Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and businesswoman Akshata Murty urged young Indians to step up as entrepreneurs and policymakers, emphasising that the next generation must combine ambition with societal impact to thrive in an AI-driven world.
Speaking with investor Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, and a popular podcaster Nikhil Kamath on People by WTF, they highlighted India’s vast scale, youthful population, and growing consumer economy as unparalleled opportunities for shaping the future of business, technology, and governance.
Solving Community Needs
The conversation, part of Kamath’s ongoing mission to connect decision-makers with real-world consequences, spanned over three hours, touching on consumer trends, financial literacy, sovereign AI, and the future of work. Sunak and Murty praised Kamath’s Foundery initiative, a three-month residential program in Alibaug where selected founders build consumer brands across sectors like candy, toothpaste, and apparel. “Entrepreneurship is the new education,” Sunak said, agreeing with Kamath that India’s next wave of large companies may emerge from founders addressing everyday community needs, rather than chasing AI or unicorn valuations.
The discussion also tackled the challenge of preparing for AI-driven disruption. Both Sunak and Kamath stressed the importance of broader capabilities—critical thinking, adaptability, and lifelong learning—over narrow specialization. Murty added that metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is essential for staying grounded amid public scrutiny and inherited expectations. They highlighted AI’s potential to democratize education and healthcare, lifting the baseline for millions rather than concentrating opportunity among a few.
Financial literacy emerged as another key theme. Understanding inflation, compounding, and money management, they argued, is critical to closing inequality gaps and enabling informed participation in India’s rapidly growing consumer economy, which is expanding at 12-13% annually.
Sovereign AI and Public Service
The couple also addressed India’s political future. Sunak urged young people to enter public service not for fame but for impact: “Changing one law or policy affects 1.4 billion lives. Spending decades on a mission inside institutions can be civilization-altering.” On technology, Sunak emphasized sovereign AI and risk management, calling for India-first strategies in supply chains, open-source adoption, and smart partnerships to safeguard independence in a fragmented global ecosystem.
The conversation closed on a reflective note: India’s next generation of entrepreneurs, policymakers, and technologists will need to navigate uncertainty with ambition and humility, blending intuition with rigor, and creating solutions for communities rather than global elites.