Shabnam Aggarwal, Founder, Tech to Teach talks about her experience at The Unreasonable Institute

This past summer I attended The Unreasonable Institute. It was truly a transformational experience for me and my path. I went from having a good idea that I couldn't get traction on to embracing the challenge and embarking upon a tour that allowed me to explore and research the mutual struggles in the education space, so we can try to tackle this epidemic as one, rather than many alone.If you are unfamiliar with The Unreasonable Institute you can see a trailer of what the summer was like. Also, let me briefly explain it. The Unreasonable Institute unites 25 of the world's most promising entrepreneurs who are relentlessly tackling the world's greatest social and environmental problems. Over the course of the 8-week Institute in the summer of 2011, these entrepreneurs work and live with 60 world-class mentors, pitch their ventures to investors and foundations in five major entrepreneurial hubs across the United States (San Francisco, Boulder, Boston, New York City, and Washington D.C.), learn from top consulting organizations, and gain unprecedented exposure, training, mentorship, and access to the seed capital needed to give their ventures wings. Ultimately, the Institute is relentlessly focused on one objective: accelerating ventures that future generations will remember as having defined progress in our time.

I think you should take a look at their program and strongly consider this opportunity as I believe you would take an exceptional amount of value from attending and you would be extremely qualified to apply.  Their applications close on November 20th. Visit http://unreasonableinstitute.org/apply to apply today or to learn more.

In addition, Tyler Hartung, a co-founder of the Unreasonable Institute, asked me to pass along his contact information in case you have any questions. He can be reached at [email protected]. I sincerely hope that you strongly consider applying!

Looking forward to seeing you again soon! If you are in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, or Africa, let me know, I'd really love to meet up.

About Shabnam:

Shabnam Aggarwal is the founder of te|a|ch : tech to teach. As the prior co-founder of MILLEE and its local project manager based full-time in India, she represented MILLEE in the Unreasonable Institutes fellowship program, which mentors social entrepreneurs to develop sustainable business plans and marketing strategies for their social enterprises. Shabnam is also a Starting Bloc alum. Currently, Shabnam is embarking upon a mission to discover the underbelly of educational technologies in India and Africa through a project called The Teach Tour. She plans to take her market research to a commercialized product by evaluating and innovating around what already exists and what has already shown success. Previously, Shabnam designed and implemented a mobile phone solution for the Ujjivan microfinance institution when she was an intern with Microsoft Research Indias Technology for Emerging Markets group.

After completing her undergraduate degree, she joined Wall Street to build her corporate skills. During this time, she spent time as a volunteer with Womens World Banking and discovered her passion for educating underprivileged but highly deserving women. That led her to quit her high-paying job and move to Cambodia to work with a non-government organization called Digital Divide Data. During her tenure with DDD, she developed a program called infinit-E with Transitions Global, a shelter for young women who have been rescued from brothels, to promote employability skills through English and computer literacy skills. Shabnam holds a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Contact Shabnam:

eyes: theteachtour.com

ears: +918008435020 // skype: shubbless

fingers: [email protected]

faces: now: bangalore, india // next: hyderabad, india