Our speakers

Rohit Sharma, CEO, Reliance Entertainment (Digital Business)

Rohit Sharma is presently the Chief Executive Officer - Digital Business, Reliance Entertainment Limited. Rohit joined as CEO of Zapak.com (India’s Leading Causal Gaming Portal) in March 2006 and has built the entire team and business from scratch. Zapak is today one of the world's most comprehensive and unique gaming entity with interests in content, access, merchandising, mobile and events.

In a span of four years he has built Zapak.com India’s No. 1 Casual gaming portal with 8 million registered users. He has also launched Multiple and Scalable SBUs such as Zapak Gameplex (Gaming Cafes) and Zapak Games (Gaming CDs and Merchandise) and Zapak MMOG business. With a team of over 270 professionals Zapak is today India’s largest gaming entity.

Now as the CEO – Digital Businesses - Reliance Entertainment, he also heads all other digital business including Big Adda - an e-commerce venture with alternate retailing which leverages both offline and online media., BIGFlix.com - India’s premier video on demand service catering to domestic Indians and NRI’s worldwide., Big Oye - a one-stop entertainment website devoted to movie enthusiasts and film celebrities the world over and Jump Games - the leading Global publisher and developer of Online and Mobile Entertainment with global distribution across North America, South America, EMEA and APAC on 80 networks across 40 countries.

He is also leading group’s global digital initiatives especially in the International Entertainment space such as acquisition of Codemasters, one of UK's leading Game development and distribution company. He is also actively involved in doing deals with leading Hollywood Studios/Talent to create and distribute digital products for the Global entertainment market.

Rohitashwa Poddar, MD, Poddar Housing & Development Ltd.

Mr. Rohitashwa Poddar (Rohit Poddar) is the Managing Director of Poddar Housing and Development Ltd (PHDL)– India’s one of the leading affordable housing developers and Bombay Stock Exchange listed Public Limited Company. Poddar Housing is largely promoted by the Poddar family of The Poddar Group with a vision to create homes for life and for everyone. Mr. Poddar is the visionary behind the affordable housing venture of the Poddar Group which was flagged off in 2009. He is also a Director in several of the Poddar Group Companies. By education, he is an Engineering and Management Graduate. He holds BSc. (Hons) in Civil Engineering and BA in Business Management from Kings College London, UK. While creating homes for life is a passion, Mr. Poddar is also an avid sportsman with special interests in tennis, golf, running and skiing. Health and wellness are one of the main aspects that drive Poddar Housing’s Affordable Housing Venture, He is also an avid ‘Iyengar Yoga’ practitioner. Mr. Poddar is also a fellow of the Aspen Institute India for the India Leadership Initiative focusing on business ethics and was also voted one of the 200 Global Young Leaders by Asia Society in 2010. He has been a part of the Poddar Group since 1995 handling various businesses such as automobile tyre manufacturing, textile and apparel manufacturing and organic farming. He co-founded the Organically Grown brand in the USA in 2005 which is an organic lifestyle brand.  Currently, he is successfully sphere-heading Poddar Housing  and actively upgrading home buyers lifestyle as he strongly believes that life is lived on a grand spectrum of achieving dreams and goals where inspiration is drawn from home.

Rohith Bhat, MD & CEO, Robosoft Technologies

Rohith founded Robosoft in 1996 with a focus on providing product development services around the Apple Mac platform. Over the years, Robosoft has built on this niche and has several ongoing multi-year service engagements with Global brands. In 2005, Robosoft started porting games from PC/Xbox to Mac and has ported several dozen titles from Microsoft Game Studios, Codemasters, Ubisoft, Popcap, Gamehouse, National Geographic and Disney over the years. In 2008, Robosoft diversified into providing app and game development services and has already built several internationally acclaimed apps and games on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry platforms.

In 2008, Robosoft spun off two subsidiaries with focus on building own IP products for the global markets: 'Global Delight' which focuses on building apps in the photo/audio/video domain for iOS and '99Games Online' focused on building games for the mobile platforms. Couple of years on, several international awards later, clocking over 30 million downloads and after regularly topping the charts on the App Store, these subsidiaries are looking to take off in a big way.

Rohith completed his B.Tech in Computer Engineering in 1992 from Mangalore University and worked at Recosoft Corportation, Japan and L&T Infotech, Mumbai before starting Robosoft.

Rohtash Mal, Chairman & MD, EM3 Agri Services

Mr. Rohtash Mal, B.Tech, MBA, (IIT 1976 and IIM 1979) is CMD and Co-Founder of EM3 AgriServices Pvt. Ltd. and CMD, Equitigro, a Turnaround Management Consulting Company. He has an overall experience of 35+ years in Indian Corporates and during these years the  positions held by him are Executive Director & CEO of Escorts Agri Machinery Limited, CEO of Bharti Field Fresh Limited & Bharti Airtel Ltd., Chief General Manager (Marketing and Sales) of Maruti Udyog Ltd. and Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) of Ballarpur Industries Ltd. His experience varies over seven industries Agri-Machinery, Agriculture, Telecom, Automobiles, Paper, Chemicals, Switchgears etc.

