All Time High Venkat Shridhar and the end of hunger
Jan 2, 2022
Venkat Shridhar, a Wharton graduate and CEO of Akshaya Patra, oversees the world’s largest mid-day meal program, feeding 1.8 million children daily. He discusses the urgent need to address hunger and inequality at scale and the role of greed in deepening these issues. Venkat emphasizes the importance of motivated teams, connecting staff with beneficiaries for inspiration, and the necessity of purposeful capitalism. He argues for coordinated philanthropy and sustainable practices to foster long-term change, merging compassion with business.
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Life-Changing Career Pivot
- Venkat left a peak corporate role at 36 to lead Akshaya Patra and scale its impact.
- He scaled the program from 1,500 to 1.8 million children fed daily by blending corporate practices with compassion.
Scale Is Essential For Social Change
- Solving basic problems in large countries requires solutions at scale, not pilots.
- Akshaya Patra aims to break multi-generation poverty cycles within one generation.
Greed As A Root Problem
- Venkat identifies greed as a root cause behind many global problems like inequality and environmental damage.
- He remains optimistic but urges faster, collective action to correct course.
