KBF Class 7

Tushar Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, StashFin
Tushar Aggarwal is the founder and CEO of StashFin, an online lending business based out of Singapore and New Delhi. Prior to StashFin, Tushar was a Principal at the private equity firm Everstone Capital based out of New Delhi. Prior to Everstone, Tushar was a private equity investor and investment banker based out of New York with General Atlantic, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. Tushar holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Stony Brook University. Tushar also holds the CFA charter. Tushar is a private pilot and enjoys brewing beer. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Umang Bedi, President, Dailyhunt
Umang’s entrepreneurial journey at Dailyhunt is focused on creating India’s largest Digital Media Indic language platform empowering the next billion Indians to socialize, discover, & consume content that informs, enriches and entertains. As President, he directly oversees Dailyhunt’s user, product, engineering, engagement and revenue growth strategy across the entire family of applications. Umang has close to two decades of leadership experience covering product development, sales, consulting, marketing and partnerships and has successfully championed collaborative cross-functional management, built teams and grown businesses for various multinational companies. Umang is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and an engineering graduate from the University of Pune. He is the recipient of the ’40 Under Forty: India’s Hottest Business Leaders Award’ given by The Economic Times and Spencer Stuart in 2014, ‘GQ’s 50 Most Influential Young Indians’ for 2016 & 2017 and most recently the prestigious Fortune India 40 under 40 in 2017. Umang serves on the boards of several start-ups and large organizations. Prior to Dailyhunt, Umang was the Managing Director at Facebook India and South Asia, where he was instrumental in growing India to the largest market in the world for Facebook and driving exponential revenue growth. Before Facebook, Umang was the Managing Director at Adobe for the South Asia region and was responsible for growing the business in India making it one of the leading markets for Adobe in the APAC and global regions. At Intuit Inc., Umang served as the Managing Director for India & Emerging markets, where he led the company’s business and execution of the region’s strategic plans. Early in his career, Umang served as the Business Head of the Banking and Financial Services segment at Symantec India. In this role, he helped grow the BFSI business exponentially year on year by leveraging strategic enterprise level agreements with key financial institutions. Umang’s hobbies include playing golf, photography, travel and often speaks on digital transformation at premier industry events and academic institutions. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Chandan Chowdhary, Superintendent of Police, North Goa
Chandan is an IPS officer presently posted as Superintendant of Police, North Goa. She has worked in Kollam city, Thrissur city and Thiruvananthpuram in Kerala as assistant Commissioner of Police. She has also worked in Vikaspuri subdivision (West District, Delhi) as Assistant Commissioner of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Western Range, Delhi and Additional DCP 1 in the South East district of Delhi. In her capacity as a police officer she has consistently made an attempt to bridge the gap between the public and police by way of organizing several community centric schemes for senior citizens, women, adolescents and youth. ‘Police at your doorsteps’, a scheme launched by her in North Goa district was widely appreciated and accepted by the people at large. Prior to getting selected for the Civil Services she was teaching as an Assistant Professor, Political Science at Satyawati College, University of Delhi. As an undergraduate student at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women she was closely associated with the National Service Scheme and actively participated in imparting learning skills to the underprivileged children. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Prasad Raj Dandekar, Head, Radiation Oncology, Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre
Dr. Prasad Raj Dandekar is an oncologist based in Mumbai. He currently heads the department of Radiation Oncology at the Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital. He was trained at the premier oncology institutes viz, Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, and The Royal Marsden NHS Trust in London. In addition to MD and DNB in Radiation Oncology, Prasad has an Executive Post Graduate Diploma Hospital Administration from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He has the unique experience of setting up three new departments of radiation oncology at a young age, and is a sought after speaker in various oncology conferences across India. He is an advocate of precision oncology and holistic care, and is involved in training of oncologists across India on the latest