Our speakers

Sainath Ramanathan, Director - Private Equity, ICICI Venture

Sainath has 19 years of experience in Private Equity investing and Management Consulting across sectors.

Prior to joining ICICI Venture in July 2014, Sainath worked as Chief Operating Officer of a consumer technology startup – Qwik Entertainment India Limited, setting up India’s first cable based Video on Demand service.

In 2006, Sainath joined 3i India as part of its founding team. From 2006 – 12, he was part of the Growth Capital business of 3i in India.

Sainath has made several successful investments across sectors including Consumer, Media & Entertainment, Healthcare, Ports and Business Services.

Sainath began his career in Management Consulting, first at Accenture and then at the Monitor Group. He worked with several Indian and International clients across sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, oil and gas, auto etc. advising across multiple disciplines from strategy, operations to M&A.

Sainath holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and a B.A. (Honours) Economics from Hansraj College, Delhi University.

Sairee Chahal, Founder, SHEROES.in | @SHEROESIndia

Sairee Chahal is the Founder, CEO www.sheroes.in - an online career destination for women. The SHEROES Community has access to high growth career resources, mentorship and support. SHEROES engages with businesses to help them connect with female talent in form of employees, partners, customers and business owners.

Sairee is India’s foremost women at work evangelist and earlier co-founded Fleximoms. She is also the Convener, The SHEROES Summit and has been instrumental in bringing businesses and women professionals on a common platform.

Sairee is the winner of Sunday Standard Devi Award 2014. Nominated for the Editor’s choice for L’oreal Femina Women’s Award, she is also a Cartier Women’s Award Initiative for 2012 alumni, a TED speaker, Business Today, Most Powerful Women in Indian Business 2012 and has been featured on shows like Young Turks, Pioneering Spirit and What Women Want. A believer in work-life redesign, serial entrepreneur, mentor, an occasional writer and mother of a 7-year-old.

Sairee started her career as a journalist with Advertising & Marketing magazine and quickly moved on to set-up world's first daily for mariners - www.newslinkservices.com.
Sairee has worked in start-up mode as well as in large set-ups in research and consulting capacities. This includes setting up Russia and CIS practice for Heidrick & Struggles HSII www.heidrick.com and Confederation of Indian Industry www.cii.in.

Sairee went to Jawaharlal Nehru University for an M.Phil in International Relations and to IMT, Ghaziabad for a PG in business management.

@Sairee

Saitu Gupta, Head- Digital Partnerships, Federal Bank

Sajid Ahmed, CEO & Founder, Vserv Infosystems Private Limited

Sajith Pai, Director, Blume Ventures

Sajith is a long-time media executive turned VC. At Blume, Sajith supports investments in media, edtech & commerce, while simultaneously helping Blume build a research and knowledge platform. He is a prolific writer - his writings cover startups and ecommerce to culture and education, and have been published in Scroll, Quartz, Buzzfeed & The Times of India. He is based in Noida.

Saju Chacko, Managing Director, Caravel Logistics

Saju Chako completed his BE degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology  in 1988. He did M.B.A from Anna University – College of Engineering Guindy. Presently he is a Managing Director – Caravel Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Chennai.

Salil Godika, Co-founder, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer and Industry Group Head, Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Salil has 18 years of experience in the IT industry across global Product and Services companies. His breadth of experience includes P&L Ownership, Marketing, Vertical Market Development, Product Management, M&A and Alliances. He has extensive work experience in new business incubation from identification to operations.

Prior to Happiest Minds, Salil was with MindTree for 4 years as the Chief Strategy Officer. Before MindTree, he spent 12 years in the United States working for start-ups and large technology product companies like Dassault Systems, EMC and i2 Technologies. His accomplishments include incubating a new product to $30million in revenue, successful market positioning of multiple products, global marketing for a $300million business and multiple M&As.

Salil has a Bachelors degree in Industrial engineering from IIT, Roorkee and Masters in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University.

Salil Gupta, CEO, Khyati Foods Pvt Ltd

Mr. Salil Gupta is the Chief Executive Officer of Khyati Foods Pvt. Ltd. a leading global organic products supplier from India. He is a competent professional with over 15 years of experience in Sales & Marketing/ Business Development/ Supply Chain Management/ Team Management & Operations and also a proactive leader and planner with expertise in strategic planning, market plan execution, new product development, account management and pre-sales efforts. He has more than 10 years of experience in heading the management of entire value chain of Organic Products at Khyati. At present Due to his efforts and leadership Khyati Foods has initiated organic farming and has strengthened thousands of farmers in central part of India to produce organic crops and supply processed products to European and American destinations. The company is also involved in value addition activities of organic agriculture especially in Soya with a 36,000 MT per annum soy processing unit based on extrusion expelling process to produce organic soya cakes, soya oil, value added products and graded beans. Prior to joining Khyati in 2006 he has worked with Sonata Software, RS Traders, Almighty Foods and JVS Foods (UNWFP ancillary).

Salil has done B.Tech. in Food Engineering, M.Tech. in Energy and Electrical Engineering from MANIT Bhopal, PGDBA - Marketing & Operations from K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research Mumbai a leading business school in India.

Salil Pitale, Jt. MD & Co-CEO, Axis Capital Ltd.

Salil has over 24 years of experience across Investment Banking, Corporate Banking, Project Finance, and Equity Research. His experience includes over 18 years with Axis Capital / Axis Bank, where he has built corporate relationships and led multiple sector practices in Investment Banking. He is a Computer Engineer from VJTI, Mumbai, and an MBA from IIM, Lucknow.

Salil Thanawala, Head of Global Family Office, Lighthouse Canton

Salil Thanawala brings over two decades of experience in capital markets and private wealth management to his role as Executive Director of Wealth Management at Lighthouse Canton. Previously, he held leadership positions at Edelweiss Group/Nuvama Wealth, where he established his expertise in global derivatives trading and risk management. He has partnered with some of India's most prominent families, crafting bespoke financial solutions and facilitating private deals to fuel their business growth and wealth preservation.

Salil's impact extends beyond traditional wealth management. He has guided families through the establishment of family boards, charter reviews, and risk management strategies, ensuring the long-term sustainability of their wealth across generations. He has also played a key role in securing private equity and credit deals for their business ventures.

Salil's an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Indian School of Business.