The Young Leaders Club, visiting an innovative France

The “Young Leaders Club India/Francia” was created by French president Emmanuel Macron during his official visit in India in March. The program puts the spotlights on France as a cultural, tourist, economic, education and innovative destination. The club includes 13 Indian leading figures active in many different fields: digital, business, media, sciences, women’s rights, architecture, publishing fields, and more.

The week spent in France was held by Campus France Agency, put in charge by the French Embassy in India to design the program and organise the visit of YounG Leaders in France. 

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An intense week of visits at the heart of an innovative France

A general program, common to all Young Leaders, was the opportunity to help them discover a France that is open, dynamic and innovative. They were granted an interview by the Hermès CEO and were welcomed at Konbini, the innovative online magazine, at Station F, the Liberté Living Lab incubator, at Fab'Lab in La Villette and at l'Ecole 42. They also met Indian students members of the France Alumni network at Campus France to better understand why France is an attractive destination for higher studies. The France Alumni network in India boasts 5,400 members. 

The urban development is a critical them in India, and was talked about during the visit of the Clichy-Batignolles eco-district, an example of sustainable urbanism in France. 

The Young Leaders also discovered that France is cultural, turned to architecture and technologies of tomorrow, with visits at the Philharmonie and the Atelier des Lumières. 

At last, each Young Leader had the opportunity to meet a potential counterpart and partner during a program of targeted meetings. Boobesh Ramalingam and Mani Doraisamy, founders of companies working in new technologies, met La Rue du Commerce; Magandeep Singh, sommelier, visited cooking schools Ferrandi and Le Cordon Bleu, and exchanged with a culinary specialist of Le Monde newspaper; Saurabh Gupta, founder of Earth5R, ackowledged by the United Nations for its impact on environment, met the Secretary of State for the Minister in charge of ecologic transition.

More tailor-made interviews were also set up:

• in sustainable development, with the ADEME, Maison Zéro Déchet, the eco-friendly waste collection company "Les Alchimistes", the social and solidarity-based start-up "la Ruche qui dit oui” (Food Assembly) dedicated to local food sourcing, “Plastic Odyssey”, a company dedicated to recycling plastic waste in useful objects, the European Climate Foundation and "Planète Chanvre" association; 
• in urbanism and architecture, with the French Agency for Housing, the Institute of Planning and Urbanism in Île-de-France, the social architecture agency “Air Architecture”, the ENSA Paris Malaquais and the LE6B association; 
• in the field of biotechnologies, in the Pasteur Institute, the INRA, the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière and Sanofi ; 
• in the field of women/men equality, with Rokhaya Diallo and Caroline de Haas, and  the Fédération nationale Solidarité Femmes; 
• in the field of education and new technologies, with Les Gobelins school and Le Laptop coworking space, the national sch0ool of fashion and matter EnaMoma, 

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A club welcomed at the highest level

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, gave a reception at the Quai d’Orsay for Young Leaders. They also visited the National Assembly and met with young deputies thanks to an invitation from the India-France friendship group of the Assembly and Senate. Last, they met the diplomatic counsellor of the French President Aurélien Lechevallier, who joined them for a private visit of the Elysée Palace. 

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Who are the Young Leaders?

The 1st promotion included:

• Snigdha Poonam, a successful writer, has just published a best-seller about youth in India;  
• Trisha Shetty, lawyer, leads “SheSays”, an association promoting equal rights between women and men; 
• Sushas Gopinath, multi-entrepreneur since he was 14 years old, is charged by the Indian government of the internationalisation of Indian companies;
• Mani Doraisamy, cofounder of the Guesswork company, is a Cloud computing expert of worldwide reputation;
• Boobesh Ramalingam, an entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in software development and technology counselling; 
• Magandeep Singh, first Indian sommelier and oenologist; 
• Taslimarif Saiyed, director of a research centre on biotechnologies in Bangalore, member of the scientific counsel of the Indian government;
• Srijana Mitra Das, journalist and high profile media individual in India; 
• Swati Janu, architect developing simple, sustainable and lasting construction techniques for slum people in Delhi; 
• Zishaan Hayath, founder and director of an application specialised in education tutoring, Toppr.com; 
• Sridhar Ramasubbam, multi-entrepreneur; 
• Saurabh Gupta, founder of Earth5R, acknowledged by the United Nations and UNESCO for its impact on environment; 
• Vaibhav Chhabra, founder of the two Indian Maker’s Asylum makerspaces. 

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