Five Indians in World Economic Forum's 2017 young global leaders list

NEW DELHI: Five Indians, including Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Shruti Shibulal of The Tamara Hospitality, have made it to the World Economic Forum's 100 Young Global Leaders list.

The other individuals who represented India in the list include Ambarish Mitra Founder and CEO Blippar, a mobile phone app business valued at $1.5 billion; Hindol Sengupta Editor-at large Fortune India and Rwitwika Bhattacharya - Agarwal Founder and CEO Swaniti Initiative.

There were nine global leaders from South Asia, out of which five are from India. Besides, there are some persons of Indian origin in the US and Europe were also named in the list.


Each year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) selects 100 young leaders, under the age of 40, who are tackling the world's most complex challenges with innovative approaches.

In this year's class of 100 Young Global Leaders, half the intake come from emerging economies, reflecting a trend towards greater diversity in global leadership.

"Selected into a five-year programme, this year's class of 100 Young Global Leaders is split evenly between business and not-for-profit sectors - building a global community of peers who can capitalise on diverse talents, experiences and networks to bridge divides that exist in society and achieve more together than they could separately," WEF noted.

The Class of 2017 features two of the world's top scientists on genome editing: Luhan Yang, chief scientist at eGenesis Biosciences, and Feng Zhang, a core member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

From the public sector, the list features Aja Brown the youngest mayor to be elected in Compton, California.

Among those representing the private sector is Katie Hill, an innovator who leads Apple's ambitious new clean energy programme, converting the company's manufacturing worldwide to renewable energy.