Our speakers
Faisal Farooqui, Founder, MouthShut.com
Faisal Farooqui is a highly recognized IT entrepreneur who is among the trailblazers of his generation. He was among the lead petitioners who challenged the various sections of the IT Act, which finally resulted in a victory for the entire nation, when the Supreme Court declared 66A as illegal and diluted many other sections. As a result no more arrests for speaking your mind. No more content takedown without a court order.
Faisal is the founder and CEO of MouthShut.com
MouthShut.com is India’s largest consumer review and recommendation platform, with reviews on lakhs of products
Faisal has addressed and presented at more than 300 national and international conferences and seminars including at IIM Ahmadabad and IIT Mumbai. His work on Internet Technology, Branding, Entrepreneurship, social media and e-commerce has appeared or been profiled in almost all major newspaper and magazines and TV channels in India as well as Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC and Financial Times. He is also internationally recognized for his thoughts on integrating consumer-generated content with mobile and social media. He served on the Internet Task Force of NASSCOM and was an advisor to TIE for India’s new Copyright Act. The British High Commission has included Faisal among the list of top 50 young leaders who’ve demonstrated potential to change the country.
Faisal has a degree in Information Systems and Finance from State University of New York. He is a self-confessed tech geek, enjoys growing vegetables and loves horse-riding.
Faiz Shakir, Managing Director, Nutanix India & SAARC
Fakhri Ahmadov, CEO & Managing Director, Ahmadoff & Company
Fakhri Ahmadov is CEO and Managing Director of Ahmadoff & Company and Founder of Private Wealth Insitute. In his role, he advises wealthy individuals and families on capital transformation, multi-generational structuring, strategic industry selection and philanthropy across Europe, Middle East and Africa and Central Asia. Previously, he has been risk advisor for several banks and a family business. Mr. Ahmadov is contributor to the Agenda of the World Economic Forum. His private wealth related researches are featured in Forbes frequently. He is a Certified International Wealth Manager (CIWM) and full member of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (TEP). Fakhri holds bachelor degree in economics from ASAU.
Falguni Nayar, CEO, Nykaa.com
After a highly successful career spanning over 25 years in financial services, 18 of which were spent with the Kotak Mahindra group, Falguni Nayar decided to pursue her entrepreneurial drive with the launch of Nykaa.com, a women-centric beauty and wellness e-commerce portal.
Targeted exclusively at the contemporary urban Indian woman, Nykaa.com will offer a wide range of carefully selected, global beauty and wellness products. At Kotak, Falguni was the Managing Director of Kotak Investment Banking, a position she assumed in 2005, and Director of Kotak Securities.
Falguni holds a Masters degree in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where she majored in Finance. She graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. Falguni received the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) award for top woman achiever in the field of banking. She is a founding member of the Asia Society in India.
Faris AlRashed Alhumaid, CEO, Sharaka Financial
Fariza Ahmed, Counsel, Bombay Law Chambers
Farzana Haque, Head - Europe Telecom Business Unit & Global Head - Strategic Group Accounts, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Ms. Farzana Haque is the Global Head of Europe Telecom Business Unit and the Global Head for Strategic Group Accounts: Telenor, Telia and Hutch. Prior to her current role, Ms. Haque was Global Head - Large Accounts SBU at Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global information technology company with over US$16.54 Bn in revenues. Forbes magazine has voted TCS as India’s most admired company. Ms. Haque began her career with the TATA Group in Mumbai as a management trainee & has been with the group ever since. In recognition of her leadership at TCS, Ms. Haque was nominated to the World Economic Forum as a ‘Young Global Leader’. The Young Global Leader recognizes the top 250 young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, their commitment to society and their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. Ms. Haque has been profiled and featured by leading Indian and International Media on her work both for her organization and for the development work that she does in India. She is also the recipient of the ‘INDIRA’ Super Achiever Award 2008. Ms. Haque is a frequent speaker at business schools around the globe and India on topics covering leadership, building global brands, and innovation. She is passionate about social development in India and works with NGO’s and foundations in order to further the cause, besides being on boards of few foundations. Ms. Farzana Haque is Co-Founder of “Stree Shakti”, a platform for women entrepreneurs in India.
Florian Kohler, Managing Director-Private Equity, OBVIAM
G. Mythili, Joint Managing Editor, JQE, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research
Current position: Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai; Also Joint managing Editor, Journal of Quantitative Economics, Indian Econometrics Society Publication.
Educational Qualification: Ph.D. in Econometrics, University of Madras, 1989; Ph.D. Thesis on “Production Risk in Indian Agriculture”.
After completing Ph.D, visited University of California at Berkeley for one year as a ‘Ford Foundation Post Doctoral fellow’ at the Department of Agricultural and Resource economics.
Visited Washington, US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research service in June 2007 for one month as part of collaborative project on “Supply Analysis of Indian Agriculture between pre and post reform period” Associated with many research projects in agriculture including Farm Management Study; Farm production risk; Accelerating Growth through globalizing agriculture; Supply response in agriculture; and agricultural policies and structural changes in India’s agri food system. Projects funded by organization such as UNDP, World Bank, European Commission and Australian Centre for International Agricultural research.
Participated and presented papers in many national and international conferences; Authored many research papers in national and international journals and coauthored 4 books.
Current research projects include:
1) Agriculture- nutrition linkages and
2) Analysing impact of agricultural policies using Intersectoral linkages.
G.S Bhalla, CEO & Founder, Cocoberry
A born entrepreneur, upon graduation from Delhi University, Mr. Bhalla opted to forego studies at a business school and set up his own business venture in 1994—a corporate gifting company. He has always been a pioneer in every business he has started. In 2000 he started one of India’s first KPO company focusing on the healthcare vertical for the US, which has now grown to over a 1000 employees globally.
In 2007 he completed the “Owners Management Program” and “Launching New Ventures” management programs from Harvard Business School.
When he thought of entering into the fast growing food-and-beverage industry, he thought of introducing something for the young, health conscious urban Indians and create a brand that is not only associated with health and wellness, but is also a socially and environmentally responsible brand.
Keeping the extreme hot weather in mind, he thought of this cold treat as a viable business option that offered guilt-free indulgence and launched Cocoberry, India’s first frozen yogurt chain. The first store was opened at the posh South Delhi locality of Defense Colony in 2009. There also were a lot of innovations and transformations along the way. Today with its outlets across the NCR, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Ahmedabad & Goa, Cocoberry is a national brand in less than a span of 2 years with over 30 outlets. Cocoberry will also be opening in international markets very soon.
Cocoberry has received several awards and recognitions in the two short years since it started including “ Top 100 Brands That Rocked India in 2010”(4P magazine), “Top 100 Retailers 2011”(Retailer magazine), “ Most Innovative Concept”(HT City), “ Best Frozen Dessert” (HT City), “Top Rated Frozen Yogurt” (Burrp) to name just a handful.
Mr. Bhalla has also received a number of awards and recognitions such as “Top Young Turk 2010” by CNBC India and has been profiled and featured numerous times in print and TV such as “CNBC”, “India Today”, “WSJ Mint”, “Outlook Business”, “Economic Times”, “Zee Business”, “ Inc.”, “ET Now” and many more.
He is also an avid golfer, shooter and enjoys outdoor sports and travelling.