Bunker Roy is an Indian social entrepreneur and founder of the Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan — one of the most innovative and celebrated social enterprises in the world. The Barefoot College empowers illiterate and semi-literate rural women, particularly grandmothers, to become solar engineers, healthcare workers and teachers in their own communities.
His model is radical in its simplicity: instead of bringing expertise from outside into rural communities, he trains local people to become the experts themselves. Barefoot College graduates have gone on to electrify villages across Africa, Asia and Latin America using solar technology.
Bunker Roy's TED Talk has been viewed millions of times and his work has been recognised with numerous international awards. He deliberately chose a life of service over the conventional career path that his elite education would have opened to him, and has inspired thousands of young people to follow a similar path of social commitment.