India's growth as a major global economic power is undeniable. As the country continues to accelerate, how can the nation ensure that large portions of the population are not left behind? Unless issues of wealth disparity are addressed, the country's economic success will be hindered. The Social Enterprise panel will discuss the greatest challenges to improving the economic welfare of the entire Indian population. The panel will address India's progress in developing a sustainable model for all-inclusive growth through a change in the human resource profile at the grassroots levels. It will also dwell on the goal-convergence of the non-profit organizations (including foreign development agencies), government and the corporate, thus leading to true development of the lower rung of the socio-economic pyramid.

Speakers will highlight many of the innovative strategies that have been employed to address these issues and the challenges that remain. The panelists include experts in technology innovation, education reform, microfinance, and integration of illicit workers back into the mainstream economy.

THE PANELISTS
The following speakers and panelists have confirmed their attendance for the conference.

Akhtar Badshah  |   Alex Counts  |   Dr. Smarajit Jana  |   Aditya Natraj  |   Shefali Sunderlal

	Akhtar Badshah Akhtar Badshah as senior director of Community Affairs, Microsoft Corp.; manages the company's global community investment and employee programs. Badshah has more than 22 years of experience as an internationally recognized development expert. Badshah also manages Microsoft® Unlimited Potential, one of the company's global initiatives to promote digital inclusion and increased access to technology skills training in underserved communities. Drawing on his extensive background in information and communication technologies (ICT) for development, Badshah works closely with nonprofit organizations, governments and businesses in the United States and around the world to administer the program. Before joining Microsoft, Badshah was the CEO and president of Digital Partners Foundation, a Seattle-area nonprofit organization whose mission is to utilize the digital economy to benefit the poor. At Digital Partners, he established the organization's core programs in India, Africa and Latin America. His work includes development of the Digital Partners Social Venture Fund, designed to support the expansion of IT-based anti-poverty efforts around the world, and the Digital Partners Social Enterprise Laboratory (SEL), an initiative that provides mentorship and seed money to entrepreneurs whose vision and business models use ICT to empower the poor and their underserved communities. A doctoral graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Badshah serves on the Advisory Board for the Development Gateway Project of the World Bank, World Links India, World Corp., Teachers Without Borders and Datamation Foundation India. He has co-edited "Connected for Development -- Information Kiosks for Sustainability," and authored "Our Urban Future: New Paradigms for Equity and Sustainability" and several articles in international journals on megacities and sustainability, urban and community development, and housing. Top
	Alex Counts Alex Counts is President and CEO of Grameen Foundation, a dynamic, nonprofit, Washington D.C.-based organization that has grown to a global network of 52 microfinance partners in 22 countries. Counts became Grameen Foundation's first Executive Director in 1997, after several years honing his skills and vision in microfinance and poverty reduction. A 1988 Cornell University graduate, with a degree in economics, Counts' commitment to poverty eradication deepened as a Fulbright scholar witnessing dire poverty as well as innovative solutions in Bangladesh. He then trained to be a catalyst for change under Nobel Laureate, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of the Grameen Bank. Counts founded Grameen Foundation (www.grameenfoundation.org) in 1997 with a mere $6,000 in seed capital and a charge from Nobel Laureate, Dr. Yunus. This new organization was to play the role of catalyst, channeling human, financial and technological resources in the United States to support the growth of the poverty-focused microfinance movement. Today, under Counts' leadership, Grameen Foundation impacts an estimated eleven million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Arab World.* Grameen Foundation's annual budget has grown in each year of its existence, from $100,000 in 1997 to over $11 million in 2005, and its breakthrough impact has been chronicled in the Economist and elsewhere. Counts has authored many publications in microfinance including a book entitled 'Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus' Microlending Revolution is Empowering Women from Bangladesh to Chicago', which was published by Random House in 1996. Counts speaks fluent Bengali and lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Emily and cat, Seymour. Top
	Dr. Smarajit Jana Dr. Smarajit Jana is a member of the National AIDS Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, in India. He is highly recognized for his role in the establishment of, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), a collective of over 65,000 sex workers based in West Bengal, India. He is currently the Chief Advisor to this organization. DMSC is active in challenging and addressing the structural barriers that form the everyday reality of sex workers' lives as they relate to their material deprivation or their social exclusion with the aim of altering them. DMSC demands decriminalisation of adult sex work and seeks to reform laws that restrict human rights of sex workers, tend to criminalise them and limit their enfranchisement as full citizens. DMSC currently implements and runs STD/HIV intervention programmes in 49 sex work sites in West Bengal. Dr. Jana has worked as the Assistant Country Director (Health, HIV and Development) at CARE India, as the Regional HIV Advisor for 15 CARE International countries in Asia region and as the Technical Advisor to the Project Management Unit of DFID, U.K. He has been a Consultant to the International Center of Sexual Health, Manchester, U. K. and a member of the Scientific Planning Committee of the 12th World AIDS Conference 1998, Geneva. Top
	Aditya Natraj Aditya Natraj is the Programme Director, Pratham India Education Initiative. As Head of Gujarat operations he is responsible for overall policy, programme direction, fund-raising and review. He has attracted, built and led a team with heads of strategy, training, community mobilization, finance, human resources and administration. He has earlier worked as VP (Business Development), ProXchange.com, Europe's largest internet based marketplace for second-hand industrial equipment. He has also been a Consultant at KPMG Corporate Finance, Bangalore, India. Aditya has a Masters in Business Administration from INSEAD, France. He is also a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. Top
	Shefali Sunderlal Shefali Sunderlal is President & CEO of CRY America and has led the organization since its inception. Shefali has been spearheading efforts in volunteer mobilization, resource mobilization, grant deployment, setting accountability and transparency standards and the establishment of CRY America as a brand. Today, CRY America operates across 22 cities and has a supporter base of over 500 volunteers and 3000 donors. In 2006, CRY America impacted the lives of over 80,000 children through grants to 14 Projects in India. Prior to joining CRY America, Shefali was Director of CRY's Development Support (Grant deployment) function in India from 1990 - 2001. She was instrumental in establishing core shifts in CRY's Grant deployment strategies to include the shift from child relief to child rights, shift from mere financial support to capacity building and the initiation of relevant impact parameters. She was also instrumental in establishing CRY's Fellowship program and scaling up of CRY's Documentation Centre during her tenure. She played a key role in the formation of national networks such as the National Alliance for the Fundamental Right to Education which encompasses over 2000 NGO's and is a serious player in the field of education policy in India today. CRY's Development and Grant deployment strategy and implementation has been acknowledged world wide for its approach, quality and impact. Shefali has a Masters degree in Social Work from Delhi University and has worked in the Non-Profit sector for over 20 years. Top