About Us

International Women's Day 2016: Recognizing the Unrecognized

Women work without a break for their families, society, and friends all through the year. So, on IWD 2016, LEAD conducted their 3rd annual "Recognizing the Unrecognized", where women in our society who are rarely recognized but are responsible for important work were recognized for their contributions, such as cleaning railway stations, bus stands, picking household trash, selling vegetables etc. LEAD and LEADers believe that, without these women, our communities would come to a standstill.

About LEAD

The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. To that purpose, the LEaders Accelerating Development (LEAD) Program of the Deshpande Foundation was born. LEAD develops innovative and entrepreneurial thinking within college students by exposing them to social issues, encouraging them to volunteer their time and effort into the community, and igniting their latent talent to come up with creative solutions. Through this unique platform provided by LEAD, students are gaining the skills and confidence needed to transform their visions into realities. Armed with guidance, exposure, networking opportunities, financial assistance, and encouragement from LEAD, students from throughout 75 colleges and 14 districts are unleashing their leadership potential to go on inspiring and improving those around them.

Inspire, Innovate, Engage: Yuva Summit 2016

The 6th Yuva Summit, an international youth conference on leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship hosted by the Leaders Accelerating Development program, began in Hubballi on 6th February with Mr. Ravindranath Gumaste, Managing Director of Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd., cutting the ceremonial ribbon that let the hundreds of attendees, including students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and honoured guests, into the event grounds.

LEAD Prayana 2016

On 24th January, 107 promising students from across Karnataka and neighbouring states descended upon the VTU campus in Belagavi to mark the kick-off of the 5th annual LEAD Prayana. These students, along with 32 beginning their journey on the same day in Nizamabad, were selected from a pool of almost 500 applicants. LEAD Prayana, which began in 2012 with just 63 students, is an annual leadership journey that takes almost 150 passionate students between the ages of 18-26 throughout India on a 14-day tour across Karnataka...

My Story: Prajwal M

I am passionate about science, especially physics. My affair with Science started during my childhood and it deepened in my high school when I started participating in Science exhibitions with my models. During Pre University Education, I built the Levitation Train with few of my friends and grabbed prizes at several competitions. “Physics of the Impossible” by Michio Kaku was a book that exposed me further to the vastness of the science and motivated me to start a science group called “Blackbody Science Group (Which Absorbs All Wavelength of Intuitive Minds)”. This group engages in creating interest about science among government and physically disabled school children.

Who are we?
The Leaders Accelerating Development (LEAD) Program of Deshpande Foundation, Hubli, Karnataka fosters innovative and entrepreneurial thinking within college students by exposing them to social issues and by encouraging them to volunteer their time and effort into the community. LEAD ignites their latent talent to come up with creative solutions. LEAD is an incubator where innovation meets implementation, knowledge meets experience, social issues meet solutions and efforts meet impact.

Through the unique platform provided by LEAD, more than 26,000 students from more than 250 partnering colleges throughout Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are implementing bold solutions to big problems in their communities while simultaneously building their self-confidence and developing important leadership skills.

Genesis

LEAD Program was formed in the year 2008 by Naveen Jha. Inception of LEAD happened when Naveen Jha heard the ideas of students who wanted to make a positive impact in the society. There were about 80 active students who came up with creative ideas for the development of the community. Named as "Colors of Youth", they brainstormed and implemented few innovative projects such as making fuel from biomass, promoting open source software, setting up a viable traffic control system etc.

With the success of “Colors of Youth”, Deshpande Foundation started supporting many projects and as the number of energetic students increased, a need for separate program was felt. Hence on Aug. 15, 2008, LEAD was founded.

Why join LEAD?

Be a role model who creates change in their world.
Witness your ideas turn from concept to reality.
Spearhead a project with a team of other civic-minded students.
Interact with the local community to solve problems.
Gain communication skills.
Network with successful social entrepreneurs and student leaders.
Build your volunteer experiences.
Supplement your education with hands-on learning
Interact with NGOs, community members, or university faculty/staff

The people of India need go-getters, and the Deshpande Foundation knows where to find them—in you! The goal of LEAD is to provide a conduit for the LEADing students, with the help of their peers, to actively pursue their solutions to social issues.

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International Women's Day 2016: Recognizing the Unrecognized

About LEAD

Inspire, Innovate, Engage: Yuva Summit 2016

LEAD Prayana 2016

My Story: Prajwal M

About Us

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