College and Wharton first-year Gobhanu Korisepati received the 2024 Diana Legacy Award on March 14 (Photo from Penn Today).
Gobhanu Sasankar Korisepati, a first year in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, was one of 20 people worldwide to receive the 2024 Diana Legacy Award in recognition of his humanitarian work.
The Legacy Award was created by The Diana Award organization in 2017 — the 20th anniversary of the passing of Diana, Princess of Wales — and is awarded every two years to young leaders around the world for their social action. The Legacy Award recipients were selected from the pool of students who received The Diana Award in either 2022 or 2023.
Korisepati, who received the Diana Award in 2022, accepted the Diana Legacy Award at a ceremony in the Science Museum in London on March 14, 2024. The award was presented by Diana’s sons William, Prince of Wales, and Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Korisepati was honored for founding Sustaining Women in Financial Turmoil, a microfinance organization that provides financial services to small businesses and individuals in underrepresented communities around the world, helping them achieve financial stability and growth.
Korisepati founded SWIFTmfi in 2019 at the age of 14. This initiative has since aided over 3,000 women in 77 countries to establish their own sustainable businesses, gain financial independence, and escape the cycle of poverty, and it is estimated to have positively impacted around 70,000 lives.
SWIFTmfi also launched SWIFTconnect, an online tool that provides financial literacy education and empowerment to hundreds of people in Africa and Asia.
“Being recognized with the Legacy Award is not just a personal achievement but a celebration of the collective effort and resilience of the communities we serve,” Korisepati said in the announcement. “It inspires me to continue working towards a world where opportunity is not a privilege but a right accessible to all.”
Legacy Award Recipients gain access to the Legacy Award Development Programme, which offers tailored support to their social action projects. They also receive a grant from the charity, allowing them to attend special events and receive guidance from the Diana Award Team to further their projects.
“To be recognized as a part of the late Princess Diana’s legacy is an honor that transcends individual accolades, embodying the essence of compassion, philanthropy, and a tireless commitment to improving the lives of others,” Korisepati said.
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