updates in Radiation Oncology. He is an executive committee member of the Foundation for Head and Neck Oncology (FHNO), India, one of the largest Oncologist bodies in India actively involved in the education and advocacy. Prasad creates awareness regarding cancers through his social media initiatives. He is the founder of “Health Professionals for Queer Indians” (HPQI) which is focussed on sensitising healthcare professionals to the healthcare needs of the LGBTQ community by organising trainings, conferences and online educational material. Through HPQI, he was instrumental in organising a formal statement by the Indian Psychiatric Society, which for the first time stated that homosexuality is a not a mental illness and it should be decriminalised. This letter was placed before the Supreme Court constitution bench, and quoted in the landmark judgement which recently decriminalised homosexuality in India. Prasad is also a co-founder of Seenagers GupShup Group, a support group for gay men older than 50. In addition to these structured initiatives, Prasad is also actively involved in creating awareness regarding homosexuality by being vocal on various media platforms. He is an art connoisseur, follower of classical dance forms and Hindustani classical music. He lives with his partner in Mumbai and enjoys travelling and reading. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Sourabh Gupta, Founder and Principal Architect, Archohm 
Sourabh Gupta graduated from the CEPT University at Ahmedabad. With the insight provided there by the best in the realm of architecture, coupled with a stint at TU Delft, Netherlands and propelled by a compulsive need to impact through design, Sourabh initiated his practice – studio archohm in 1999. Today, his portfolio is a stimulating mix of typologies, scales and sectors of architectural works, infrastructure, furniture, product design and even system design. Sourabh’s eco-system is a one-stop-shop for almost everything design – with his initiation and mentoring of other aligned initiatives such as – The Design Village (a design college), Design factory India (an experience design firm), Archoforum (international workshops) and Dtours India (curated design expeditions) – speaks of his desire to significantly contribute to society, the design community, the academic fraternity and the industry. Apart from his participation at innumerous forums, Sourabh is a recipient of many prestigious accolades. HHe is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Pratibha Jain, Group General Counsel and Head of Corporate Affairs, Everstone Group
Ms. Pratibha Jain is the Group General Counsel and Head of Corporate affairs at Everstone Group. Prior to Everstone, Pratibha was a Partner at Nishith Desai Associates where she founded their New Delhi office, and lead their Funds and Regulatory practice. She brings with her a breadth of international and Indian experience having worked with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with Skadden Arps Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP in Hong Kong and Goldman Sachs in Mumbai. Her educational qualifications include B.A (Economics) Hons. and LL.B. degree from Delhi University, a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from the University of Oxford, and a LL.M. degree from the Harvard Law School. Her areas of focus include FDI investments, banking and finance and corporate and regulatory advisory. Her client list includes marquee corporate and private equity clients including, Softbank, Amazon, Flipkart, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Soros, Norwest Venture Partners, General Atlantic, SAIF Partners, Bombay Stock Exchange and Ministry of Finance. She has worked on some of the most challenging projects in financial services and regulatory sector globally and in India, including listing of companies on US exchanges, representing Private Equity investors in some of the biggest investments into India such as Mubadala’s investment in Reliance Jio and reliance Ventures, Softbank’s in its investment of USD 1.4 billion in PayTM, Ministry of Finance for structuring of India’s first USD 6 billion private sector sovereign wealth fund (National Infrastructure Investment Limited NIIF), representing investors for facilitating listing of stock exchanges in India including BSE, IEX and NSE, representing investors in investigations by the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI), designing USD 1.3 billion special ‘window for funding stalled affordable and middle income housing projects’ for the Government (SWAMIH). She enjoys working and writing on public policy issues and is regularly quoted in news on various public policy issues. She sits on various important committees including FICCI Capital Markets Committee, CII Financial Markets Committee, Policy Committee of Ananta Centre and FICCI Sub-committee on Internet and Social Media. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She received the “Woman Lawyer of the Year Award 2019” by Business World magazine. Recently she has been recognized as a Top Individual Lawyer by Forbes Legal Power list 2020.

