, making it easier for beekeepers to lure and trap them.

The beer-loving hive beetles

What they found was transformative. The beetles loved the beer - they had used Miller's High Life because it was inexpensive and readily available. In fact, it worked several times better than the control, apple cider vinegar. "That was the second year of research," he said. "Then we worked to refine that." Beer is up to 95 percent water, and a lab made concentrate would be far more effective. So they got to creating a synthetic blend, that was affordable and also attractive to the beetles.

The process is fascinating. It involves a polymer resin placed in a glass tube, which is attached to a vacuum and placed in a beer bottle. "Air from the beer container is pulled and trapped inside the polymer,” Atreya explains. The chemicals trapped on the polymer are then analysed and “the compounds that weigh less are selected.”, he says, adding, “Then we take beetles under a microscope and extract their antennae. The antennae can function on their own for up to five minutes and were made to respond to different chemicals on a forked electrode. "The electrode picks up what they're sensing. It's very interesting and fun to try in the lab," he smiles. The beer was 33 times more effective than apple cider and the blend they created is only half the cost of the best known chemical substitute.

Finding recognition

It's game changing research, and since it could provide beekeepers everywhere with cost-effective, eco-friendly solution to a significant problem, Atreya's work has generated a lot of interest. At the International BioGENEius Challenge US, where he was named the Global Highest Honors Awardee, Atreya interacted with other brilliant young researchers as well as top pharma companies who set up stalls and scouted for talent. He's a regular in the STEM competition circuit in the US and Canada, which comes with a lot of benefits, apart from substantial cash prizes. "The most important thing is the critical feedback you get at the regional and national levels," Atreya says. "There's also recognition and building a great network, it's an inner circle of like-minded people." Learning to take feedback, he says, is the most important thing. "If you can't do it, you won't get better." It's vital, he says, because at the national and regional levels, everyone is so exceptional.

All this and Atreya Manaswi is still only in the eleventh grade. When he's not studying bees, he practices Taekwondo and holds a second degree black belt. "I also really enjoy theatre," he says, adding with a smile that he enjoys antagonistic roles! He has also started a non profit that conducts workshops on STEM learning for students in local schools. "My aim is to host an international workshop for students around the globe, focussing on different STEM topics, tools and technologies," he adds.

Follow Atreya Manaswi on LinkedIn and read more on his website.

What your Global Indian story? Write to us at editor.gi@globalindian.com

Aadya Joshi: The Stanford grad spreading awareness on native plants through The Right Green

(May 14, 2024) When she was a junior at the American School of Bombay, Aadya Joshi founded The Right Green, an organisation that spreads awareness about native plants and their ecological role in providing food and habitat for local species of insects and birds. Now a student at Stanford University, Aadya also received the prestigious Children's Climate Prize in 2020. Everyday, Aadya Joshi would notice the neighbourhood police station on her way home from school in Mumbai. Outside the station was a vacant lot, full of confiscated vehicles that had not been claimed by their owners. Locals had also begun adding their trash, and the result was a landfill in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. Aadya wondered why nobody was doing anything about it, and in the end, decided that she would be the one to try. "In the end, I went to the police commissioner and the inspector and I said I can make a garden in this garbage dump if it's not being used productively," the Global Indian says. The police took a while to decide but ultimately agreed. [caption id="attachment_37799" align="aligncenter" width="577"] Aadya Joshi when she was in high school[/caption] Aadya gathered friends and residents together

idth="577"] Aadya Joshi when she was in high school[/caption]

Aadya gathered friends and residents together and for the next month, they met every weekend to clean out the trash. Then they removed the contaminated soil and replaced it, and turned some of the scrap metal into pots. Finally, they planted a garden in the old garbage dump. It was a success for Aadya in more ways than one. She saw that her work could have an impact, and understood the power of communities. She wanted to do more and began attending workshops, where she learned that restoring green cover is more than just planting trees. The key is to plant native plant species, even in a place where urbanisation has long since taken over plant cover.

The importance of native species

From there, Aadya, who was then a student at the American School of Bombay, began her own journey of learning. Eventually, she arrived at the work of Dr Doug Tallamy, a professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He taught her how that planting non-indigenous species can do more harm than good, while native plants will also help restore and nurture the ecosystem of local insects and in turn, birds.

