Apoorva Reddy Neelapu is a program officer for at Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE), housed under the World Bank’s Jobs group. She works towards serving youth, including young women from low-and middle-income countries and from vulnerable settings, so they find their dream jobs in the formal economy. In her current role, she coordinates strategic partnerships with the private sector, NGOs/CSOs, foundations, multilateral institutions and youth leaders to advance quality jobs and increase youth employment globally.
Previously, she worked as an IT professional, in a media company as a sub-editor, and as an after-school tutor in low-income public schools. She traveled to ~260 villages in rural India, and met ~600 smallholder farmers, handloom weavers, and artisans making less than $1.5/day. She learnt and grew the most while spending time with the most vulnerable—suicidal farmers and craftsmen, women workers, and youth from fragile settings across the world. Most recently she founded The Immigrant Project (TIP Co.) to ensure immigrant students get their first jobs—be it internships, co-ops, or full-time offers.
Apoorva holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Bangalore University, and has a Masters in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.