Neha Kirpal, Entrepreneur An entrepreneur working at the intersection of the creative industries and social sector, Neha founded the India Art Fair in 2008. It is the first and largest platform of its kind in South Asia and has been instrumental in shaping the region’s artistic landscape over the last ten years. After a hugely successful decade, Neha recently sold the business to the world’s most reputed art fair organisers – MCH Basel. She continues to stay involved ith the creative industries through strategic and advisory roles in the public and private sectors. Neha is part of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders community, an Eisenhower fellow and a recipient of the President of India’s prestigious Nari Shakti Award for her work on the socio-cultural empowerment of women. Over the last decade, Neha has also received several awards and recognitions from leading publications such as Fortune, Forbes, Business Today, Financial Times and Vogue for her contributions as a woman entrepreneur and to the creative industries.  Alongside her involvement with organizations in the arts, design and wider creative industries as a strategic adviser, Neha also works on initiatives that address the systemic challenges in the areas of mental health care and education, with a focus on empowering women and children as agents of social change in the developing world. As a life-coach and trained counsellor, for over a decade, she has been an active volunteer counsellor and has conducted several workshops and mentoring modules. Neha’s vision is to help orchestrate the set-up of 360-degree services for the prevention and treatment of mental health problems. This includes setting up a mental health alliance for actioning national level anti stigma campaigns and creating awareness and access by leveraging digital and on-ground innovations. Neha has also recently aligned with citiesRISE, a global platform committed to transforming the state of mental health policy, to lead their global development initiatives and strategic alliances. Neha has a bachelor’s in political science from Lady Sri Ram College, University of Delhi and a master’s in marketing for the creative industry from the University of Arts, London. Mother of an energetic six year old girl Ruhi, Neha loves to go off on nature travels together with family friends. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Anuj Kothari, Chief Executive, Adinath Enterprise
Anuj is a second generation Entrepreneur-CEO-Director in KnC group with business interest in pharmaceutical logistics, wellness retailing, international trading & packaged health food spread over business entities. Anuj is also the National Chairman of Young Indians (Yi), an initiative of CII, a platform for youth to participate in and contribute by becoming an integral part of the Indian growth story. He held various offices and took up various initiatives at Yi over a decade. Anuj is G20 YEA President of the Indian delegation & past Sherpa leading the delegation & representing the country in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018 & Berlin, Germany in 2017. Has over 12 years experience with various social organisations. Participated in various seminars, delegations and programs including CII CEO Delegation which comprised of meeting at Buckingham Palace, Parliamentary members meet at House of Commons, UK. Anuj has trained the trainers and undertook career counselling which impacted over 10,000 school students across India. Invited to Aspen Institute for a seminar on Values & Society at Lucca, Italy. Mentored ISB Goldman Sach’s 10,000 women entrepreneur’s program. Member of CIPET’s Governing Council (Ministry of Chemicals & Fertiliser, Govt. of India). Member of CII National Council. Been the managing editor of management magazine. Visited Minnesota for over 4 weeks as part of Rotary International’s Group Study Exchange (GSE). Been a guest faculty in various management schools. Taught for 3 years at a slum school. Speaker at Ministry of External affairs’ ISB Deccan Dialogue on Youth as ambassadors of Economic Diplomacy. He gained his masters’ in business & computers from Icfai and went on to become a business banker before turning an entrepreneur in 2003. He is single and lives in Indore. Travel, Sports & Vipassana Meditation keep him unstressed. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu 
Narayan Lakshman is an Associate Editor at The Hindu, one of India’s largest English-language daily newspapers, founded in 1878. As a member of the senior editorial management of the newspaper, Narayan splits his time between running a column on the op-ed page, writing for the editorial and opinion pages on U.S. domestic politics, Tamil Nadu politics, and more, and curating special editorial projects such as article series on India’s water and healthcare crises and investigative features. He has often been an expert commentator on political issues across news television channels, including India Today, CNN News18, NDTV, BBC, MSNBC, and Bloomberg Quint. Previously, Narayan was The Hindu’s U.S. correspondent based in Washington DC. From February 2010 he spent over six years in this role, sending despatches on a wide range of subjects, from strategic issues in Indo-U.S. politics to healthcare reform and the immigration controversies. Before his tenure in America, Narayan worked in