Our speakers

Ajay Pahwa, CEO, Kaya Ltd.

Ajay Pahwa is the Chief Executive Officer, Kaya Ltd., since November 2009. An MBA from IMD Lausanne (Switzerland), Ajay also possesses a Bachelors degree in Commerce from Delhi University. His hospitality training includes a Diploma in Hotel Management from Institute of Hotel Management (Delhi) followed by Oberoi School of Management (Delhi). He also completed a Certification Course in Chain Store Management from the Cornell University (USA).

Ajay's experience over the past 22 years has been in hospitality and retail restaurant businesses. He has been with Yum Restaurants International since 1995 in Operating Roles in Far East, UK, and Middle East and North Africa. Most recently he was based in Dubai as General Manager- Pizza Hut and Taco Bell for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. His prior experience includes roles at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and New World Harbor View Hotel, Hong Kong. Ajay began his career with the Oberoi Group of Hotels in management roles in Mumbai and Delhi. He brings 20 years of international experience and a honed understanding of retail, customer service and hospitality segments.

Ajay Relan, Managing Partner, CX Partners

One of the pioneers of the Indian private equity industry. Prior to founding CX Partners, Ajay headed Citi’s private equity business since its inception in 1995. Prior to this, he worked with several financial firms in multiple geographies, starting with Citibank in 1976 and the last being the CEO of a Citi affiliated brokerage firm, Citicorp Securities & Investments Ltd. He has served on the boards of several portfolio companies such as HT Media, Yes Bank, i-Flex and Progeon among others.
Education:

* MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (1976).
* B.A. (Hons) Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University (1974) – top ranked in the University.

Ajay Saraf, Senior General Manager, ICICI Bank Ltd.

Ajay Saraf is a graduate from Calcutta University and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and Cost & Works Accountant. He has been working with ICICI Bank Limited since 2002 and holding the position of Senior General Manager.

Prior to joining ICICI Bank Limited, he was with American Express Bank for 10 years. He has a wide range of experience in Corporate Banking, Investment Banking and Treasury.

Ajay Sharma, Founder and CMD, Eye Q Vision

Dr. Ajay Sharma is an alumini of PG IMS Rohtak, (MBBS 1985 batch.) Passed out his MS in 1994 in ophthalmology S.R. Safdurjung Hospital in 1995 Fellowship from LVPEI, Hyderabad in 1996. Always first to adapt the latest technology in ophthalmology and has over 40000 successful surgeries to his credit.

Amongst Pioneers in introducing Phaco Emulsification at a time when best of the surgeons across the country were in transition to stitch less cataract surgery. Also has expertise in all surgeries of anterior segment including Glaucoma, Squint, Oculoplasty and Refractive Surgery.

Started 100 bedded Multi- specialists Sheetla Hospital and Eye Institute (P) Ltd. in 1999 and gave space to 30 specialists to work and employment to 130 employees in that year. He was the first to introduce Lasik in Haryana in 2000.He became first refractive surgeon in North India to start ARTISANS PHAKIC IOL’s and to as a trainer to other aspiring doctors in year 2005.

Pioneer in the field of MICRO INCISION CATARACT SURGERY WITH THE IMPLANTATION OF MICRO INCISION LENS in 2007 by procuring STELLARIS PHACO SYSTEM FROM BAUSCH AND LOMB

Ajay Shrivastava, Gr. CPTO, HT Media Ltd.

Ajeet Khurana, Former CEO, SINE/IIT Bombay

Ajeet Khurana is the former CEO of the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which is the business incubator of IIT Bombay. From starting two ventures as a solopreneur, to helping a large number of startups operationalize their go-to-market, he has never shied away from getting his hands dirty.

In 2013 VCcircle rated him as one of the top 15 angel investors in India. Even before we met him, we were fans of his highly engaging writing on entrepreneurship.

A computer engineer from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, Ajeet has authored several books that are published by McGraw Hill. A purist at heart, Ajeet truly believes that entrepreneurs are driving change in the world, and need to be facilitated as much as possible.

Ajeya Motaganahalli, Senior Director - Strategy, Business Operations and Engineering Programs Leader, NetApp Startup Accelerator

Ajeya Motaganahalli works as the Senior Director for Engineering Programs, Strategy and Business Operations at NetApp India and heads NetApp’s first ever startup accelerator program called the NetApp Excellerator (startup.netapp.in).

Ajeya is an alumnus of the UC Berkeley HaaS School of Business and is a well-rounded Engineering leader with 18 years of experience in software product development, strategy and operations.

In this era of digital transformation, Ajeya aspires to provide pioneering leadership in transforming product strategy and execution by developing high quality engineering inputs into top quality outcomes. Ajeya is passionate about giving back to the ecosystem by nurturing innovation through helping and enabling start-ups and building future unicorns.

Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder & CEO, Rediff.com India Limited

Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan Founded Rediff.Com India Ltd., in 1996. Mr. Balakrishnan serves as the Chairman and Principal Executive Officer of Rediff.Com India Ltd. and has been its Managing Director since August 2008. Mr. Balakrishnan has been Managing Director of Rediffusion-Dentsu, Young & Rubicam Limited, since March 1993. He serves as the Chairman of Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Mr. Balakrishnan has been a Director of Rediff.com India Ltd., since January 9, 1996. He serves as Director of Rediffusion Holdings Private Limited (earlier called Rediffusion Advertising Private Limited), Klaas Equipment Private Limited, Wunderman Cato Johnson Action Marketing India Private Limited, Abroad Publications Inc., India In New York Inc., Rediff.Com Inc., Rediff Holdings Inc. and Quintrol Technologies Private Limited. Mr. Balakrishnan holds a B.Sc. degree in Physics from Kerala University, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Ajit Kumar, Managing Partner, Evolvence India Fund

Ajit Kumar leads Evolvence India Fund, an India focused niche and differentiated PE Fund sponsored by New York Life Insurance/Gold Point Partners and Evolvence Asset Management. He is responsible for the core operations of the fund, from deal originations to exit as well as investor relations and regulatory compliance. During his investment career spread over 25 years he has been involved in Private Equity investments in more than 175 funds, direct and co-investments across various themes and strategies, sectors and geographies. He represents EIF on the Advisory Boards, Investment Committees and board of the various investments. He holds a MBA from London Business School.

Ajit Mahadevan, India Director, Acumen | @acumen

Ajit joined Acumen as India Director after over 20 years of experience in advisory, strategic consulting and entrepreneurship. Acumen was founded in 2001 and is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas. It invests patient capital in businesses whose products and services are enabling the poor to transform their lives across Africa, Latin America and South Asia. Acumen is one of the earliest global impact investors to have made investments in India and has built a strong local portfolio of companies across healthcare, education, energy, agriculture, water & sanitation and affordable housing.

Ajit previously served as Advisory Partner & Leader (Life Sciences) at Ernst & Young for over six years. At EY, he was a strategic advisor to the leadership of some of the leading Indian and global life science and healthcare players with the focus being business transformation and growth. Prior to his time at E&Y, Ajit was President of Piramal Healthcare, one of the leading pharmaceuticals companies in India, where he built the international business from inception in 2002 to $300M by the end of 2008. Ajit held multiple leadership roles across strategy, M&A and business leadership. During his tenure at Accenture’s Strategic Services practice in UK and India, he led the development of one of the firm’s largest and most successful internal projects - the Offshore Development Centre in 2001, which has now grown to about 100,000 people across multiple cities in India.

Ajit holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, USA and an undergraduate degree in Computer Technology from PSG College of Technology.

@ajitmahadevan