Inspiring Young Leaders Interview Series, Episode 1

A dialogue with inspiring change-makers

This interview was conducted by Sudesh Pokhrel with inspiring young leaders from around the world as a part of the Max Thabiso Edkins Climate Ambassador Program, the Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN), an initiative of the Youth-to-Youth Community of Young Professionals at the World Bank Group, in collaboration with Connect4Climate (C4C)

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Interviewee name : Tarun Masapeta

Student at Department of Commerce, MAHE studying Business Administration and majoring in Marketing. Founded Project EIFL and currently leading it.

Favourite quote

“ Job’s not done yet ” - Kobe Bryant

Hails from - Hyderabad, Telangana - India

Q. Please tell us about yourself and what best describes you? Your biographical journey, your dreams, your struggles and how it led to what you have become today ?

* We would love to know your story. Please feel free to be subjective/passionate.

I always dreamed of watching my favourite sports franchises live in-person and sometimes my super confident part tells me that I should work real hard to ensure that one day I get to own a part of any of these franchises. That is essentially who I am, I am a passionate individual but I enjoy my own company and really am a person who likes keeping to himself. From what I do, where I study and what I like, it really has been an interesting challenge for me to push myself out of my social comforts and engage.

Section : Your Initiative.

Q. What led you/inspired you take on the cause or climate advocacy or the SDG action that you are involved with? Was it a personal encounter, a discrimination you felt or a policy injustice you encountered? Please feel free to state any other reasons of your inspiration?

* Your stories can be a beacon of inspiration for many

After graduating high school, I looked back into what I learned and asked myself ; apart from the textbook prescribed subjects and text, what practicality was there? We have a history class, but we don’t have a future class. Imagine if all of us went into this Pandemic with an emergency fund and we knew how to invest. How many lives could have been saved? This was one thought that always ran through my mind, and it was sad to see that the impoverished and marginalised communities were the ones who were barely getting any attention. This is a step forward to make the world more equitable and to bring in change through positive citizen leadership. We bring financial literacy sans gender, caste, religion and race.

Q. What would be your greatest strength and weaknesses? What would be the one thing you would change/improve in your-self? Do you often reflect on yourself with healthy criticism so that you could be a better leader/person?

I cannot live without feedback and getting suggestions from my mentors to learn how I can improve and work on my weaknesses. I like to take my feedback as a badge of honour. I think my biggest strength is that I work well in teams and really am a person who looks out for the team overall. I would like to improve my overall functioning in pressure situations. I think that is very essential for any individual whether they have a leadership role or not is to remain calm and work on getting solutions.

Q. what issue is your project addressing or what community problem are you involved with? Do you face roadblocks in solving the issues? For how long have you worked with the issue and what kind of people do you come across? Do they share your concerns or they don’t?

We aim to empower the youth in low-income and emerging countries with financial literacy. Through this, we directly and indirectly contribute to the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1 (no poverty), 4 (quality education) and 8 (decent work and economic growth. I launched this project in May 2021 and ever since have had the privilege to meet extraordinary individuals and change-makers running projects of their own to work towards providing basic education facilities in the grassroots of their community. It’s only been about a year and 2 months since I started this, I wish there can be more scope for us to conduct in-person workshops and provide in-person support for all our collaborators and partners.

Q. what is your prime vision for the social change your addressing? Would you like to share or propose any innovative idea that could work with this pursuit? How would the outcome be beneficial to the target group/entity you are addressing ?

We envision a financially literate world by being every youngster’s go-to financial awareness program to intellectually equip themselves. Such learned youngsters can improve their socio-economic status by making well-informed decisions through the program.

Q. What decision or outcomes do you expect to be delivered from your actions/advocacy?

I think it would be a job done well if our students can start a conversation within themselves about their own financial situation and grow on from there. They should layout goals for them and constantly research on how to get there while working towards it as well.

Section 3. Your Hopes for the future

Q. How do you see the Youth of your country? In two to three lines, what is your overall vision of the role of youth or what should be the role of youth in changing your country’s future?

* Please feel free to go beyond 2-3 lines if you wish.

The youth has the power to fix most of our wrongs or completely make it fatal. We as a youth are working towards pushing our country and world forward, to make it a better place and our role is to be sensible stakeholders. We need to take account for our actions and be a solution driven generation rather than a complaining one.

Q. Tell us a story about a recent growth experience you've had. What tips can you provide from your daily practice and routine that you feel leaders should follow even when they have a hectic schedule?

Having self reflection for about 5 minutes everyday. It doesn’t matter if it is work related or not, just simply talk with yourself and understand how far are you from reaching your goals and tell yourself what’s working, what’s not and where you can do better.

Q. How were you persistent with your work or how did you cultivate a positive mindset during the time of COVID- 19 when the world had become volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous?

The power of the internet gets a lot of credit for this. I was able to network with different individuals who have different backgrounds and stories to share. That right there kept me going everyday and it kept me positive.

Q. When you feel overwhelmed by competing obligations, how do you prioritize and keep moving forward to reach your goals?

I like to take a short timeout to regroup individually and then come back with a calmer mind.

Q. Anything else you would like to share about yourself or to the youth of the world. Perhaps a word of wisdom, a sensible advise or anything else?

In the words of Sharad Vivek Sagar, a social entrepreneur - “change takes time, but it also takes people”

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are borne by the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the Reimagining Society.