Tulane graduate student speaks on entrepreneurship in Pakistan

Tulane University graduate student and 2015 Alvarez Spark Award recipient Sydney Gray travels to Pakistan this week for the U.S. Embassy's Entrepreneurship Speaker Series. Gray is one of five individuals selected for the recently launched program.

She will present to professors, venture accelerators and entrepreneurs on curriculum development for entrepreneurship, and hopes to introduce a more engaging approach to the topic.

“From speaking with some of the faculty in Pakistan, it sounds like a lot of their entrepreneurship curriculum is very book-based, which is not well suited for the reality of entrepreneurship,” said Gray. “I’m hoping some of the adaptive curriculums we work through are of use for their classrooms.”

Gray brings extensive experience in social innovation and entrepreneurship from work with local nonprofits Mama Maji and Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation. Mama Maji, co-founded by Gray, is dedicated to empowering women to change their world through water. In 2015, the organization received funding through the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking Alvarez Spark Award to expand curriculum and pilot a program focused on storytelling, public speaking and crowdfunding with Tulane classes. Gray went on to be selected as an Ashoka U Emerging Innovator from candidates across the globe.

The speaker series takes Gray to three Pakistani cities – Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi Sept. 29 — Oct. 6.