"We are faced with the sixth mass extinction of species, majorly because of the loss of natural habitats and native plants. It has disturbed the food cycle," Aadya says. "Native plants are a vital source of food for insects, and in turn for other species like birds and small animals. Hence the loss of native plants and their replacement with exotic, non-native plants has a cascading effect that results in a significant decline in biodiversity." In fact, she realised that pigeons and crows dominate Mumbai because the trees, which are not local, don't support biodiversity.

This is a remnant of colonial times, as the British had planted hundreds of foreign species of flora across the country. These species, like eucalyptus, were adopted by locals and now cover huge swathes of land, but are not conducive to other plants and trees, or even so to birds, bees and other insects. "In India, but especially Mumbai, you see a lot of colonial, non-native invasive plants," says Aadya. "For example, rain trees. People say they have been here for so long they must be a vital part of our ecosystem." In truth, rain trees are native to Costa Rica and support wildlife that belongs to the ecosystem there. "If you plant native plants, then the insects come back, the butterflies come back, you have caterpillars, and with them the birds come back," she adds.

The Right Green

Aadya had learned that simply planting trees is not the answer, but how many others know that? Could she teach people what they should be planting and why? That's how Aadya launched The Right Green, in 2018, and began by offering workshops for children between the ages of five and 12. Starting out, she tested her ideas on her brother, to see if he could absorb her message. The idea was for kids to learn and also have fun. She also held workshops for adults, corporates and municipal authorities and worked to facilitate the development of native biodiversity gardens.

"The first part of the workshop gets them into nature, since we have a lack of open spaces in Mumbai," Aadya explains. "The second thing is that I try to teach them how native plants support biodiversity, while non-native plants don't." The participants can explore the park they're in, and try and identify trees based on certain clues, and to observe the insects and birds they support. For instance, they can see for themselves that a mango tree is full of insect and avian life, where a rain tree might not even have any nests in its topmost branches. She even developed a unique financial model - the participants, if they find the workshop useful, pay it forward and cover the cost for the next batch of students. This also helps her take her mission to people from weaker financial backgrounds.

[caption id="attachment_37800" align="aligncenter" width="551"] Aadya Joshi is the founder of The Right Green[/caption]

The idea did well and soon parents of her students were also reaching out for advice on what to put in their home gardens. This led Aadya to phase two of The Right Green. She began building a database of native plants and ranked them by the amount of biodiversity they could support. She was following in the footsteps of Dr Tallamy, and reached out to him to learn more about his methods. "What I want is to create a resource that a lot of people can use so that when they plant their gardens, they will seed well," Aadya remarks.

Follow The Right Green on Instagram

Indrani Das: Indian-American STEM girl pioneers new treatment for brain damage

(December 15, 2022) A rebellion put Indian American Indrani Das on the path to research brain injuries, something that led her to win a quarter-million-dollar at the Regeneron Science Talent Search award as a 17-year-old. While most Indian parents coax their children to become doctors when they grow up, Indrani's parents weren't the same. With their roots in Kolkata, the banker couple had warned their daughter against opting for science. They even told her to not be a doctor. "Don’t become a doctor, it’s long and expensive. So, I decided I wanted to be a doctor,” she said. This passion led the Harvard University graduate to a medical-oriented project that focuses on her new approach to neurological damage. Always fascinated with brain injuries after learning about their irrevocable and devastating effects, she decided to learn more with her full-fledged project. As a senior at the Academy for Medical Science Technology in New Jersey, she explored how brain damage occurs and examined ‘astrogliosis’, a process that can lead to the excess production of a toxin that can damage neurons. She was keen to understand the nuances of how brain damage occurs and if she could figure out a way to slow

re out a way to slow or reverse the process. "My work centers on repairing the behaviour of supporting cells to prevent neuron injury and death. It was really that shock of what it can do to a person that pushed me to work," she explained.

[caption id="attachment_25387" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Indrani Das is an Indian-American young scientist[/caption]

This very work led her to win $250,000 at the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search, which is nicknamed the Junior Nobel Prize. "These diseases are so prevalent, so debilitating, it matters to me that I continue to work on this," she added. Her purpose is to treat traumatic brain injury which can lead to stroke, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases. "In all these injuries, there is an insult to brain tissue which on the one hand causes neurons to die, but on the other hand causes supporting cells to calm these neurons. In my model, I found one of the problems which contributing to the disease condition, and then I also helped to treat it," she added.

