Gayathri Vasudevan is CEO of LabourNet, a social enterprise that aims to enable the livelihood of the informal sector in India.
Why you should listen
Gayathri Vasudevan cofounded LabourNet in 2006 with a vision to improve the real income of individuals in the informal sector through sustainable intervention with education, employability and entrepreneurship.
Vasudevan has a doctorate in development studies and more than two decades of experience in both national and international organizations. She has been extensively involved in policy issues and community mobilizations relating to livelihoods. She's published in the areas of labor and employment and gender issues. Between 1999 and 2007, Vasudevan worked for the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency. She was cited as one of the top 50 women in business by Business Today and "Entrepreneur of the Year in Social Business Category" by Forbes India in 2018.
Gayathri Vasudevan’s TED Talk
Gayathri Vasudevan, Whitney Pennington Rodgers
How the coronavirus is impacting India -- and what needs to happen next
20 minutes 25 secondsThe coronavirus pandemic put India's population of 1.3 billion into an extreme and sudden lockdown. Social entrepreneur Gayathri Vasudevan explains how the situation is impacting the country's migrant workers, who are stuck far from home with limited access to food and shelter, and calls for an overhaul of India's social infrastructure in order to get people the essentials they need right now. (This virtual conversation is part of the TED Connects series, hosted by current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers. Recorded April 9, 2020)Posted Apr 2020
