The who’s who of the world are descending on Davos, the popular town in Switzerland, hosting the World Economic Forum . From the Ukraine war to the future course of our planet, the pressing issues of the day will be up for discussion at the summit, which kicked off on 16 January. There will be heads of state and CEOs, economists and social activists, tycoons and celebrities. It sounds like serious business. Then what is Indian YouTuber Prajakta Koli doing there? You’d think she is the odd one out. But Koli, popularly known by her social media handle “Mostly Sane” is part of a contingent of six digital creators who will cover WEF. We’d say she is there to make Davos relatable to Gen-Zers and millennials. Also read: What is the World Economic Forum meet at Davos and why is it important? Who is Prajakta Koli? YouTuber, influencer, and actor – 29-year-old Prajakta Koli wears many hats. She is the creator of one of India’s most popular women-run comedy channels on YouTube, where she goes by the name “Mostly Sane”. Koli has 6.8 million subscribers and is equally popular on Instagram, where she is followed by 7.3 million.
Koli started off posting comedy skits before eventually moving on to travel vlogs, other short videos, and interviews with Bollywood celebrities. She enjoys creating video content because “the camera is her favourite tool of expression,” according to Indian Express. “When I first held my iPhone to shoot this video, the only thought I had was ‘Setting the mood’. This was the first video I was shooting in 2021 and I wanted it to be a visual manifestation of how I wanted my year to go – Happy, calm, fruitful and healthy,” she told the publication.
She has come a long way since. Today, she is a legit influencer with a successful acting career. Koli made her big-screen debut last year in the Bollywood drama Jug Jugg Jeeyo, starring big names like Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, and Kiara Advani in lead roles. The young content creator has also acted in Netflix’s series _Mismatched_ alongside actor Rohit Saraf, and in other web series. She played the lead role in a short film titled Khayali Pulao.
According to the WEF site, Koli is a Forbes India 30 Under 30 alumnus and the winner of awards like “Viral Queen of the Year” and Cosmopolitan’s “YouTuber of the Year”. She was also invited to meet former US President Barack Obama at an event that was organised by the Obama Foundation in 2017. What will she do at Davos? Koli is in Davos to cover the event, where she will touch upon themes of “climate action, social justice, and global healthcare”. She will focus on stories of women’s education and environment. She is among a group of six YouTubers picked for the event. The others include Adanna Steinacker from Nigeria, Luis Villar from Mexico, Wodemaya from Ghana, Nuseir Yassin from Israel, and Nathalia Arcuri from Brazil. This is the largest group of creators to ever participate and help bring wider attention to important issues discussed in the annual meet. With the help of six YouTube stars – up from last year’s two – Davos 2023 will reach a combined audience of over 230 million. According to the WEF website, these digital stars will also “be engaging with an inspiring bunch of ecopreneurs and innovators pushing for solutions and global change.” What can we expect from Davos this year? The WEF website says Davos will “provide a platform to engage in constructive, forward-looking dialogues and help find solutions through public-private cooperation”. This year it will take place from 16 to 20 January. The event will host 52 heads of state and government and nearly 600 CEOs, as per Moneycontrol. The theme of the 53rd annual summit is “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”. This year’s meeting marks a return to normality after two years of COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions. The 2021 forum took place virtually, while last year it was postponed to May.
Davos 2023 Day 2: What to expect https://t.co/L61yxm4H5H #wef23 pic.twitter.com/stQb5Fcwn9
— World Economic Forum (@wef) January 17, 2023
Who will attend the event? According to Moneycontrol, top political leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Africa President Cyril M Ramaphosa, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Swiss President Alain Berset, and Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin will attend the annual summit. From India, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw, Smriti Irani, RK Singh and Mansukh Mandaviya will be present. At least three chief ministers of state – Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, and Karnataka CM BS Bommai will also attend the forum. Business tycoons such as Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, N Chandrasekaran, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Adar Poonawalla, Sajjan Jindal, Nadir Godrej, Rajan Mittal and Sunil Mittal, and Sanjiv Bajaj, among others, will also be in Davos for the conference. According to the report, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be present. Officials from the Biden administration, such as presidential climate envoy John Kerry, director of national intelligence Avril Haines, and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, as well as a number of governors and congressional members, will be present to represent the US. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.