Sunil's MIT Fellowship opportunity
Donation protected
Given the high withdrawal rates, we are working directly with MIT to have 100% of donations contributed to Sunil's education. Please reach out to myself or Laura Jana or Sunil Khandbahale for more details and donations. Thanks for all of your support!
-Siddharth Motwani
Summary:
Born and raised in a rural farming village in Nashik, India to uneducated and illiterate parents who firmly believed in the power of education to unlock their children’s potential, Sunil was the first in his family to go to university and now he's been acccepted to MIT Sloan's fellowship program.
Sunil has spent the past 14 years overcoming many obstacles and building from nothing to what is now a free technology enabled multilingual translation platform that is being used by over 120 million users in 150 countries!
Additionally, he has also set his sights on ensuring that young children in and around his rural village get a strong foundation by building a family-run preschool attached to his parents home that now serves nearly 100 preschoolers.
The only problem is that there’s one thing Sunil didn’t do on his quest to impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people….and that’s focus on making a financial return. While it has never been what motivates him, the fact of the matter is that MIT’s program costs more money than Sunil has ever dreamed of.
Please join us in proving to Sunil that good things happen to people who commit themselves selflessly to improving the lives of others. We can think of no future leader more deserving of becoming equipped with the tools that MIT’s program offers than Sunil, and we hope that by using the power of technology and the same online platform that Sunil has used to improve the lives of so many, we can join together and raise the money needed to send Sunil to MIT.
Itemized expenses:
- Tuition: $129,750 = $11,000/month
- Computer, books, supplies $ 7,500 = $ 7,500
- Living Expenses $ 40,000 = $ 3,350/month
Sunil's Full Story:
For anyone who believes that access to education and literacy can change people’s lives and should be a basic human right, Sunil’s story is one you’re going to want to read, and his dream of attending MIT’s highly competitive Executive MBA program (to which he’s just been accepted!) one we hope you’ll join us in supporting.
While Sunil’s incredibly story is best told by Sunil (please watch his 2013 INK Talk entitled “Breaking the Language Barrier”), allow us to share a short summary with you here and see for yourself why we find Sunil’s accomplishments, commitment and potential so inspiring…. and why we truly believe an investment in his education – no matter how small or large – will offer you the biggest possible return in making the world a better place.
Born and raised in a rural farming village in Nashik, India to uneducated and illiterate parents who firmly believed in the power of education to unlock their children’s potential, Sunil was the first in his family to go to university. Having never learned to speak English, however, the only thing that kept him from having to drop out of his Engineering courses was the thought of how hard his parents worked to make it possible.
Unable to understand his English-taught courses, Sunil approached one of his professors, who told him he needed a dictionary. Having never before encountered a dictionary, Sunil determinedly got himself one and proceeded to attend his courses by day and then painstakingly translate his notes using his dictionary at night – an effort that amazingly led Sunil to not only rank at the top of his class, but led to his lifelong dedication to empower others by making the English language accessible to everyone.
From distributing photocopied pages to creating online and eventually SMS platforms, Sunil has spent the past 14 years overcoming many obstacles and building from nothing what is now a technology enabled multilingual translation platform for 23 languages in 16 domains offering over 10 million words and phrases that is being used by over 120 million users in 150 countries!
Additionally, he has also set his sights on ensuring that young children in and around his rural village get a strong foundation by building a family-run preschool attached to his parents home that now serves nearly 100 preschoolers. For those who live in the far-reaching villages, he and his family now drive a van that serves as a mobile classroom to the more remote areas on Saturdays.
Sunil’s accomplishments and awards are many and near as we can tell there’s almost nothing Sunil can’t accomplish when he puts his mind to it. This is evidenced by Sunil’s amazing feat of getting accepted last week into MIT Sloan’s Executive MBA Program – the world-renowned 12-month executive MBA program “designed to prepare an elite group of global mid-career managers to magnify their impact as leaders.”
The only problem is that there’s one thing Sunil didn’t do on his quest to impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people….and that’s make money. While it has never been what motivates him, the fact of the matter is that MIT’s program costs more money than Sunil has ever dreamed of.
That’s where we all come in. We hope you’ll join us in proving to Sunil that good things happen to people who commit themselves selflessly to improving the lives of others. We can think of no future leader more deserving of becoming equipped with the tools that MIT’s program offers than Sunil, and we hope that by using the power of technology and the same online platform that Sunil has used to improve the lives of so many, we can join together and raise the money needed to send Sunil to MIT.
