Sonal Shah works for Google.org on their Global Development team, where she is working on defining their global development strategy. Prior to Google.org, she was Vice President at Goldman, Sachs and Co. and developed and implemented the firm’s environmental strategy. She is also the co-founder of Indicorps (www.indicorps.org), a U.S.-based non-profit organization offering one-year fellowships for Americans of Indian origin to work on specific development projects in India. As the former Associate Director for Economic and National Security Policy at the Center for American Progress, Sonal worked on trade, outsourcing and post conflict reconstruction issues. Prior to joining the Center, she was the Director of Programs and Operations at the Center for Global Development managing the daily operations and serving as a strategic adviser to the president. She also developed and managed policy and advocacy programs for the Center. Before that she worked for eight years at the Department of Treasury on various economic issues and regions of the world. She was the Director of the office covering sub Saharan Africa, worked in Bosnia and Kosovo after the war, and served as the senior adviser to the Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary at the Department of Treasury during the Asian financial crisis. She was also awarded the India Abroad Person of the Year in 2003.
Q: What motivated you to start Indicorps?
My sister, brother and I wanted to start a program that would allow Indians from around the world to be part of India's development. For many around the world India is part of their heritage, but they don't have way to reconnect in a way that is meaningful and in which they can make a difference. India was a very strong part of our identity and we wanted others to have similar experiences and at the same time make a difference.
Q: How difficult was it to initiate such an initiative in US? Any major hurdles that you would like to tell us about?
With a strong vision and real belief in what we were doing, there were no real great challenges. In fact, our American colleagues were great supporters and were the first to donate because they strongly believed in the diaspora giving back. However, it required us to articulate a clear vision for what we wanted to achieve.
Q: How is progress on "Teach for India" initiative? Do you really think it will be possible to convince an Indian graduate to teach for a few years before joining a job?
This is a great question. Everything is possible. If we want to see India change we need to be a part of India's progress. It can not just be Indians from abroad, but it is together with Indians in India that we can make a real difference. It requires each of us that we can be a part of the solution. At the end of our lifetimes we should not look back and say I wished I had worked 55 years instead of 57 years. For some period of time in our lives, we should put our education and energy to use for something greater than ourselves. Nothing beats that feeling when you have helped someone else. At the end of the day, it is truly the giver that benefits.
Q: Would you like to share some incidents from your experience in Bosnia and Kosovo?
Those were truly life changing experiences. Being on the ground after the conflict was incredibly challenging, frustrating and at the same time rewarding. The Bosnians and Kosovars were amazingly resilient. Even the days that I was most frustrated, they did not give up. It taught me three really great lessons:
1) bringing people together after a war/conflict requires patience, understanding, and great negotiation skills;
2) that you need to have a vision for success -- for me at the time it was ensuring that the young Bosnians and Kosovars were able to do my job better than me after one year;
3) that diaspora have the ability to make a real difference -- I saw this in Bosnia, Kosovo and now Liberia.
These experiences taught me much about myself and continue to shape my thinking.
Q: How do you see Indicorps growing in future?
Indicorps has an incredible ability to affect the lives of young people from within and outside India. We want to continue to harness and leverage the power of youth to affect real change around them. We want them to see that their personal development is interconnected with the development of the society of around them. That each person has the ability to even small differences around, no matter how difficult the challenge. We want to continue to strengthen the NGO sectors ability to have impact. We would like to expand to do the same with the private sector and the government. We want to create a new generation of leaders who will be ready to take on the world's challenges and more importantly believe that they can affect positive social change.
Q: What is your message to Indian youth to help in the progress of the country?
To coin a term from the US election -- "Yes, we can." We can make a difference. We can change the system. We can improve society. We can help those around us. As a young and upwardly mobile community, we are in an unprecedented position to affect change; the only thing between us and greatness is our will.