the Tamil Nadu bureau at The Hindu’s Chennai headquarters from early 2009, where he wrote about rural poverty and development. Additionally, as an editorial writer, he wrote numerous opinion pieces on American presidential and congressional politics. Prior to joining The Hindu, Narayan pursued doctoral research at the London School of Economics on the politics of poverty alleviation in India, which he completed in 2006, then went on to join a hedge fund in London as a research analyst. The essence of his advanced research at the LSE was synthesised into a book titled “Patrons of the Poor: Caste Politics and Policymaking in India,” published by Oxford University Press (India) in March 2011. Narayan has a B.A. in economics from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, an M.A. in economics from Cambridge University, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. He resides in Chennai with his wife Nandini and two daughters Lila and Mallika. He is passionate about tennis and karate – club-level player for the former, black belt and former state champion for the latter. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Jehan Manekshaw, Managing Director, Theatre Professionals Education and Head of School, Drama School Mumbai
Jehan Manekshaw is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Theatre Professionals Pvt. Ltd. He is also a Co-Founder and Head of School at the Drama School Mumbai. For Theatre Professionals, Jehan has co-designed and developed tailor made programmes and engagements that provide schools with a robust drama strategy for their school, weaving the powerful learning of drama-in-education methods and strategies into the schools teaching and learning practices. Since 2008 Theatre Professionals Education has partnered with over 30 schools in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, setting up entire in-house drama departments in the process. Jehan also oversees multiple workshops and residencies for drama specialists and drama educators to advance the practice of drama applied to education. As Head of the Drama School Mumbai, Jehan leads pedagogy and course design for the 30 faculty and guest faculty, comprising of some of the most notable names in Indian Theatre. The DSM’s one year PG course in Acting and Theatre Making is in its 6th year, having graduated 70 students who are all active in the fields of theatre, film, tv and applied theatre. For the achievements of these two organisations, Jehan has been acknowledged by a number of publications. Most notably, Jehan received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ustad Bismillah Khan yuva puraskar for advancement of the practice of Theatre in India. He holds a MFA in Theatre Direction from Birkbeck College, University of London, an MA in Global Media and Transnational Communications from Goldsmiths College, University of London and a BA in Theatre and International Relations from Wesleyan University, CT, USA. When Jehan is not trying to get his two institutional babies to grow up and get out of the door, he is busy raising his 4 year old son Aden. Both Jehan and Aden are trying to make space for the woman in their life Shaizia who has her hands full with the most recent addition to our family, a 2-month old baby girl, Zaya. When Shaizia is not being mother to all of the above, she continues to lead content design for Theatre Professionals Education. Jehan’s idea of decompressing and winding down for the week is to watch documentaries on large logistical feats of human achievement, read articles about near-future predictions, and attempt to come up with magic-pill solutions for world peace, the political system in India, and other things that need fixing. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Ajay Nair, CEO, Swasth Digital Health Foundation
Ajay is the CEO of Swasth, a non-profit health alliance that builds digital health infrastructure for public benefit. He joined Swasth after extensive experience in the health sector, across telemedicine, public health, health-tech entrepreneurship, med-tech, healthcare policy, and social impact investing. He has been an advisor to Fortune 500 companies, digital health innovators, non-profits, and governments, for designing innovative medical and health-tech offerings, as well as business models. In 2010, he co-founded and led MeraDoctor to become one of India’s largest telemedicine networks, serving over 700,000 patients across every state of the country. Prior to his startup journey, he was an impact investor at Acumen Fund in New York and Nairobi focussing on Health & Energy.As a doctor, he trained and worked at one of the country’s largest public hospitals, the Sir J.J Group of Hospitals, Mumbai. He also ran HIV/STD clinics for male and female commercial sex workers in Mumbai and worked with the Social Impact Group at ICICI Bank. He received his MBBS from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, and his MPH from Harvard University, Boston. He is a Fellow of the seventh class of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship within the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Lavanya Nalli, Vice-Chairperson, Nalli Silk Sarees Private Limited, Nalli Trust 
