It was during his engineering stint at Vignan University, Guntur that Hyderabad-born Saketh Kothamasu realised that most people around him talk so much about social service and do very little about it. He didn’t want to be one among them. Six years into establishing his NGO Yuvatha that has done some work in the social service sector (with over 100 events) and having been part of the recently concluded Jagriti Yatra (where people from diverse fields across the country are chosen to travel in a train across villages in the country and be of some help to them), Saketh has now been chosen among 100 global leaders (with submissions received from applicants across 125 countries) who would take part in HIVE Global Leaders Programme, to be held in Boston this June.
Now, a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences pursuing a course in rural development, Saketh’s excitement after hearing the news knows no bounds. “My intention behind attending the conference is to state my keenness on developing social leaders. Things will fall in place only when there’s a right leader to represent people and the youth has a presence in the public system,” the youngster says. Among other qualities that lead to his selection in the conference have been the diverse instances where he’s proved his leadership qualities, starting from school and college.
Having worked three years in the corporate sector, Saketh was also tempted to take his MBA seat in a university abroad, before he felt a deep-rooted understanding of social service would help his case. “It was a tough decision to leave a comfortable life and convince my parents that I could make a career out of the move; what helped me was my admission into the rural development course at the same time. This is giving me a deep-rooted understanding of what it takes to better their life.” Having extensively worked with the tribal community before, he understood that the farming and the education sectors needed more help than others. As we speak, he informs that he would be spending a month’s time in a village close to Visakhapatnam.
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“I was also selected among global representatives for an Antarctica expedition, but Rs 20 lakh was too much of an amount to generate through crowdfunding initiatives. My father’s already taken retirement, wouldn’t want to put much financial pressure on him. I am thankful to people who are chipping in for my Boston trip,” Saketh’s gearing up for the D-day. (Readers can contribute to his trip at https://milaap.org/fundraisers/supportsakethtohive)