Poonam Ahluwalia

Poonam Ahluwalia is a social entrepreneur and the founder and director of Youth Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (YES), an international nonprofit and YouthTrade, an organization promoting youth entrepreneurship, based out of Babson College in Wellesley, MA.

Over the last 15 years she developed two innovative programs that shaped the global youth employment agenda: YES Campaign and YouthTrade.

YES Campaign: 14 years of tireless work helped place youth employment on the global agenda. Since the inception of YES in 1998, five Global Summits, 5 Regional Summits and countless in-country forums were organized. Through her innovative low-touch, high impact approach to development over 400 projects have been initiated and implemented by young people throughout the world. The year 2012 marked the final year of the YES Campaign.

YouthTrade: Inspired by Conscious Capitalism is an innovative architecture that certifies mission-driven youth entrepreneur’s businesses and provide access to markets, while building demand for their products. YouthTrade products can be found at Whole Foods Market and Nordstrom. The YouthTrade Innovation Studio is based at Babson College.

Poonam Ahluwalia was born and raised in an affluent family in Jaipur, India on February 14, 1957. Living in an affluent family, she was encouraged to get married and have a family. However, Ahluwalia had the desire to do her own work and make a difference. After she graduated from high school Ahluwalia taught basic hygiene in small schools and neighborhoods. As she began working, Ahluwalia realized that through a collaborative effort, she could make a difference. Following her mother’s words, she wanted to leave every place that she worked in better than she found it. This soon became her philosophy in every project she has undertaken for the world.

After receiving her M.A. in political science from Rajasthan University in Jaipur, India, Ahluwalia continued to pursue her interest in the movement against poverty. In her 20s she worked as the marketing manager of a chain of pizzerias called “Pizza King”.

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