Nita Ambani, Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation delivered the keynote address at the Harvard India Conference on Indian Business, Policy & Culture, where she spoke about India’s bid for Olympics and how the country plans to make them the greenest and most sustainable Olympics. She also mentioned about the intiative ‘Swadesh’ which empowers Indian artisans. The Reliance Foundation Chairperson also shared about her childhood and the story of her humble beginnings at the Harvard University on Monday (local time). Speaking about the Olympics, she said, “I believe that India must have the Olympics. We are going to be the third-largest economy in the world. If you look at the 10 largest economies of the world, nine countries have hosted the Olympics, but only India has not. So I find that really odd. We would wish to see the Olympics being hosted in our country. It will be our pride to host that. So that is the reason, I think the Prime Minister also mentioned that India will bid for the 2036 Olympics…I think we are planning to host a sustainable Olympics where we are planning to refurbish, reuse our existing stadiums and existing campuses. If we bid for it and get it, I assure you that we’ll be the greenest Olympics ever…I think India is at the right time now to host the Olympics”. Speaking about how her interactions with artisans in the temple town of Nathdwara in Rasjasthan inspired her to take up the cause of Indian artisans with the creation of Swadesh Store, Nita Ambani said, “Swadesh is meant to spotlight our arts and artisans. India has more than 10 million artisans in in the country, and I think Swadesh is trying to market their products, and I’m very happy to say that we are soon launching a Swadesh store in New York and London.” Nita Ambani also spoke about how the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) came into being. “When the children were growing up, I was taking them to various Broadways and the Sydney Opera House, and said we need to have something like this in our country which will talk about our rich culture and heritage and legacy that we have all inherited, um. That is how I think the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural centre was born. It was meant to bring the best of India to the world and bring the best of the world to India, and I’m proud to say that till now, in 18 months we’ve had 2 million visitors, not only from India but from around the world to our cultural centre”, she said. Notably, she also announced about the NMACC weekend to take place at the Lincoln centre in New York, accompanied by a fashion show of Swadesh.
