About Us

Right from the days of freedom struggle till present day era of innovation and modernisation, India has benefitted immensely from NRIs across the world. Today India celebrates the Non-resident Indian (NRI) Day, also known as, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, PBD, every year in January, marking the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa in Bombay on January 9, 1915, as a national gesture of appreciation to all the NRIs for their contributions towards the development of India.  Inspired by this event, a group of Manipuri NRIs, ever since they  participated in the same event in 2011, have  been working hard to form a global platform called  Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN) of Manipuri NRIs and their friends across the world. As seen in the context of India as a nation which is still being highly relied on NRIs in many sphere of knowledge and economic activities, we in KEN also have the same confidence towards our state of origin, Manipur, for her future developments. With this development for Manipur and Manipuri Diasporas and their friends as the key objectives, KEN was finally founded on 27 July, 2014 at Boston, USA.

KEN is a non political and not for profit association of people of Manipur origin and their friends living in different parts of the world with varied professional backgrounds, experiences, skills and expertise. With the world has become a global village and has witnessed an IT boom during the last two decades, many people of Manipur origin are now found working in every nook and corner of the world. Their knowledge, skills, incomes and expertise can be tapped and exchanged to build a competitive state which can enhance confidence among the public and investors which at the moment is in a challenging state in Manipur.  The ex RBI governor of India, Raghu Rajan, an American NRI, had sailed Indian economy through the tumultuous 2007 global economic recession, boosting the confidence in Indian currency which was slipping into an unprecedented crisis at the beginning of the recession. His global knowledge came to the rescue of the Indian currency of the 4^th largest economies of the world. Mr Sam Pitroda, an ex chairperson of Innovation Council of India and advisor to then Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, was also one of the many examples of how India taps NRIs expertise and knowledge in various fields. Such knowledge is what KEN wants to exchange with Manipur as one of its primary objectives.

Knowledge is power; KEN believes, this will be the pivotal in bringing the much needed changes in Manipur and in the mindset of Manipur. KEN’s one of the main objectives is to set up a global Manipuri knowledge bank of Manipuris and their friends from which to draw forth various innovative ideas which can contribute to developing a competitive state. Manipur needs innovative knowledge and ideas in every field if the state has to be competent and if it should have an edge over the other states in India which are ahead of the state in many ways. This is especially required at a time when Manipur is one of the international trade points bordering Myanmar which is the gateway to the ambitious governmental initiative of LEP (Look East Policy).

With the advent of LEP which is stated to be highly promising for entrepreneurs and start ups, through KEN’s exchange network, it can facilitate global Manipuri Diasporas in identifying the various business opportunities and start bringing in jobs and employment in the state. This will be possible through exchange of such knowledge. This will be possible through sharing of such information. Therefore a global network to exchange such knowledge and information is another key objective of KEN.

Towards these objectives of knowledge transfer, after more than 3 years of relentless and wide ranging discussions with fellow Manipuri NRIs and their friends across the globe, it has become a general consensus that KEN Manipur be formally founded, structured and embedded with specific goals and objectives. KEN, as the name suggests will be based on three basic principles: Knowledge, Exchange and Networking, purely as a non political organisation, solely for the development and progress of Manipur..