This blog is written by Krishna Priya Dwibhashi

It all started with a message I received from Erica one morning- “Hey Krishna! A social entrepreneurship summit named Impulse 2023 is happening in Hyderabad next week. I think it’s a great opportunity for you to represent Project Tech4Dev’s work there. Are you interested in going?”.  

When I first read the message, I had a strong impulse to say no. It’s not because I was not excited to go – but because I was slightly nervous about whether I could represent the organization on such a big platform, as I was only 15 days into the organization.

But I am glad I said YES!

Over the next week, we (Siddhant, Sneha & I) started preparing ourselves for the summit by collating all the information and collateral with the help of all our team members, as this was the first in-person event/showcase we were attending as an organization. Before we could realize it, D-day had come! 

We started our day early in the morning to set up our stall for the Expo. The event started off with speeches of inspiring social entrepreneurs like Anshu Gupta and the Founders of Bala Vikasa. The thought that Anshu Gupta shared about the need to develop a new language and lens to view development work and emphasize the need to do away with words like donors and beneficiaries, which reduce the communities’ contribution to their development, will stay with me for a long time!

Once the expo started, we three got very busy explaining our work to diverse Social Entrepreneurship ecosystem stakeholders – social entrepreneurs, impact investors, social incubators, mentors, and SE enthusiasts. We were glad at how our different initiatives clicked with different people.

The event also allowed us to see the work done by other social entrepreneurs & innovators. We were amazed to see different solutions being created to solve social problems- an educational app similar to byjus, but for deaf & mute students, a toilet for the physically disabled, sanitary napkin incinerator are a few of many such innovations. We also interacted with different stakeholders over networking dinner & post-sessions. We are grateful that every conversation brought in a new perspective and helped us understand the depth of Technology & Data challenges.

After an eventful day, we three sat together to reflect on how the event went. Out of all the things we discussed, answers for this particular question stuck with me- “What is one thing that we personally felt good about?”

Siddhant spoke about how during the day, he improved his confidence while explaining our work, despite him being an introvert & not being used to talking much. Sneha was happy that she could speak about our initiatives in front of the camera (press), where she would have stuttered if it had been a few years back. I was delighted with the way I represented myself & the organization during the event, despite being very new.

This reminded me of a quote by Benjamin Mee- “You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you something great will come of it.”

Siddhant’s 20 secs to break the ice with every new person, Sneha’s 20 secs while facing the camera & my 20 secs in saying yes to Erica, brought us something great- an experience of a lifetime!