He is also member of various committees like Executive Advisory Committee of Simon Business School, University of Rochester, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), CII Agricouncil, FICCI Agricouncil, Indian Angel Network & Charter Member, TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and has also been the President of Tractor Manufacturers Association (TMA).

Romanus Prabhu, Global Head - Technical Support, Unified Endpoint Management & Security, ManageEngine

Romanus Prabhu Raymond is the Global head of technical support for endpoint management & security at ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corp. With over 18 years of experience spanning from the legacy client management to modern endpoint management & security solution domains, he directly overseas consultation, implementation and partner coordination across the globe. Being no stranger to the stage, he holds the title of ManageEngine guru, providing direction and ideas to many professionals and peers in his field.

Ronnie Screwvala, Founder, Unilazer Ventures

Ronnie Screwvala is a first generation entrepreneur who pioneered Cable TV in India, built one of the largest toothbrush manufacturing operations and went on to create a Media & Entertainment conglomerate - UTV - spanning Television, Broadcasting, Digital, Mobile and Motion Pictures, which he divested to The Walt Disney Company in 2012

Demonstrating an innate ability to merge creativity with commerce, Newsweek termed him the Jack Warner of India, Esquire rated him one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st Century and Fortune as Asia’s 25 most powerful.

Onto his second innings, Ronnie is driven by his interest in championing Entrepreneurship in India and is also focused through Unilazer to build his next set of ground up businesses in high growth and impact sectors. His more recent commitment is also to build Sports with lending first mover and support to Kabaddi and Football.

Ronnie is also passionate about Social Welfare and is active along with his wife Zarina as Founder Trustees of The Swades Foundation, which operates with the single minded focus of empowering one million lives in Rural India every 5-6 years through a unique 360 degree model with verticals in Water, Sanitation, Health, Nutrition, Community Mobilization, Education, and most importantly Agriculture & Livelihood, to lift them out of poverty permanently.

Roop Kumar, Country Category Manager, Data Services and Storage, HPE India

Roopa Ambekar, Founder, Managing Director, Uber Medspa & Style Lounge

United States Board Certified Cosmetologist & Medical Aesthetician Roopa Ambekar is a two-time national award winner, and a published artist. With over twenty-three years of experience in key leadership positions within the top American beauty brands, she has been a beauty educationalist, industry columnist, and is the Ex-Dean of the Paul Mitchell Institute in the USA.

A casual salon visit when she travelled to India six years ago was what gave her an insight into the disorganised beauty industry, as well as the outdated beauty education system. With the vision to groom our beauty industry with her expertise and knowledge, she established the award-winning Uber Salon, Spa, and Skin Clinic in Bangalore as she settled in India with her family.

Now, with the knowledge and expertise from her international experience combined with her entrepreneurial skills to run a successful beauty business in India, Mrs Roopa Ambekar is launching her education brand - the Roopa Ambekar International Institute of Cosmetology (RAIIC).

@roopambekar

Roopa Kudva , Partner & Managing Director, Omidyar Network India Advisors | @OmidyarNetwork

Roopa is partner at Omidyar Network and managing director of Omidyar Network India Advisors, where she leads overall investment strategy and operations. In her role, Roopa helps Omidyar Network manage and develop the India-based portfolio across core initiatives.

Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Roopa spent 23 years with CRISIL, and was its managing director and chief executive officer from 2007. She led CRISIL's transformation from being India’s premier ratings agency into a diversified global analytical company. Under her leadership the company's market capitalization grew four-fold and revenues tripled. She led the company's expansion plans and CRISIL now has a presence in 150 cities across India and research centers in Argentina, Poland and China. Its client base includes some of the largest global investment banks and as well as tens of thousands of small firms and enterprises in India.

Roopa also worked for Standard & Poor's, Paris, as director, financial institutions ratings. She is regularly featured in the media as a prominent woman leader in corporate India. She has served as a member of several policy-level committees relating to the Indian financial system, and is an independent director on the board of Infosys, one of India's most respected software companies.

Roopa holds a postgraduate diploma in management from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Roopa Purushothaman, Managing Director and Head of Research, Everstone Capital Advisors

Roopa Purushothaman is a Managing Director and Head of Research for Everstone Capital Advisors.

 

Prior to joining Everstone in 2006, Roopa had over six years of experience having worked as a Vice President and Global Economist at Goldman Sachs, where she published papers on topics including long term growth, global trade and migration in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Roopa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Ethics, Politics and Economics and in International Studies from Yale University and a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.