Proud moment! Over 40 Indians in Forbes annual list of global prodigies

New York, Jan 6: Over 40 Indians and people of Indian-origin, including technology wizards, inventors and policymakers, have been named by Forbes in its annual list of "young game changers, movers and makers" under the age of 30 from around the globe.

The fourth annual compilation by Forbes includes 600 millennials in 20 fields, including consumer technology, retail, entertainment, science, finance, media, social entrepreneurs, law and policy and enterprise technology.

The list includes big names like Harry Potter actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson, actor Zac Efron, basketball player James Harden and NBA star Chris Paul.

There are 44 Indians and people of Indian-origin in the list, who are doing exemplary work like inventing an inexpensive method of purifying water, working on international food security initiatives and developing crutches that don't hurt armpits.

In the venture capital category is Nitesh Banta, 28, who cofoundeded Rough Draft Ventures that helps student entrepreneurs receive up to USD 25,000 to start a company.

In the consumer technology category is Ankur Jain, 24, who cofounded 'Humin', an app that organises contacts, social networks and calendars into a neat, searchable interface. Avinash Gandhi, 26, is making waves in Hollywood as an agent for talent agency William Morris Endeavour.

Partha Unnava, 22, is the CEO of Better Walk which develop a better set of crutches that don't hurt people's armpits.

The retail category features Aman Advani, 26, who cofounded 'Ministry of Supply', a men's fashion company that has developed shirts that use NASA-developed technology to manage heat and moisture. In the sports category, 29-year-old Ishveen Anand founded OpenSponsorship, which is the first online platform to facilitate sponsorship agreements by connecting brands with pro-sports rights holders like leagues and teams.

The group currently includes Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni and F1 team Force India. Vijay Chudasama, 28, is working in one of the hottest areas for new biotechnology drugs of combining antibodies with other medicines. Vinith Misra, 27 is working on the Chef Watson machine, which applies artificial intelligence to create new recipes.

Vivek Ravisankar, 27, cofounded HackerRank, a service company that can use coding challenges to find new engineering talent. Its paying customers include Facebook, Amazon, Zynga, Walmart, and the White House. Deepika Kurup, 16, has invented an inexpensive method of purifying water that utilises sunlight and a photo-catalytic composite of titanium dioxide and silver nitrate.

Others in the list are Assistant professor at MIT 28-year- old Nikhil Agarwal, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Vikrum Aiyer, Ohio state representative Niraj Antani, and 23-year-old Rahul Rekhi, who is currently working to develop a UN-level treaty on antibiotic resistance policy.

PTI