India should make strategic investment in education: Frank Islam

Oct 25, 2019

New Delhi: Noted Indian-American entreprenuer, philanthropist and civic leader Frank Islam has called upon India to make a strategic investment in education to make its youth employable in the  21rst century global economy.

Moreover, there should be a robust Public Private Partnership to make graduating students equipped with skills that the industry requires, he said

”Indian youth should have an education that orients them to take up the challenges of the global economy of the 21rst century, and this requires a close coordination between educational institutions and the industry,” Frank  said talking to India News Stream .

It is the on campus opportunities for interaction with the industry that has resulted in so many success stories; Yahoo started the same, microsoft started the same way, he said.

Therefore, in his view, the more India invests in education and the more acdemia-industry cooperation and coordination it ensures, the more returns, in multiple ways, it will get.

Education is key to success and for India to succeed, it should be made accessible to all, said Frank iwho heads the FI Investment group, and who, as he says, could realise the his American dream beacuse of the education he got.

For a country like India, education is a powerful instrument to remove poverty because education is a great equalizer and opportunity creator as it moves people up the ladder and they in turn help others to climb the ladder with them.

”I am myself a good example of how education can transform your life,” he said.

From the dusty lanes of a village in Azamgarh district of easter Uttar Pradesh to Aligarh Muslim University and finally to a the US where he became a successful industry leader in the US, Frank’s is an exemplary journey, an inspiration to all inspiring young entrepreneur.

While, he was studying in AMU, he got an opportunity to go US for studies and got his masters in computer science from the University of Colorado. After completing education, he started his own information technology business, the QSS Group, and he did that after learning the profession at two other firms. With the help of key managers and employees, in the brief span of ten years, he built the Group to over 3,000 employees and a volume of $300 million before selling it to Perot System in 2007.

After realising his dream, Frank now thinks it was time to give back to the society and that was the reason he and his wife Debbie established Frank & Debbie Islam Charitable Foundation to promote education, arts, world peace, and civic engagement.

He has been donating generously to the cause of education in India and this month when he was here, he inaugurated the Frank and Debbie Islam management complex , and Frank and Debbie Islam Auditorium at the Mass Communication Departmentat of his alma mater Aligarh, for which his foundation has given $2.5 million.

Besides having done well in entrepreneurship, Frank has also been actively engaged in civic and political life of the US. He has  been very close to two US presidents, and engaged with other powerful political figures of the country.

As part of his civic engagement, he is serving on a number of boards and advisory councils, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Art, for which he has donated $1M, the JFK Library, American University in Emirates, Marymount University, John Hopkins University, and the Brookings Institution.

–India News Stream