Our speakers

Akshay Kiran, Managing Director , East India Capital Management

Akshay joined the Milltrust family in 2016 as director of the Singapore based multifamily office EICM and runs the fund selection, investment structuring and syndications mandate focusing primarily on private equity, real assets and venture capital.

He has about 15 years of experience across a diverse range of sectors and has spent significant time in mid-market investment banking and structuring financial solutions in Asia-Pacific. Prior to Milltrust, he ran a boutique project finance and advisory in Singapore advising on over one billion USD of transactions focusing mainly on South East Asian energy, resources and infrastructure. He spent his early banking years at Barclays Capital and Nomura in fixed income/risk and prime brokerage respectively.

Akshay Munjal, Founder and CEO, Hero Vired

Akshay has played a vital role in transforming the landscape of Indian education and training since 2008 He founded the BML Munjal University in 2014 and Hero Vired in 2021, prior to which he headed Hero Mindmine. During his stint at Hero Mindmine, the professional skills development venture of the Hero Group, Akshay had a ringside view of the challenges faced by students in the higher education sector and their difficulties to final meaningful employment.

The vision behind BML Munjal University and Hero Vired emerged from that insight, and are centred around introducing academic and industry-based instruction that is cutting-edge, experiential, application-oriented, employability-centric and with an emphasis on measurable transformation. He has played a pivotal role in the conceptualization, design and development of both education ventures.

BML Munjal University seeks to transform higher education in India by creating a world-class and innovative teaching, learning and research environment. This young university which has over 1,600 students has already published over 150 research papers and is on track to filing 30+ patents in this yearIn 2020, the School of Management at the University was ranked 37 by the NIRF, in the same year, the University was also chosen by ET Edge, an initiative by Economic Times as one of the Best Education Brands. BMU seeks to transform higher education in India by creating a world-class and innovative teaching, learning and research environment.

Hero Vired is a startup that offers career-relevant programs, in partnership with leading global  universities and institutions, to make learners more competent and industry-ready for emerging jobs and professions under Industry 4.1. With best-in-class short and long-term learning programs, Hero Vired offers overall professional development via skill-based programs and courses that are imperative to a learner’s growth in India’s rapidly evolving digital economy.

Akshay began his professional journey with Accenture in New Delhi and fondly remembers being part of the team that designed the IT infrastructure for Delhi Metro and witnessed the flagging off of Delhi’s first metro train.

Akshay considers the late Dr Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the founder of the Hero Group of companies, as the biggest influence on his personal and professional life. Akshay believes Dr Munjal’s success mantra – Focus on the basics, everything will take care of itself to be his guiding principle in his life. Akshay holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, USA and a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Management from the University of Bradford, UK.

He has been an avid tennis player for over a decade, and he follows the sport passionately. As a marathon runner, Akshay has participated in over half a dozen marathons.

Akshay Panth, Chief Investment Officer, Neev Funds-SBICAP Ventures Ltd.

Akshay has over 13 years experience in Private Equity, Principal Investments and Advisory roles with leading domestic and international investors. He started his career with the India Infrastructure Fund (a c.US$1Bn Infrastructure Fund managed by IDFC Alternatives) and has since worked with multiple private equity and principal investors. His previous experience includes working with CapAleph Private Equity, GMR Infrastructure, and MAPE Advisory Group.

At CapAleph, Akshay handled the Infrastructure Support Services and Education & Skill Development segments for the Fund. At GMR Infrastructure, Akshay was part of the Project Finance team working on the road sector where he submitted multiple bids to the NHAI. He has been part of teams that have invested over US$100Mn in the Indian infrastructure space.

Akshay holds a PGDM/MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bangalore University. 

Akshay Sharma, Founder & COO, Schedulers Logistics

Founder of the Company and the member of the Board of Directors. In Schedulers, He is responsible for the operations and profitability of Company including Leadership development and new initiatives. He brings in 18 years of experience in Cold Chain, SCM and General Management. He has worked with some of the top companies in logistics and cold chain SCM. He is an Alumni of King George Royal Indian Military Schools and has graduated from Institute of Hotel Management, Bhopal.

Alagappan Murugappan, Managing Director and Head of Asia Funds, CDC Group | @CDCgroup

Muru joined CDC in October 2013 having worked previously in senior roles in private equity and investment banking in India. His private equity experience includes a stint at Actis in India and more recently, he headed the infrastructure fund at UTI Capital.

