Theme: Zero: The Beginning and The End

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad
Survey No: 1/1
Hardware Park Maheshwaram Mandal, R.R. District
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 500005
India

Divya Reddy

Social Activist

Divya Reddy, a TEDx Speaker is

Farhad Merchant

CEO, Aga Khan Education Services India

Farhad has 25+ years of versatile experience in the corporate and social sectors, with international exposure, having worked with clients from various countries and industries. As CEO at Aga Khan Education Service, India, he drives organizational change and the school repositioning agenda, to bring in educational excellence and achieve effective student learning outcomes. He moved from IT into the non-profit sector with AKES in 2008, followed by Common Purpose. At Hubble Innovations, he worked towards transforming the lives of 10+ million children from low income families globally through contextual and impactful educational solutions. He is an Aspire Circle Fellow and he also serves on the Board of Common Purpose. Computer World magazine had featured him in their People section and he has recently been covered in the Book of Aspirations, featuring the biographic stories of 10 social leaders in India. He dabbles in creative writing with articles published in various magazines

Jonathan Long

Head of The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad, India

Inspired by a passion for the transforming power of education, Dr Jonathan Long has led schools around the world for 20 years. Post-graduate qualifications in education, philosophy, science, religion and psychotherapy, he graduated from Oxford University following doctoral research in the philosophy of education. His approach to releasing the potential in schools combines a holistic vision of education with an emphasis on community-building and the power of story-telling. Over the years, his interests have included skydiving, flying airplanes and sailing. He has travelled extensively in the Himalayas, including Ladakh, Bhutan and Spiti Valley. He has completed three Ironman triathlons, the Comrades 100km ultra marathon in South Africa, and a 4000km journey across the Sahara Desert. Dr. Long, sums up his philosophy in the words of the Scottish novelist, John Buchan “Our task is not to put the greatness back into humanity - but to elicit it - for the greatness is there already!”

Sougata Ghosh

Chef

Over 11 Years experience in hospitality industry

Swathi Kantamani

Managing Trustee, Natco Trust, Nacto Pharma Limited.

Swathi Kantamani has a Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Oxford, and an M.Phil from the University of Hyderabad. Swathi was first in the field of publishing, as an editor in Orient BlackSwan, India’s first ‘independence’ publishing company. She moved to NatcoPharma in the year 2006 as a manager and is now the Managing Trustee of Natco Trust under which all her development programs take shape. Keenly interested in education and pedagogy, she runs two schools for underprivileged children in rural areas and also spearheads a number of health and livelihood initiatives – touching and transforming a total of 2 lakh lives a year. Significantly, her focus has been largely on mother-child welfare, and cancer prevention and treatment for patients from challenged economic backgrounds. Under her leadership, Natco won the Golden Peacock Award for social responsibility, and health projects have been widely appreciated for the life-changing quality of their interventions.

Visalatchy Rose

Director, Department of Archeology and Museums, Government of Telangana.

Hailing from the southernmost part of India, Mrs. Visalatchy, considers school life to be the best part of her life, and the guides and teachers as the best of all gifts. She completed tenth grade at St.Joseph’s Convent Higher Secondary School, Nagercoil, attended Junior College at SBOA Schools and Jr. College, Chennai, and nurtured the dream of becoming a civil servant from eighth grade and was innately allergic to the ‘tuition center’ culture. She cleared UPSC Civil Services Exam on the first attempt and was the youngest to attend 72nd Foundational Course for Civil Servants in 2002, and is a firm believer in having a balance between material and spiritual pursuits in life and loves traveling to India’s great monuments and bio-hotspots.