Lavanya Nalli is a hands-on leader with 13 years of experience across retail, e-commerce, strategy and operations. She started her career with the Nalli Group – a $100M national retail chain – focusing on new business development and growth opportunities, retail store operations, and a private-label. She later launched a sub-brand that penetrated untapped markets, and incubated a venture that empowered artisanal communities by bringing design-led products to market. During her tenure, Nalli doubled its revenues, and expanded from 14 to 21 stores. Lavanya graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 2011, and worked at McKinsey & Company (Chicago) advising CXOs of Fortune 500 companies on issues ranging from top-line growth and profit improvement initiatives, change management programs and multi-channel strategy. She moved to India in 2013 into the e-commerce world as VP, Revenue & Shopping Experience at Myntra (Flipkart Group) and is now leading the ecommerce, private-label and expansion efforts at Nalli Group of companies and expanded its footprint to 38 stores.  The Economic Times named Lavanya as among corporate India’s fastest rising women leaders. She has also been named by Forbes as “Asia’s Women to Watch” in 2016. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, and is an ambassador for Government of India’s innovation efforts and NITI Aayog’s “Champions of Change” program. In her spare time, she does cross-fit, loves to hike, and hosts people over for (very competitive!) games like Catan and Dominion. Lavanya is also a published author and has written 3 children’s books. She and her husband have been married for 7 years and have an 18-month old son together. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Amit Narang, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
Mr. Amit Narang is a member of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). He is currently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). After joining the IFS in 2001, Mr. Narang started his career in the MEA with a short stint in the External Publicity Division, dealing with Indian and foreign media. In 2003, Mr. Narang was posted to the Embassy of India, Beijing where he underwent training in Chinese language and then worked in the Economic & Commercial Wing of the Embassy. Between 2007-2010, Mr. Narang worked as the Deputy Director General of India-Taipei Association in Taipei. In MEA between 2010-13, Mr. Narang handled the United Nations (Economic & Social) portfolio during which time he was a member of the Indian negotiating team for climate change and also participated in the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. In this capacity, he represented India in the meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Cancun (Mexico), Durban (South Africa), Doha (Qatar), Lima (Peru) and Paris (France), culminating in the adoption of the Paris Agreement (COP21) in 2015. Mr. Narang served as Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations between 2013 to 2016 where he followed the deliberations of the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly which deals with economic, financial and environmental issues. During his tenure in New York, Mr. Narang negotiated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Prior to joining the MEA in July 2018, Mr. Amit Narang was the Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Beijing. Mr. Narang is fluent in Chinese. He is married to Divya Narang and they have two children. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Madhu Natraj, Choreographer, Arts entrepreneur and Educator
Madhu dons many hats with grace and dynamism. Often called an intersectionist, she believes in the cross illumination between various fields and thought processes, fueling her vision to inhabit the public domain through the potent medium of Dance. Inclusivity, education, healing, pedagogy, social issues, empowerment, sustainable development and more form a powerful undercurrent in all her interactions. A graduate of Commerce, Journalism and Choreography, she trained in the classical form of Kathak under the tutelage of her mother, the legendary Guru – Dr Maya Rao and with Guru Chitra Venugopal. She studied Contemporary dance in New York and returned to India with a vision to create a unique company –The STEM (Space.Time.Energy.Movement) Dance Kampni- comprising 3 verticals of training, performance and outreach. ‘India Today’ chose Madhu as one among India’s 50 Young Achievers. She also received the ‘Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ from the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, Government of India, to mention a few of her accolades.  Madhu has performed in 36 countries out of the 50 she has traveled to. She anchors herself in Bangalore where she lives with her husband. With over 150 choreographies to her credit, her work is unparalleled in its design and execution. She is a panelist at important design, cultural, philanthropic, corporate and academic organizations. Madhu also heads India’s premier dance education centre- The Natya Institute of Kathak & Choreography- founded  by Dr Maya Rao and Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay (Under the aegis of UNESCO). An optimist, certified Yoga instructor, martial arts enthusiast and voracious reader, she is now pursuing a MA in Anthropology. Travel and creativity are her oxygen. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Radhika Piramal, Executive Vice Chairwoman, VIP Industries Ltd. 