The New Jersey resident was only three when she heard about the Regeneron Science Talent Search, as her love for science began blossoming at a young age. Seeing her fascination for dinosaurs and discovery at a young age, her parents suggested she submit her fossil findings to the competition. Years later, she not just applied but also took home the top prize for promoting neuron repair. But it wasn't a cakewalk for the Indian American who went through a process of reading scientific literature and running small experiments over many years to finally work on the subject.

[caption id="attachment_25388" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Indrani Das won the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search[/caption]

It was at the beginning of her high school as a 14-year-old that she began working on the project with only a rudimentary understanding of biology. The lack of in-depth experience with molecular biology and neuroscience was one of the biggest challenges for Indrani, which was exacerbated by the absence of "any one source for basic information." "What set the tone for my work was the learning curve I went through in the following months and years. I spent hours each day reading research journals to come to an understanding of the problems in a brain injury that I wanted to study, and used my growing knowledge base to help me conduct more and more refined experiments," the Global Indian said in an interview.

Being educated at the Bergen County Academy for Medical Science Technology, one of New Jersey's top public schools, she would often push her limits by conducting her research projects. That's when she wanted to focus on the brain. "Neurodegenerative diseases ruin a person's quality of life, they take away from (a person's) basic humanity. It was that impact I wanted to understand and to study and to try and repair,” she told CNN. With the help of mentor-cum-biology teacher Donna Leonardi, she embarked on her research journey, and began learning how cells lived and died by growing and manipulating cell cultures. She's also a member of the Stevens Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, where she works on synaptic pruning, a critical process in brain development.

[caption id="attachment_25389" align="aligncenter" width="601"] Indrani Das with her parents[/caption]

Indrani, who aspires to be a physician-scientist, is grateful to her parents for letting her follow her passion. "I’ll never forget my parents’ stories of how they worked full-time day jobs while securing additional degrees by night, and saved religiously for over a decade before my birth to provide me with the most comfortable life possible. I wouldn’t say that I’ve chosen a different path from my family, but that my choices reflect the evolution of theirs. We’re living the American dream," she added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVRNZzQZezQ

Indrani, who has plans of wrapping up her Ph.D. program in the next 10 years, advises youngsters to not be limited by their circumstances and to break bigger goals into small steps. "At the end of the day, it’s not who you know, how much you know, or what you have that determines whether you achieve your goals – it's how much you are willing to go through. If you aren’t losing your drive to excel, you’re winning the game."

Reading Time: 4 min

Riya Karumanchi: Young innovator empowering the visually impaired with SmartCane

(November 14, 2024) One afternoon in Toronto, Riya Karumanchi was at a friend's house when she noticed her friend's grandmother, who was visually impaired, moving slowly and carefully around the room. The woman relied on her white cane, tapping it as she went, trying to feel her way through. The scene left a powerful impression on young Riya. "She was bumping into a lot of things, trying to get around," Riya recalled. "She told me the device she was using was literally just a stick. And it's never been updated." That ordinary white cane, a standard for over a century, suddenly looked painfully outdated and insufficient. Riya could not shake the question: Why hadn't anyone improved this? From that moment, Riya was on a mission. Her idea was simple yet revolutionary: visually impaired people deserve modern tools, just like everyone else. She founded SmartCane, a high-tech reimagining of the white cane that uses haptic-based GPS navigation and ultrasonic sensors to guide visually impaired users safely. "It was just so baffling to me," Riya said in an interview, "that nobody invented and innovated on something so traditional. And it’s been like that for so long." [caption id="attachment_40362" align="aligncenter" width="471"] Riya Karumanchi[/caption]

g class="wp-image-40362 size-full" src="https://stage.globalindian.com/youth//wp-content/uploads/2024/11/riya23.webp" alt="SmartCane | Riya Karumanchi | Global Indian" width="471" height="480" /> Riya Karumanchi[/caption]

Riya’s work quickly expanded. Over the past few years, she has launched two med tech companies. In addition to SmartCane, she founded another company focused on developing a wearable device for monitoring patients in retirement homes. Her work on this led her to join Deloitte’s aging technology team, where she led an innovation project to develop a wearable device powered by machine learning to predict falls up to three weeks in advance, aiming to improve the quality of life and independence for elderly users.

