IGF 2024

Osama Manzar works at the cusp of Rights, Access and Meaningful Content. Is a Senior Ashoka Fellow, British Chevening Scholar, International Visitors Leadership Program Fellow of US State Department and an Advisor to Women in Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF).

After half a decade of stint in tech journalism, he founded Digital Empowerment Foundation in 2002 working on “access to rights and rights to access” ending up digitally empowering more than 35 million people till date through establishing more than 2000 digital centres run by as many info-preneurs or Soochnapreneurs.

He was instrumental in several policies and impact activities like India’s National Digital Literacy Mission, co-creation of Common Service Centres, banning FreeBasics in India, liberalising ISP licensing through PM-WANI in India, and initiated fight against misinformation at a village level and institutionalised the same having created a cadre of more than 500 women fact checkers across rural India.

He has been on the boards and advisories of Women in Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF), APC, World Summit Awards, GNI, Barefoot College, Protsahan, MISSING, etc. and profiled by The Hindu as “the man who travelled more than 10,000 villages”.

He writes regular columns in Mint at Livemint.com and has co-authored more than 20 titles, including Internet Economy of India and NetChakra.