Radhika Piramal is the Executive Vice Chairwoman of VIP Industries Ltd., India’s #1 Luggage Company. Prior to her current role, Mrs. Piramal was the Managing Director of VIP Industries from 2010–2017 and she worked in various sales and marketing roles in VIP from 2000–2004. Outside of VIP, she worked as a management consultant with Bain & Company in New York from 2006-2008. Mrs. Piramal is credited with revitalizing VIP Industries through several brand launches. She re-launched Skybags as a youth brand in 2011 and Skybags is now India’s largest luggage and backpack brand. She expanded the company into handbags by launching Caprese handbags in 2012 and Caprese is now one of India’s top 3 handbag brands. Under her leadership, VIP Industries’ market capitalization has grown from 700 Cr in 2010 to over 6,000 Cr as on date.  Radhika was recognized in Economic Times 2015 India’s 40 under 40 Business Leaders, in CNBC-TV18’s Award for Young Business Woman 2016 and in Business Today’s 2015, 2016 and 2017 Top 25 Powerful Women in India. She has a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Brasenose College, University of Oxford (2000) and an MBA from the Harvard Business School (2006). Radhika Piramal is India’s only openly lesbian business leader. She is married and she and her wife divide their time between Mumbai and London. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Pankaj Sahni, CEO, Medanta – The Medicity (Global Health Pvt. Ltd.)
Pankaj is the Chief Executive Officer of Medanta. Medanta runs super specialty hospitals in Gurgaon (Delhi NCR Region), Lucknow, Patna, Indore and Ranchi. Medanta is focused on providing the highest end of medical care as well as combining academics and research in both modern and traditional medicine to define the new age of healthcare delivery. At Medanta, Pankaj oversees hospital operations across locations and guides the overall strategy and growth of the organisation. Prior to joining Medanta, Pankaj was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company and worked in their New Delhi and New York offices. At McKinsey, he has worked in media, technology, telecom, consumer goods, automotive, financial services and private equity, serving clients on a wide variety of topics including, corporate growth strategy, cost effectiveness, postmerger management, operational efficiency, business building and outsourcing/offshoring. Before joining McKinsey, Pankaj worked with Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young in their New Delhi offices where he also completed his training and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Pankaj holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a B.A. in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He lives in Delhi with his wife Shyel who is a lawyer, and their two children. He is passionate about education and healthcare and devising ways in which disruptive innovation can redefine how services in these sectors can be delivered. Pankaj enjoys travelling and exploring new cities. He aspires to find more time to read and perhaps even begin to write. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Arshiya Singh, Principal, Henderson Equity Partners
Arshiya Singh is a results driven and diligent financial investor with over 10 years of experience in private equity and fixed income investing across India, US, China and Australia. She is passionate about building brands and helping companies achieve their goals. Arshiya is currently a Principal at a growth equity and mid-market focused boutique private equity fund called Henderson Equity Partners. At Henderson, Arshiya specializes in the consumer sector and her areas of expertise include portfolio management, financial restructuring, turnaround situations, M&A and exits. She is deeply committed to enhancing shareholder value and strongly believes in the India growth story. During her time at Henderson, Arshiya has successfully led the disinvestments of several portfolio companies in India and China. She is actively involved with all fundraising, budgeting and growth initiatives of her portfolio companies. Arshiya is on the Board of Henderson India.  Prior to Henderson, Arshiya was heading the strategy and business development team for a Gurgaon-based consulting firm – Cians Analytics – that provides research and analytics support to global investment banks and advisory firms. At Cians, Arshiya spearheaded a new B2C initiative which included revamping the business model and developing a strong sales pipeline. Arshiya started her finance career as a Fixed Income trader at Lehman Brothers in New York, where she was financing sovereign and corporate debt for hedge funds while providing liquidity on borrows for short sales. At Lehman, Arshiya’s role was to formulate trade ideas with the emerging market team for hedge funds that impacted US$10 billion worth of client balances. She was actively involved in recruiting and served as a mentor to new analysts from her alma mater. Arshiya holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSc. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia (UVa). She is an alumna of Loreto Convent and Modern School, Vasant Vihar in New Delhi. Arshiya currently serves as an Advisor on the Board of the UVa India Chapter and is an active member of the Harvard Club of India. She recently received an award from the Women Economic Forum as part of their “Exceptional Women of Excellence” series at their global conference held in New Delhi in May 2018. Arshiya lives in New Delhi with her husband and son. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Pranshu Singhal, Founder, Karo Sambhav 
Pranshu Singhal is the Founder of Karo Sambhav which started its operations in 2017. Karo Sambhav collaborates with producers and enables them to close their material loops by designing and implementing EPR programmes. Karo Sambhav is creating a grass-root ecosystem to set up a robust India-wide transformative solution on e-waste management. In the first year of our operations Karo Sambhav has successfully collected and sent over 3000 MTs for responsible recycling. In the first year, Karo Sambhav have engaged over 500+ Bulk Consumers, 1500+ Schools, 5000+ Informal Sector Waste Pickers and Aggregators, and 800+ repair shops across the country. Karo Sambhav provides services to global brands like Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, HMD.Prior to Karo Sambhav, Pranshu was working as a Director, Digital Learning Strategy in the Worldwide Education team of Microsoft for 3 years where he worked with Ministries of Education and Education Leaders to support them in developing major learning and technology programs. He has worked with Nokia as their Head, Sustainability for 11 years and was based in Finland, Singapore and India. For Nokia he had designed and implemented one of the world’s largest take-back and recycling program for mobile phones in India in 2008.  Pranshu has been selected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2018. He is a Chevening Gurukul Fellow 2015 from King’s College London, an Aspire Circle Fellow and has been a co-chair in the GAP action Network on Education for Sustainable Development of UNESCO. Pranshu has a Master’s in Environmental Management and Policy from International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Sweden. Pranshu is a recognized global expert on systems thinking, product policies, take-back and recycling systems, LCA, environmental management systems, and education transformation. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Amit Wanchoo, CEO, SPACE Communications and Director of Eaton Laboratories
Trained as a medical doctor, Amit is the CEO of SPACE Communications, 1st Event Management Company of Jammu and Kashmir. Amit is also the director of EATON Laboratories which is the first and only pharmaceutical manufacturing unit of Kashmir actively involved in low cost healthcare. SPACE Communications has also been actively involved in line production of Bollywood and Documentary films. Dr. Wanchoo has blended health and entertainment in healing, supporting and providing employment to youngsters of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Wanchoo has also founded a Trust in the name of his Grandfather Shri H.N.Wanchoo who was assassinated in December 1992 at Srinagar. This Trust runs a unique humanitarian project titled “Free Night Ambulance Service” for the people of valley. At the moment it is a fleet of eight ambulances managed by the trust without any government support. In addition Amit is engaged in promoting various farmer co-operative organizations especially Saffron, Almond and Walnut Growers. Dr. Wanchoo is also publisher and editor of a recently published monthly magazine “Kashmir Positive”. Amit has utilized medicine, art and culture as an effective tool for bridging multireligious and multiethnic communities in J&K state. Dr Wanchoo has focused on Entrepreneurship, Skill building, Job creation, innovation as modes of positive change in Jammu and Kashmir. Amit has provided platform for youngsters of Kashmir at national and international level in the field of Healthcare, Art, Sports, Culture and Social activism. Dr. Wanchoo is a strong supporter