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Hello!
I'm 27 and in 2030, I'll be 45. Shh!
But then, my generation will be at the top of their career.
We will be decision-makers. And I wonder what decisions we'll be making.
But first, let's have a look at what's going on today in 2012.
Young Westerners are facing a problem: unemployment.
The youth unemployment rate is 17% in OECD countries,
50% in Spain, 22% in France.
Even when they have diplomas, a lot of young people spend years at their parents'
looking for a job or doing odd jobs.
What are the consequences on young French people's morale?
It's depressing! (Laughter)
Between 22 and 25, I lived in India, a country with a booming economy,
a developing country, a changing country,
a country where it's amazing to be yong!
Everything is new! Everything is possible! A lot of young Indians are very busy.
They create their companies, They invest in real estate,
they take professional risks;
Young people are the ones developing India today!
When I arrived in Paris, it was a dream come true for me.
Exhibitions, tartes Tatin, good burgundy wine, theater...
Everything was better than in Mumbai!
I chose Sciences-Po and France
for their historical importance in diplomacy,
to prepare myself for an international position in public affairs.
So I arrived with all my enthusiasm, and what did I find?
(Laughter) (Applause)
Resignation! I was so surprised to see that my new French friends
didn't share my exaltation of being young. They feared the future,
feared to have a harder life than their parents,
feared taking risks!
But that's understandable.
What struck me most was that my friends
couldn't picture a long term future,
nor a long term future for France, the future that will happen in 2030,
when they'll be decision-makers.
I tried to understand this block. I asked my friends
why they weren't looking for a job in a different sector.
They were intelligent, dynamic people, they spoke English.
"No!" They said:
"In France, being hired is nearly impossible
in a sector different from our studies."
Really? Why not go abroad? "No! I don't even speak the language!"
French-speaking Africa? "Nooo! The culture is too different!"
India? "No! How can I convince a company to hire me there?
I am young, I have no experience!"
That's when I realised that young French people felt trapped
because there are not enough opportunities in France today!
They think being young, inexperienced,
full of freshness, is a drawback.
Because they haven’t' proved anything!
But I think it's precisely because we're young
that we have everything to prove.
The way we think today will color the way we will think about the future tomorrow.
And the way we thought before has colored the way we think today.
Now, I would like to tell you about my story.
2030, it's 18 years from now, so let's look back 18 years.
I was 9 and my parents took the decision to go and work abroad.
That's why I grew up in Saudi Arabia,
in Nigeria, in Kazakhstan, in Singapore, in Kuwait and in California.
I had the opportunity to travel though more than 70 countries
and I got a truly international education.
I never understood borders!
And I learnt to adapt to all the various cultures.
For example, I remember that I was just as happy
to wear the traditional dress, the abaya in Saudi Arabia
as to go dancing in my first bare back dress in Miami.
(Laughter)
My parents had the strength to make that decision
because 18 years earlier, their mothers had already
a vision of the future, a vision of globalization.
My paternal grandmother was brave.
As they say in Paris, "une meuf de ouf!"
(Laughter)
(Applause)
In 1960, she emigrated on her own to the USA to get a better life.
At a time when women didn't have such independence.
When my dad turned 18, she told him to come to America
because you have to seek out opportunities where they are.
My maternal grandmother was married at 17,
in a little village with a rich agriculture.
Even if she hadn't gone beyond primary education, she was open-minded.
She sent my mother in Europe to learn languages
and work before getting married.
At that time, nobody did that in India!
Both my grandmothers were visionaries.
Thanks to them, I am here today in front of you,
wearing my sari and even talking to you in French
because they encouraged us to take as much as we could from the West,
but at the same time, to keep our own Indian culture.
Today, this story isn't very original in India.
There are more than 27 million Indians living abroad.
When there was no work in India, they left,
for example for America, for Europe during the computer boom.
Sociologists put down part of the development in India down to the efforts
of the Indian diaspora. Because they embraced globalization,
because they cooperated with the West, millions of Indians are emerging from poverty
and entering middle class. I've personally experienced it
when I was living in India. In 2008, when many of my friends were being fired in Europe
and in the United States, I decided to move to India,
looking for opportunities where they were.
I have worked for Al Gore’'s Climate Project,
for the Environment Department at Tata Consulting
and they gave me totally exaggerated responsibilities for a 22, 23 year-old girl
who had never studied climatology.
I studied to become a primary school teacher,
I didn't go through a Grande Ecole,
my resume is ordinary, but I grew up without borders,
I'm not afraid of the unknown, and the companies hired me
because I can bring a Western perspective
to their business and their clients.
Now I can see that my experiences in India
have even made my resume more attractive in France and in the United States.
It's interesting that young French people see a world lacking opportunities
but young Indians see a world full of them!
But actually, with globalization, there's only one world and one future.
So all the opportunities in that world are for all of us!
I have a vision of 2030. I know I'm not an economist,
or and expert, or a sociologist, or a politician and I am young.
But gathering all my experiences,
all I have learned during my studies, all the perspectives, the opinions
in the countries in which I traveled, I have created a picture of 2030.
Our world will be multicultural, multilingual, integrated, interdependent,
with an economy that will favour those who think globally,
those with open eyes.
You may be worried about going abroad,
you may be afraid of globalization,
but I know you are worried about France's future too.
I feel I'm doing a lot for India today,
just being in front of you telling you my story
and the story of the Indian diaspora.
Similarly, I think you will do more for France,
in fact you will do more to create opportunities in France in 2030
if you embrace an international career,
if you embrace globalization instead of looking for a job in Paris.
(Applause)
Yes, yes, there's more!
Today, I hope I'm improving my French,
I hope that I have contributed to the presence of young women
in something like TED,
I hope I'm bringing closer,
I hope I'm bringing Indians and French people closer
and I hope I'm motivating you to cross borders,
because "Doctors without Borders", that's French!
(Laughter)
Crossing borders to go where help is needed,
where you can be useful to society,
where you learn a new culture, a new language,
where you are personally fulfilled,
living without borders is already in your culture, in your psychology
Let's consider this.
What are the barriers, the frontiers, between where you are sitting right now
and you or your children in 2030, making a speech at TEDxNewDelhi,
(Laughter)
in Hindi,
(Laughter)
in your traditional dress,
black on black on grey on grey!
(Laughter)
(Applause)
What are the borders?
I think if you give it a little thought, you will soon find out there are none!
And I will be in the audience to applaud you! Namaste! Thank you very much!
(Applause)