With each day passing there is news of a person of Indian origin occupying top place in an organization outside India whether it is political position or a business leadership role. The amount of influence of Asian people has increased miles and is keep on increasing day by day especially the Indians, who are ahead in the race. Popular term referred to these people is Indian diaspora which means the people who have migrated to territories outside India. Let's know about some of top political leaders and business leaders around the globe.
Heads and deputy heads of the executive branch of government.
President Mohammed Irfaan Ali Mohamed of Guyana.
Background and previous roles:-
Served in the Guyanaese National Assembly in 2006.
Was a Minister of Housing and Minister of Tourism and Commerce.
Ph.D. Student- Urban and Regional Planning Master of Art Degree- Manpower Planning
Post Graduate Diploma- International Business BA (Hons.)- International Business Project Management Professional
Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal
Background and previous roles:-
Lawyer and member of Lisbon city council in 1982 and 1993.
Secretary of State of the Parliamentary Affairs of the XIII Government between 1995 and 1997.
Minister of the Parliament Affairs between November 1997 and October 1999.
Minister of Justice from October 1999 to April 2002.
President of Socialist Party''s Parliament Group from April 2002 to March 2004.
Deputy to the European Parliament from June 2004 to March 2005.
Vice-President of the European Parliament.
Minister of State and Internal Administration of the XVII Government from March 2005 to May 2007.
Mayor of Lisbon City Hall from the 1st of August 2007 to the 6th of April 2015.
Member of the Regions’ Committee between 2010 and 2015.
Chairman of the Metropolitan Lisbon Area from the 4th November 2013 to the 6th of April 2015.
General Secretary of the Socialist. Party since the 22nd of November 2014.
Graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in the 1980.
Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of UK
Background and previous roles(Know all about Rishi Sunak and his political campaign here):-
He was former Chancellor of the Exchequer, appointed in February 2020.
Co-founder of a large investment firm.
Worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at hedge fund management firm 'The Children's Investment Fund Management'.
Studied at Winchester College, Oxford University and MBA from Stanford University.
He has been a school governor, a board member of a large youth club, and has always volunteered his time to education programmes that spread opportunities.
Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius
Background and previous roles:-
Son of former President and Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth and got elected in 2017.
Minister of Agriculture from 2000 to 2003.
Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2005.
Studied law in the United Kingdom at the University of Buckingham and became a member of The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, a society of lawyers.
Studied in France at the Aix-Marseille University, where he received a “diplome en droit civil.”
Chandrikapersad Santokhi, President of Suriname
Background and previous roles:-
Got elected in 2020
Honored with the prestigious “Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award 2021”.
Minister of Justice and Police from 2005-2010.
Chairman of the ‘Vooruitstrevende Hervormings Partij - VHP (Progressive Reform Party).
Joined the Surinamese Police Force and functioned in the rank of Police Commissioner.
Kamala Harris, VP of United States
Background and previous roles:-
First female, Indian and Black American vice president of the United States.
Born in California to immigrant parents, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher from Chennai and Donald Harris, an economist from Jamaica
Student activists at UC Berkeley.
In 2016, Kamala Harris became the first Indian-American and second Black woman to serve as a U.S. Senator.
Served as the Attorney General of California in 2010, becoming the first woman and African American to serve in the position.
Served as the District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010.
Attended middle and high school in Montreal where her mother worked at McGill University.
Studied political science and economics at Howard University
Attended Hastings College where she received her J.D. in 1989.
The Indians have been across the world some had their parents born in India or some themselves born or studied in India. Above mentioned are only few names out of the huge list of many world leaders and ministers that have Indian descent. This only indicate that if the system is meritorious and honor the hard wok than there is nothing like 'white man supremacy'. Also supporting to this argument, there shall also be reforms in the current reservation policy. In total now it is accounted close to 70% including all the quotas. In state exams it varies and sometimes increases than this. This needs a serious discussion rising above politics.
Heads of Businesses
Satya Nadela, CEO of Microsoft
Background and previous roles:-
Appointed CEO in 2014.
Worked at Sun Microsystems, and continued at Microsoft in 1992.
Worked as a developer of the Windows NT operating system.
Became VP of Microsoft Business Solutions in 2001.
President of the Server and Tools division at Microsoft.
Studied engineering at Mangalore University in India
Master's in computer science from University of Wisconsin.
Master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.
Sundar Pichai, CEO Google
Background and previous roles:-
Developed Android One and Chrome OS.
Degree in metallurgical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
Scholarship from Stanford for Master’s in Engineering.
MBA from the Wharton School of Business.
Worked briefly for Applied Materials and consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
Milind Pant, CEO of Amway
Background and previous roles:-
Joined Amway in 2019.
Worked at various roles at Yum! Brands.
President of Pizza Hut International.
Worked in executive roles at Unilever.
Master of international business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
Master of management studies from the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani.
Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia
Background and previous roles:-
Born in New Delhi, raised in Kuwait.
Later a Singaporean citizen based in Finland.
Became CEO in 2014.
Held management positions at various companies based in India and Nigeria.
Bachelor's degree from the Manipal Institute of Technology in India.
Commissioner of the United Nations Broadband Commission.
Member of the stewardship board of the Health and Healthcare System Initiative at the World Economic Forum.
Amit Singh, CEO of Palo Alto Networks.
Background and previous roles:-
President of Palo Alto Networks in 2018.
Worked at Google for over 10 years.
Founding and building team of Google’s Cloud business.
Worked at Oracle for over 20 years serving in various capacities including engineering, sales, and strategy.
Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering.
Master’s degree from Rensselaer.
Again, this list is huge and above mentioned are only few of them. Hopefully we see Indians rising to greater heights in India as well, that is competing globally by living and working India and compete head to head to everyone across the globe for India and it seems so going forward.
This blog has inputs from indiandiaspora.org. Check full list on the website. Images are sourced from the internet, wikipedia and company websites.
stay tuned for more.
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