![\"\u201cThe](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134674114,imgsize-1493202,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg\" "\\"Sagar")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhen Sharad Vivek Sagar was finishing his education in the US and preparing to return to Bihar<\/a>, some of his American friends could not understand his decision. Why leave behind the possibility of a well-paid job, a Manhattan high-rise office and the lifestyle that came with it?A decade later, Sagar has recalled what he told them at the time – a line that sounded more like a joke than a promise.\u201cThe Bihari I was, I would tell them, I would come back when your president invites me,\u201d Sagar says in a video shared on Instagram, recalling the years when he was studying in the US.That invitation eventually came. On September 16, 2016, Sagar received an invitation from the White House to attend a special gathering hosted by then US President Barack Obama<\/a>. Sagar revisited the moment through an instagram post and recalled it as one of the most unexpected turns in his journey.\u201cIn September, around that time, I was in the state of West Bengal,\u201d he recalled in the video. \u201cThat morning at 5 a.m., I received an invite from the White House saying that the president would like to invite me to a special gathering of leaders.\u201dThe invitation was for South by South Lawn: A White House Festival of Ideas, Art and Action<\/span>, an event held at the White House on October 3, 2016. The gathering brought together creators, innovators and organisers working on ideas aimed at improving people’s lives. Contemporary reports identified Sagar as the only Indian invited to the event.For Sagar, however, the significance of the invitation went beyond the White House address. \u201cI was the only Indian invited, and it was just such a remarkable honor,\u201d he says in the video.<\/p>\n By the time Obama invited him, Sagar was already known for his work in education and youth development. He had founded Dexterity Global in 2008, at the age of 16, with a focus on creating opportunities for students and helping young people develop skills and access higher-education opportunities.In 2016, he had also graduated from Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he studied international relations and diplomacy. The Telegraph reported at the time that Dexterity Global worked to create opportunities for students through programmes focused on entrepreneurship, leadership, skills and access to universities.But Sagar’s latest recollection begins much earlier – with the reaction of friends who thought he was giving up a more conventional version of success. \u201cWhen I was graduating and coming back, returning to Bihar, my American friends would tell me that you are such an idiot,\u201d he says.He remembers the argument they made: after receiving a strong education in the US, why return without first earning money and building a conventional career? \u201cYou just received such a great education and you’re going back without earning money and like working out of a Manhattan high-rise building, getting those fat paychecks, driving those German cars,\u201d Sagar recalls them telling him.\u201cAnd when would you come back to the U.S.?\u201d His answer, he says, was characteristically direct. \u201cAnd the Bihari I was, I would tell them, I would come back when your president invites me.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharad Sagar founded Dexterity Global at 16<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The remark might have remained a memorable exchange between friends had the invitation never arrived. Instead, years later, Sagar found himself waking up to a message from the White House.The timing made the moment even more striking. He was in West Bengal when the invitation came.\u201cIn September, around that time, I was in the state of West Bengal. That morning at 5 a.m., I received an invite from the White House,\u201d he says.The invitation was not for a conventional political meeting. Obama\u2019s South by South Lawn<\/span> was designed as a gathering around ideas, innovation, art and social change. The White House event was described at the time as bringing together people who were working to improve lives through their work.For the young entrepreneur from Bihar, the invitation also represented an unusual full circle.In an interview published in 2016, Sagar said Obama had influenced him as a leader and described the invitation as a great honour.<\/p>\n Sharad Sagar was the only Indian invited to Obama\u2019s 2016 South by South Lawn event<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A decade later, his recollection focuses less on the glamour of the moment and more on the improbability of what had happened: a casual-sounding promise made to friends had, against the odds, come true.Sagar had chosen to return to India after his education rather than follow the conventional path his friends expected of him. His work through Dexterity Global had kept him focused on education and opportunities for young people.And then came the invitation he had once jokingly set as the condition for returning to America.\u201cThe Bihari I was, I would tell them, I would come back when your president invites me,\u201d he says.Ten years after that invitation, it is the line that perhaps best captures the story he now looks back on – not simply of reaching the White House, but of a young man from Bihar deciding that returning home was not a step backwards.<\/div>\n Sagar was invited to Obama\u2019s South by South Lawn gathering at the White House in 2016 When Sharad Vivek Sagar was finishing his education in the US and preparing to return to Bihar, some of his American friends could not understand his decision. Why leave behind the possibility of a well-paid job, a Manhattan high-rise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Sagar was invited to Obama\u2019s South by South Lawn gathering at the White House in 2016 When Sharad Vivek Sagar was finishing his education in the US and preparing to return to Bihar, some of his American friends could not understand his decision. Why leave behind the possibility of a well-paid job, a Manhattan high-rise […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":5,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sagar-was-invited-to-obamas-south-by-south-lawn-gathering-at-the-white-house-in-2016.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}From Bihar to the White House<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Sharad](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-1039345,msid-134674124\/sharad-sagar-founded-dexterity-global-at-16.jpg\" "\\"Sharad")
<\/p>\nThe 5am White House email<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Sharad](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-1007247,msid-134674125\/sharad-sagar-was-the-only-indian-invited-to-obamas-2016-south-by-south-lawn-event.jpg\" "\\"Sharad")
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"