of people to people contact at broader level as best remedy in managing and preventing conflict. Amit travels widely around the Globe and has been fellow at leading schools and universities of the world including Yale, Harvard Kennedy School and London School of Economics. Being born and brought up in Kashmir, Amit has been actively engaged in Affordable Healthcare, Social activism, Entrepreneurship development, Promoting tourism, Reviving art, culture and heritage in J&K. He utilized arts, events and social service as the medium for sowing seeds of positivity in Jammu and Kashmir. Amit is a music composer and writer who founded the first music band of Kashmir “IMMERSIONS”. Dr. Wanchoo has been the youngest president and founder of Rotary Club of Kashmir, which has contributed to various health and literacy initiatives. Amit also manages a documentary film company which has produced award winning films. Dr Wanchoo has revived various folk and art forms of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He has organized programs in crisis situations and promoted local art and culture of the state. Dr. Wanchoo has worked a lot in bridging regional and religious gaps between different societies in the three regions of the state. Amit has been actively involved in reviving tourism sector by engaging with various stakeholders and authorities during the crisis of 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 in Kashmir. Dr. Amit has a strong belief in women entrepreneurship and has been actively supporting initiatives run by women in the state. He is a member, director and advisor for many business, art, culture and social organizations within and outside J&K state. Dr. Amit has received various awards which include Paul Harris Fellow 2005, Commonwealth Fellow 2006, Yale World Fellow 2007, SIP Fellow 2008, Young Global Leader 2009 by World Economic forum, Gurukul Fellow – 2010, Young Entrepreneur Award – 2011, Star Achiever Award 2012, Fellowship in Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School -2014, Asia Global Fellow 2018. He is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Aarti Wig, Co-Founder and CEO, Yunus Social Business India
Aarti is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Yunus Social Business India, a company she co-founded with Nobel Peace Laureate, Muhammad Yunus, that catalyses social business in India through capital and corporate action. Under her leadership, YSB India, in partnership with the Tata Trusts and with support from the Boston Consulting Group, created the Indian Corporate Action Tank (ICAT)- India’s first incubator for large companies to create in-house corporate social businesses. In creating corporate social businesses, these companies leverage their core business capabilities (their “98%” as opposed to their “2%”) to solve large social problems through social business. The ICAT counts in its first cohort, some of India’s leading corporate houses- Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, CEAT, Siemens Healthcare and others where it is working with their business and innovation teams to develop new products and services (eg: solar powered micro-cold storage for smallholder farmers) in the areas of farmer distress, malnutrition, waste recycling etc. On the “capital” side, Aarti has led the creation of YSB’s two Yunus Social Business Funds in India- in Bengaluru and Mumbai – that provide low cost debt and non-financial support to social business start-ups in India. Aarti loves work that is at the edge of innovation- she is ideator of the “Social Success Note”, a unique pay-for results- instrument that has the potential to act as a catalyst for commercial capital into the social sector without creating the normally attendant mission drift. YSB is currently piloting the SSN in Africa in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and UBS Optimus Foundation. Aarti is a leader in social business and is a regular speaker at social business events- in India and internationally. She was voted to the Asia 21 fellowship for young leaders making a difference in the Asia Pacific region in 2014. Aarti is also part of the India Australia youth dialogue (2014). Previously, Aarti worked as an investment banker at JP Morgan in Mumbai. Shen holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the London School of Economics and was one of two Indians to receive the Standard Chartered Bank full scholarship to study there. She is a fellow of Class 7 of the  Ananta Aspen Centre’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Selection Criteria

The Programme

The Impact

Fellows in Action