Turning Vision into Reality

With each step, Riya spent hours researching assistive technologies, often surprised by how overlooked the accessibility community was. “There are so many unsolved problems around the world,” she explained. “The accessibility community was a huge group that was being left behind!” Her goal went beyond improving one device—she wanted to set a new standard for inclusive innovation.

[caption id="attachment_40360" align="aligncenter" width="753"] Riya with SmartCane[/caption]

With the SmartCane, Riya wanted to bridge a technological gap for the visually impaired. The cane uses GPS to guide users with vibrations—one buzz for left, two for right. Ultrasonic sensors detect obstacles from knee to head level, alerting the user with vibrations. In the future, Riya plans to add a camera with AI that could recognize faces and identify objects. “It’s about improving accessibility and empowering people to move independently,” she explained, summing up SmartCane’s mission.

Her SmartCane prototype gained support from both the visually impaired community and investors. She raised over $85,000 from major companies like Microsoft and Arrow Electronics, and with a team of engineers, brought the SmartCane closer to commercialisation. "We've had so much support, and it’s been really helpful, so I'm excited to actually get the cane into the market," she said.

A Second-Generation Perspective

Riya’s ambition and work ethic come from her close-knit Indian family in Canada, part of a vibrant community that values social responsibility. Her parents, who encouraged her curiosity and creativity, also instilled in her a sense of responsibility to use technology for real-world solutions. “They always pushed me to think about how I could make a difference," the Global Indian said. Their support, along with her community’s values, helped her stay determined as she worked to make her vision a reality. Like many young, second-generation Indians, Riya balances respect for her heritage with a forward-thinking approach, finding ways to contribute to both her local and global communities

A New Generation of Women in STEM

Riya's success reflects a broader movement: young women are increasingly making their mark in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Riya herself recognises this shift. "I've been seeing an amazing movement that's been encouraging more and more females to pursue a career in STEM, with so many resources and support. This is wonderful, and we need more things like this!", said the girl who is pursuing MS computer science from Stanford University. Although women remain underrepresented in certain tech fields, initiatives that provide mentorship and STEM exposure are helping young girls find their place in these traditionally male-dominated arenas.

Riya’s success has inspired her to share her insights with others. She currently mentors startup founders in Silicon Valley and Toronto, particularly helping young people get started in entrepreneurship.

Exploring New Frontiers

Beyond health tech, Riya has recently turned her attention to clean technology, interested in how engineering can help develop sustainable energy solutions. This new area represents her commitment to using her skills and experience for social impact, whether in health, accessibility, or the environment. She’s currently exploring ideas in energy resource engineering and hopes to contribute to innovations that advance clean tech in practical ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzPKgDmOqsg

Looking Ahead

Riya’s goal is to create products that make a meaningful impact on people’s lives. Her SmartCane is just the start of her vision for accessible technology, and her work with elderly care and interest in clean tech show her commitment to addressing real-world problems. “Instead of building a company that has a valuation of a billion dollars, it’s the person that can impact a billion people,” she said. “It’s ambitious, but that’s my goal.”

In Riya Karumanchi, we see a powerful example of how today’s youth are using technology not just to innovate, but to make a positive difference. As SmartCane moves closer to commercial release and she explores new projects, Riya’s journey encourages others to think big, act with compassion, and break down barriers in the tech industry.

Follow Riya Karumanchi on LinkedIn

Diana awardee Netra Venkatesh is making knowledge accessible through SpunkGo

(May 17, 2023) A report by multinational marketing research company Frost & Sullivan indicates that the number of webinars grew by more than 153 percent in 2020. In the summer of the same year when the pandemic was at its peak, Indian-origin Dubai-based teen, Netra Venkatesh realised the potential of the webinars and how they connect the world. She was a student in grade IX then and wanted to harness the concept to connect people from far and wide. Soon she launched her social startup SpunkGo, an all-girls global organisation to make knowledge accessible in far-flung areas and managed to reach out to girls in 20 countries.  “I was supposed to attend a short-term course offered by a university when the pandemic reached its height. Due to this, the classes were shifted to the online mode.” Sceptical of how effective that mode of learning would be, Netra saw the course getting divided into a series of webinars and discovered that it was fun and engaging. “The whole concept was very fascinating to me,” she tells Global Indian. The student of grade XII, Dubai International Academy is happy about the fact that platforms like Zoom and Google Meet have made connecting

eight. Due to this, the classes were shifted to the online mode.” Sceptical of how effective that mode of learning would be, Netra saw the course getting divided into a series of webinars and discovered that it was fun and engaging. “The whole concept was very fascinating to me,” she tells Global Indian.

