20:57
Speaking
Talks that move people to act
I'm a TEDx speaker and visiting faculty. I speak about leading under pressure, citizen entrepreneurship, sustainable infrastructure and the discipline of excellence, with stories from the cockpit, the boardroom and the road.
Topics
Six talks, tailored to your audience
01
From cockpit to boardroom
What fighter-pilot discipline, and surviving a crash, teach about leading under pressure.
02
The PotHoleRaja story
How citizen entrepreneurship and the public-private-people partnership fix what no single institution can.
03
Roads from plastic waste
Sustainable infrastructure that costs less, and what it takes to get it built.
04
ESG that actually works
Moving boards from ESG reporting to operating models that deliver results.
05
Social entrepreneurship at scale
Combining CSR, technology and citizen energy into ventures that sustain themselves.
06
Peaks to potholes
Resilience lessons from the Himalaya, the shooting range and building startups.
On stage
Watch a talk
Stages and audiences
- TEDxLavelleRoad
- The India Advantage Summit
- World Entrepreneurship Summit
- CII
- FKCCI
- Bosch Road Safety Conference (jury)
- National Progressive Schools' Conference
- Global Accessibility Awareness Day
- IIM Bangalore
- IBM
- VMware
- Mercedes-Benz
- Toyota
In the press
Stories about the work
100+ media features, without spending anything on advertising.
- TEDxLavelleRoad · ted.com · 2017 Fixing the world, one pothole at a time
- Shark Tank India, Season 3 · 2024 GridMats by PotHoleRaja
- YourStory · 2018 Meet this ex-fighter pilot who survived a crash and went on to build four businesses
- YourStory · 2018 Stop blaming, fix potholes yourself: PotholeRaja shows how
- YourStory · 2022 PotHoleRaja uses recycled plastic and tech to make roads safer
- The Better India PotHoleRaja builds a 25% cheaper road from 3,000 kg of plastic
- The Better India Inside PotHoleRaja’s technology that turns recycled plastic into safer roads
- Autocar India Hyundai “Be The Better Guy” with PotHoleRaja
- India Today · 2017 Fed up with potholes, Bengaluru citizens take matters into their own hands
- The News Minute Meet Bengaluru’s PotHoleRaja
- The Hans India PotHoleRaja builds a road using 100% recycled plastic waste
- Red FM 93.5 The Red FM Pothole Challenge
- Mirchi Kannada PotholeRaja with RJ Smitha
Invite
Bring this story to your stage
Please include the date, city or format, audience size and the topic you have in mind. I usually reply within a few days.
Speaker bio
Dr. Prathaap Rao is a former Indian Air Force fighter pilot, global business leader and social entrepreneur. He founded PotHoleRaja®, a citizen-led road-safety movement that has fixed more than 40,000 potholes across 30+ cities. He also founded GridMats®, a patented road system made from recycled plastic that he pitched on Shark Tank India. He was a vice president at HP and one of Hewitt's youngest AVPs, and has advised organisations in 30+ countries. He is visiting faculty at business schools including IIM Bangalore, a TEDx speaker, a sketch artist and a state-medal-winning pistol shooter.