-Siddharth Motwani
Summary:
Born and raised in a rural farming village in Nashik, India to uneducated and illiterate parents who firmly believed in the power of education to unlock their children’s potential, Sunil was the first in his family to go to university and now he's been acccepted to MIT Sloan's fellowship program.
Sunil has spent the past 14 years overcoming many obstacles and building from nothing to what is now a free technology enabled multilingual translation platform that is being used by over 120 million users in 150 countries!
Additionally, he has also set his sights on ensuring that young children in and around his rural village get a strong foundation by building a family-run preschool attached to his parents home that now serves nearly 100 preschoolers.
The only problem is that there’s one thing Sunil didn’t do on his quest to impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people….and that’s focus on making a financial return. While it has never been what motivates him, the fact of the matter is that MIT’s program costs more money than Sunil has ever dreamed of.
Please join us in proving to Sunil that good things happen to people who commit themselves selflessly to improving the lives of others. We can think of no future leader more deserving of becoming equipped with the tools that MIT’s program offers than Sunil, and we hope that by using the power of technology and the same online platform that Sunil has used to improve the lives of so many, we can join together and raise the money needed to send Sunil to MIT.
Itemized expenses:
- Tuition: $129,750 = $11,000/month
- Computer, books, supplies $ 7,500 = $ 7,500
- Living Expenses $ 40,000 = $ 3,350/month
Sunil's Full Story:
For anyone who believes that access to education and literacy can change people’s lives and should be a basic human right, Sunil’s story is one you’re going to want to read, and his dream of attending MIT’s highly competitive Executive MBA program (to which he’s just been accepted!) one we hope you’ll join us in supporting.
While Sunil’s incredibly story is best told by Sunil (please watch his 2013 INK Talk entitled “Breaking the Language Barrier”), allow us to share a short summary with you here and see for yourself why we find Sunil’s accomplishments, commitment and potential so inspiring…. and why we truly believe an investment in his education – no matter how small or large – will offer you the biggest possible return in making the world a better place.
Born and raised in a rural farming village in Nashik, India to uneducated and illiterate parents who firmly believed in the power of education to unlock their children’s potential, Sunil was the first in his family to go to university. Having never learned to speak English, however, the only thing that kept him from having to drop out of his Engineering courses was the thought of how hard his parents worked to make it possible.
Unable to understand his English-taught courses, Sunil approached one of his professors, who told him he needed a dictionary. Having never before encountered a dictionary, Sunil determinedly got himself one and proceeded to attend his courses by day and then painstakingly translate his notes using his dictionary at night – an effort that amazingly led Sunil to not only rank at the top of his class, but led to his lifelong dedication to empower others by making the English language accessible to everyone.
From distributing photocopied pages to creating online and eventually SMS platforms, Sunil has spent the past 14 years overcoming many obstacles and building from nothing what is now a technology enabled multilingual translation platform for 23 languages in 16 domains offering over 10 million words and phrases that is being used by over 120 million users in 150 countries!
Additionally, he has also set his sights on ensuring that young children in and around his rural village get a strong foundation by building a family-run preschool attached to his parents home that now serves nearly 100 preschoolers. For those who live in the far-reaching villages, he and his family now drive a van that serves as a mobile classroom to the more remote areas on Saturdays.
Sunil’s accomplishments and awards are many and near as we can tell there’s almost nothing Sunil can’t accomplish when he puts his mind to it. This is evidenced by Sunil’s amazing feat of getting accepted last week into MIT Sloan’s Executive MBA Program – the world-renowned 12-month executive MBA program “designed to prepare an elite group of global mid-career managers to magnify their impact as leaders.”
The only problem is that there’s one thing Sunil didn’t do on his quest to impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people….and that’s make money. While it has never been what motivates him, the fact of the matter is that MIT’s program costs more money than Sunil has ever dreamed of.
That’s where we all come in. We hope you’ll join us in proving to Sunil that good things happen to people who commit themselves selflessly to improving the lives of others. We can think of no future leader more deserving of becoming equipped with the tools that MIT’s program offers than Sunil, and we hope that by using the power of technology and the same online platform that Sunil has used to improve the lives of so many, we can join together and raise the money needed to send Sunil to MIT.
Organizer
Siddharth Motwani
Organizer
Chicago, IL