Muru has been an investment banker for over 13 years having served on the Board of ICICI Securities, one of India’s leading Investment Banks with direct responsibility for investment banking. His previous investment banking experience was with Cazenove in the UK and in India, where he headed the Indian operations of the firm.

Muru holds a masters degree in Law from Cambridge University.

Alan Rosling, Chairman, Kiran Energy Solar Power

Alan Rosling is Chairman of Kiran Energy Solar Power Pvt Ltd, a company he co-founded in Bombay in 2010 together with Ardeshir Contractor. Kiran Energy closed its Series A funding round with a consortium of three private equity investors and is now developing solar power projects in India, typically in joint venture with leading corporates. Kiran signed its first joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra in September 2010 and has signed two Power Purchase Agreements to date, a 20 MW project in Gujarat and a 5 MW National Solar Mission project.

Alan created his own advisory business, Griffin Growth Partners Ltd, in 2009 to assist clients develop and implement successful strategies in India, and to work with Asian multinationals as they globalise.

He was until March 2009 an Executive Director of Tata Sons Limited, the holding company of the Tata Group, and was a member of the Tata Group Corporate Centre with responsibility for the Group’s drive to internationalise.

From 1998 to 2003 he was Chairman of the Jardine Matheson Group in India. Before joining Jardine Matheson in Hong Kong, he was with United Distillers plc where he was Strategy Development Director. Between 1991-93 Alan was Special Advisor to the British Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. John Major MP, and a member of the Policy Unit at No.10 Downing Street. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Piersons, a division of Courtaulds Textiles plc. He started his career in 1983 as a merchant banker with S.G. Warburg & Co Ltd.

He was educated at Downing College, Cambridge, and the Harvard Business School.

He was made an OBE in 1994.

Alekh Sanghera, Co-founder, farMart | @farMart_

Alekh is co-founder & CEO of farMart. farMart is an on-demand agriculture machinery renting platform for farmers from farmers. Prior to farMart, Alekh was a digital payments consultant with MicroSave. He has cross country experience having worked extensively on variety of projects with international donors- Gates foundation, World Bank, UNCDF- and Government of India apparatus. Alekh was the core team member who helped established a new government payments division at MicroSave Consulting.

@alekhs22

Alexander Souter, Co-Founder, Overcart.com

Alex is the co-founder and Managing Director of Overcart, the next generation e-commerce company that sells excess, unboxed and refurbished stock for brands and retailers. Overcart has raised two rounds of funding from GSF SuperAngels and GrowthStory.

Before setting up Overcart, Alex spent six years as a consultant with CEB in London & Gurgaon. He has also worked with the World Health Organization in Egypt and the Aga Khan Development Network in France.

Alex holds an M.A. from the University of St Andrews & an M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Ali Asgar Kagzi, Co-founder, Genext Students Pvt. Ltd

Ali Asgar Kagzi is the Co-founder and Director of Genext Students, India's 1st AI (Artificial Intelligence) powered home education ecosystem. This one-of-its-kind platform brings quality home tutors along with proprietary content (online & offline) to the doorstep of needy parents/students using technology as a key driver. In his present role, Ali oversees the strategy, operations, marketing and technology aspects of the company.

Ali completed the major part of his schooling in his home town of Udaipur, Rajasthan. This was followed by a graduation in Telecommunication Engineering from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore. However, it was his post-graduation in Management & Strategy from the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) that played a major role in shaping his personality and helping him develop a larger perspective about life.

Ali Hussein, Chief Executive Officer, Eros Now

Ali Hussein is Chief Executive Officer at Eros Now, the premier Indian OTT platform of Eros STX Global Corporation. He joined the leading global entertainment company in the beginning of 2018 to lead the brand’s vision to be consumers’ first choice for digital entertainment consistently. The surge of paid subscribers, technology innovations and global distribution is a testament of what the team has achieved over the last couple years. 

With over 18 years of experience in the media, entertainment, and digital space, He has been a Board Advisor to Discovery Networks and other start-ups in the media and technology domain. Previously he has worked with Google/YouTube wherein the ran the charter for content and product partnerships in South Asia, early employee of the Joint Venture between Network 18 and Viacom (Viacom 18) wherein he ran the digital media business across all consumer media brands and Hungama where managed the portfolio of distribution and content acquisition globally. His expertise comes a deep consumer understanding and vision of the media technology business to build it into a large-scale enterprise.