Manu "Swish" Goswami

Manu "Swish" Goswami
File:Picture of Manu Goswami.jpgPicture of Manu Goswami.jpg Picture of Manu Goswami.jpg Manu Goswami
Born	(1997-01-14) January 14, 1997 Singapore
🏡 Residence	New York City, U.S.
🎓 Alma mater	University of Toronto
💼 Occupation	Entrepreneur

Manu "Swish" Goswami is an award-winning Canadian serial tech entrepreneur and innovator, UN Youth Ambassador, LinkedIn Youth Editor, TEDx speaker, and venture capitalist. He studied at the University of Toronto, studying Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies and Ethics, Society, and Law through the Munk School of Global Affairs and the Trudeau Center of Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies. Manu is one of the youngest venture capitalists in the world as a Business Development Associate at JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital. He has won a multitude of awards, including Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 award, the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership award and Startup Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. He is a founder of many ventures, including the World Youth Fund, The Next Foundry, RafikiMedia, FoodShare, Technotronics, and most recently, Ballin. Manu currently resides in New York City.

Early life

Born April 14, 1997 in Singapore, Manu studied at Princess Elizabeth Primary School before moving to Calgary, Canada in 2004. At 7 years old, Manu tried to start a business by taking the neighbors’ flowers out of their gardens, creating bouquets, and selling the bouquets back to them.[1] Though this endeavor did not last very long, it did solidify his belief that “entrepreneurship was a field not restricted by age”. Manu began a hovercraft business with his father when he was 10, donating the money from the first and only hovercraft to a local orphanage. In his youth, Manu discovered that his lisp speech impediment had worsened; however, he decided to embrace it rather than try to hide or correct it. To this date, Manu credits debate and public speaking for helping him overcome it. He was never bullied because of his impediment, but is conscious of the stigma associated with people with verbal, physical, and mental impediments. Manu’s experience instilled his beliefs in the importance of positive social impacts and anti-bullying awareness.

Education

Manu attended the Calgary Science School (CSS) from grades 4 to 9, and Webber Academy, a university preparatory school that has been ranked as one of Canada’s top private schools, from grades 10 to 12. He attributes his ability to think creatively to his education at CSS, and was part of many sports teams and clubs at both schools, including Student Council, Varsity Basketball and Volleyball, and Canada’s national debate team. By age 16, he had already started six high-impact ventures in seven industries, one of which won Southwest Alberta’s Company of the Year in 2014. Manu also attended the Politics and Public Policy, U.S. Foreign Policy program at The Washington Centre for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC) in 2016. He is the youngest person in the history of TWC to be selected for the program. He is currently a junior at the University of Toronto, earning a bachelor's degree in Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies with Ethics, Society, and Law.

Career

Manu started and continues to be part of a multitude of organizations in the non-profit, business, communications, innovation and technology space. His involvement includes RafikiMedia (Co-Founder and CEO), FoodShare (Founder and CEO), The Next Foundry (Co-Founder and Managing Director), LinkedIn (Youth Editor), JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital (Business Development Associate), and Technotronics (CEO and Co-Founder). In November 2016, Manu was contacted by Trevor Booker, Power Forward for the Brooklyn Nets about pursuing certain business interests together. Three months after meeting in Toronto, Manu was hired as a Business Development Associate for Trevor’s venture capital firm. Along with that, he has been a Youth Ambassador for the United Nations since March 2016, was previously Canada’s Youth Representative for the United Nations Youth Association Network, and was a National Youth Ambassador for Plan International Canada. Manu has been featured in over fifty national and international publications including Forbes, Inc. Magazine,, Mashable and Entrepreneur Magazine. Manu is currently working on writing a book which he anticipates will release in early 2018. He has also held various consulting and coaching positions at other organizations, including, but not limited to, G8 Research Group, 180 Degrees Consulting and ViMi Technologies Ltd. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies on promoting investments on social and digital media platforms. Manu has also been heavily involved in public speaking, as a guest lecturer and a keynote speaker at events such as the United Nations Youth Assembly, WE Day, TEDxUofT, World Speech Day, Hootsuite & LOI Generation Z Summit, National Business & Technology Conference (Nspire Innovation Network), Millennial Success Virtual Summit, and American Express (Millennial Network). His talks focus on personal branding, social entrepreneurship and on his ideas and experiences in creative thinking. His TEDx talk focuses on “social entrepreneurship,” or the idea of using standard business practices and techniques to address or solve social issues. Specifically, how the “age of social entrepreneurship has dawned on us”; how much easier it has become to create and participate in social ventures.

Awards

Manu has won several awards and acclamations for his entrepreneurship and innovation. Below is a list of notable awards Manu has won:

• “Global Shaper” from World Economic Forum, March 2017
• “One of the world’s most accomplished teenagers”, Future Sharks, January 2017
• “Entrepreneur of the Month” from UTM Entrepreneur’s Club, February 2017
• “100 Fastest Growing Canadian Startups” for RafikiMedia, Strategy Magazine, November 2016
• “Face and Future of Canadian Entrepreneurship”, UPS Canada, November 2016
• “10 Gen Z Experts to Follow”, Forbes, May 2017
• “Social Rockstar of Tomorrow”, Social Media Today, November 2016
• “Young Changemaker of the Year”, Social Enablers, October 2016
• “Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, Startup Canada, September 2016
• "Global Grand Finalist”, 2015 World Schools Debating Championships, August 2015
• “Canada’s Top 20 Under 20” Plan Canada, June 2015
• “Semi-Finalist”, Oxford Schools Debating Championships, March 2015
• “Global Semi-Finalist”, World Schools Debating Championships, August 2014
• “Multi-Time Second Best Debater in the Americas”, Pan American Debating Championships, April 2014
• "Company of the Year – Southwest Alberta”, Junior Achievement's 2014 Company of the Year in Southwest Alberta, 2014

Advocacy, Activism, and Volunteering

Apart from his many ventures, Manu is an advocate for mental health and youth entrepreneurship. In high school, he advocated for his beliefs through Alberta’s Ministry of Education, Leave the Pack Behind Initiative, and the Progeria Research Foundation. Today, he participates in activism through his position as an ambassador for the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health’s Thought Spot initiative, World Vision, and the United Nations. Manu previously volunteered for Children of Hope Uganda, The Legacy Project and for Minister of Veteran Affairs Kent Hehr. Manu also donates his time by being a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Student Debating Federation. He firmly believes that youth are the leaders of tomorrow, but they do not need to wait until tomorrow to lead.

Published Works

• “#UNCONVENTIONAL” Series on LinkedIn
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Mark Cuban"
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Shauna Arnott"
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Kristen Scholer"
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Josh Fechter"
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Jules Schroeder"
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Eliot Robinson"
  • "#UNCONVENTIONAL: Lewis Howes"
• “How to Build a Business from Scratch”
• “Why You’re Not Succeeding at UofT”
• “UofT Voices: Why Challenging UofT Conventions is Integral to Your UofT Success”
• “UofT Voices: Mark Khalil’s Dream to Fly”
• “Joel Brown’s 4 Powerful Dimensions of Success”
• “10 Steps to Building a Brand's Business”
• “Who Am I”
• "Meeting a 20-Year Overnight Success: Michael Hyatt"
• “The Mantra for Success”

References

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