The student of grade XII, Dubai International Academy is happy about the fact that platforms like Zoom and Google Meet have made connecting with people so much easier. The teen with an entrepreneurial bent of mind leveraged this potential of technology to make a difference.

[caption id="attachment_30071" align="aligncenter" width="491"] Netra Venkatesh[/caption]

Her efforts have bestowed her with prestigious recognitions. George W Bush’s Points of Light Foundation added her to its Inspiration Honour Roll. She also went on to win the prestigious Diana Award in 2022 which is conferred to youngsters for their extraordinary contribution to society. Recently she received a gift from the CEO of Canon Inc, the Japanese multinational corporation. She was handed over the gift at Canon’s regional office in Dubai. “The gift is a part of the Global Good Award which is given to two young people every year for making social impact. There were several entries from across the globe, five people were shortlisted in my category and I was fortunate to win,” Netra tells.

Making knowledge accessible 

Just a few months before she founded SpunkGo, Netra had forayed into entrepreneurship with her startup RentEasy – a disruptive platform in the real estate tech space. She was intrigued by the high amount that sellers, purchasers, renters, and those willing to rent out had to shell out as a brokerage fee. Her father, whose ‘love to explore properties,’ had him talking about the exorbitant brokerage amounts, made Netra to come up with a solution in the form of her RentEasy app.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6SBprTkRfY

Already in the mode of a solution provider, she quickly donned the social entrepreneur’s hat driven by her webinar experiences and established SpunkGo. “I realised it is an excellent way to make education available to girls living in remote places.” SpunkGo broadens horizons in the areas of life skills – communication skills and mental health with webinars by experts in the field.  

Since everyone was embracing the new normal and the use of technology to reach out during the pandemic, Netra could find expert speakers without much fuss. She has since brought a diverse set of speakers to the SpunkGo webinars, ranging from a lawyer working at Microsoft to a young woman from a refugee settlement in Malawi. 

Using social media for good  

Netra is impressed by the wide reach of Facebook. “It’s a great medium for targeting specific regions and age ranges.” She used the social media’s advertising feature to reach her target audience – 16 to 24-year-old-females staying in remote locations. In quick succession she was able to form 20 chapters of SpunkGo in countries like ‘Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Singapore, India, UAE, Malawi, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia & Eritrea, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the United States’.

[caption id="attachment_30072" align="aligncenter" width="688"] SpunkGo ambassadors from different parts of the world[/caption]

 Using social media for a cause, SpunkGo connects girls in each country through dedicated groups so that apart from attending webinars, they can look at people around them, get inspired and grow personally and professionally.  

Making a difference 

The non-profit initiative, born out of the pandemic, has been offering free webinars to women in rural settings for the last three years with help of 30 young women who are addressed as SpunkGo ambassadors. They take care of the day-to-day functioning of the organisation voluntarily, while Netra handles strategy, social media marketing, communication with partners, and coordination with all of them.  

The organisation has partnered with Canada based Simbi Foundation. Under this partnership, members of SpunkGo global voluntary programme conduct book narration sessions for displaced children staying in Bidibidi and Palorinya refugee settlements in Uganda so that they can learn by listening. Netra’s organisation also supports the less fortunate in partnership with Shower’s Education Centre & Orphanage, Dandora Slum, Kenya, The Al Noor Centre, UAE, and Hope Foundation, Chennai. 

[caption id="attachment_30074" align="aligncenter" width="868"] Children at Simbi Foundation, one of the philanthropy partners of SpunGo[/caption]

To raise funds for these initiatives SpunkGo helps startups, SMEs, and individuals in website designing and social media marketing, the proceeds of which are utilised for the cause.  

Future ahead  

The Dubai-born teen who loves playing the piano, has plans to scale up her initiative in time. Her eyes are also set on a career in the corporate world in the domain of marketing, business, and economics. “Even when the world has got back to its pre-pandemic way of functioning, the webinars are going to be staple as people have gotten habituated to impart and access knowledge through this medium. It is not going to die down,” Netra signs off.  She seems to be right. “By 2025, the number of webinars will be 10x over the pre-pandemic level,” states the Frost & Sullivan report.

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