Architect Tara Prakriya is in the business of finding solutions to hard problems. What are hard problems? Ones that are complicated by both the business model and new domains, and then trying to figure out a technical solution that would be feasible within the confines of the market. Plus, being the architect doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the decision maker, you may be more of the influencer and so that means you have to understand all of the issues and being smart about your recommendations, which may not be the “right” decisions (because who’s to say there’s only one right answer). Working in the Unlimited Potential group, Tara has been specializing in education opportunities in emerging markets. The mission of the Unlimited Potential team to enable sustained social and economic opportunity for those at the middle and bottom of the world’s economic pyramid—the next 5 billion people. In the short term, Unlimited Potential aims to reach the next 1 billion people by 2015 by exploring solutions in three key interrelated areas, each being crucial to developing sustained economic opportunity: transforming education, fostering local innovation, and enabling jobs and opportunities. Tara is a big part of this team, and she shares her story with Charles and Jennifer on the newest edition of WM_IN.
