What Can You Do?

• First, focus on the economic inclusion challenge and bringing more people along in the modern economy and the innovations taking place around us each day. I know this has been a focus for Jindal from its founding.  It does no good to have such incredible technological and economic advances if too much of the country cannot take part or experience the gains.  I was really enthused to see the progress during my tenure here as Ambassador and in my current role at Mastercard.
  • I was so proud to see young Americans and young Indian entrepreneurs working side by side with farmers, with handicrafts people in helping to bring their goods to market, to connect them with broader marketplaces beyond their local villages.
• The older conventional wisdom was that if we just retrained the farmers and handicraft workers to work in call centres and as data input operators that’s how we would keep up with the modern technological advances. Some of that evolution may take place and reskilling can be important, but doesn’t the more immediate and impactful solution involve helping those same farmers and handicraft workers discover new markets, compete hand-in-hand with the large players, and in fact become key suppliers to both large and small players alike?  Why should they have to give up their livelihoods, when, with some ingenuity, technology and finance, we can make their same livelihoods better.
• You can be a big part of that story, not just through the marketplace, but in banking as well. There are still too many unbanked and underbanked in India and the United States, where access to credit and electronic payments is harder to reach.  That is changing fast, but those gains do not have to be limited to people who live in urban centres.  Our collective challenge is to reach rural populations who may live miles from a traditional bank, but who likely do have access to a cell phone.  All of us can help bridge that gap with some creative uses of modern technology – its taking place today, but probably not fast enough.
• Second, don’t lose sight of the important work you can do to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This is where the bulk of economic activity will take place.  This is where, as experts in your field, you can have a big impact.
• MSMEs have been a key growth driver for the Indian economy, employing 110 million people or over 40% of India’s non-farm workforce. Businesses in this sector have also been a critical enabler of distribution and supply chain for larger companies, contributing nearly 25% towards India’s services’ GDP and 33% towards manufacturing output.
• Enabling policies, regulations, systems and practices that encourage and support development of MSMEs is key to achieving the promise of shared prosperity and inclusive growth.
• But MSMEs have three major challenges: getting paid, getting capital and going digital.
• Your charge, along with governments, financial services and technology companies, is to help MSMEs overcome these challenges by working together to:
• Improve the ability to receive and make payments more quickly and easily through access to proper business credit and debit products and tools;
• Provide equitable access to funding that can support longer-term growth; and
• Enable MSMEs to join the broader ecosystem of digital businesses.
• Addressing these challenges will enable MSMEs opportunities such as access to global markets for goods and services, increased share of online retail, and acceleration of their digital transformation. I know this will be an important focus in your studies, and your faculty have thought long and hard about how best to support MSMEs.  We are grateful for their work and the work that you all will do in the years ahead.
• Finally, please don’t forget about the need to continue to have a social impact in the areas that you are passionate about. We used to treat business and social responsibility and human development as separate endeavors, taking place along separate tracks.  That’s no longer the case, and again, I can speak from personal experience.
• Boards of directors, shareholders, and perhaps most importantly, customers want to know: what kind of company are you? Do you have a value set?  Do you live by those values?  Do you have a social impact where and when you can?
• This doesn’t mean businesses become social services organisations, but it does mean that businesses and industry can and do have a huge impact on our everyday life….and at a time when governments seem gridlocked, even more of an impact.
• Take the issue of combatting climate change. The public wants to know whether companies have a net zero carbon commitment, they want to know what the company’s carbon footprint is, what their capital risk from climate change might be, and whether the company’s products and suppliers are compliant with good environmental practice.  Is that a social commitment or a business commitment?  In my mind, they are now one in the same.
• You all can do much more. Depending on where your careers take you, you can have a big impact on the quality of people’s lives – their health, their safety, their economic standing.
• By attending this prestigious institution, you have been bestowed a huge opportunity and honour; you’ve gotten here through your own hard work and the support and sacrifice of family, teachers, coaches, and mentors.
• Now, for all of you to decide, is how to do you want to return that investment that has been made and will be made by Jindal University in all of you.
• I would humbly suggest you consider giving back to your family, to your friends, your neighbours, to the voiceless who may need the additional help or to those who feel isolated or marginalised. You will have the tools.  Channel them, deploy them, don’t sit on the sidelines.
• Your country is waiting for you. And we in the United States are waiting for you.  Our future together is not pre-ordained.  We all have to work at it.  Yes, we have big challenges ahead, but I know that working together we can achieve a lot of big things that will make a lasting difference for millions of people.
• Thank you again for inviting me here today.