Our speakers

Saurabh Mukherjea, Chief Executive Officer , Ambit Capital Pvt. Ltd

rior to joining Ambit, Saurabh co-founded an equity research firm, Clear Capital, and also successfully built the Equities business for Execution Noble in India, right from its inception. Voted as the ‘No.1 Strategist in India’ in 2014, 2015 and in 2016 by Asiamoney, Saurabh has played a crucial role in transforming Ambit into one of the most successful brokers in the country. It is under his stewardship that Ambit has been ranked by Asiamoney as the ‘Most Improved Brokerage House in India’ for 6 consecutive years. In 2017, Ambit was also rated as the ‘Most Independent Brokerage’ for the 3rd year running.
Saurabh, author of bestsellers – Gurus of Chaos and Unusual Billionaires, also contributes monthly columns for Outlook Business, Wealth Insight and VC Circle, and has also had his articles published in Forbes India and Value Research besides writing several pieces for newspaper editorials. Saurabh is also a member of SEBI’s Advisory Committee on Mutual Funds. Saurabh has a BSc and MSc from the London School of Economics, London, UK and is a CFA charter holder.

Saurabh Nigam, Vice President - Human Capital, Omidyar Network

Saurabh is the Vice President – Human Capital at Omidyar Network, which is one of the world’s leading impact investing organization. At Omidyar Network, Saurabh supports ON's portfolio of entrepreneurs in India, with a focus on organization design, change management, talent management and executive coaching. Saurabh has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Future HR Leaders of the Country by People Matters & DDI, International. He is also the recipient of HR 40 Under 40 award by Jombay for the year 2018. Saurabh is a regular speaker at many conferences on topics like Compensation, Talent Management and Gen Y.

Saurabh comes across as a culturally sensitive and a cutting-edge visionary with an extensive experience of over a decade. His Key track record includes setting up of HR function from scratch in both small and mid-sized organizations, leading strategic initiatives towards compensation and benefit management, improving HR Systems, policy reforms and process enhancement.

Saurabh is a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) in Electronics and Telecommunications from The Army Institute of Technology, Pune and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PM&IR) from XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur. He also holds the SPHR, GPHR and HRMP certifications from SHRM, USA ¬ – being the only Indian and one among the first 10 professionals globally to hold these three certifications simultaneously.

Apart from his academic and professional pursuits; Saurabh has keen interest in Cricket, traveling, teaching and public speaking.

Saurabh Sinha, Joint Vice President & Business Head - FinTech, Telecom & Diversified Markets, TransUnion CIBIL India

Saurabh is the founder and country leader for TransUnion CIBIL India’s Fintech, E-Commerce & Telecom business verticals. He brings over 16 years of industry experience across Fintech, Banking & Telecom. He strategizes and enables partnerships with leading Fintechs across Consumer, Peer-to-Peer & SME lending, Payments and E-Commerce categories, towards creating a deeply engaged ecosystem that leverages solutions built on the power of technology, data analytics and insights.

Previously, Saurabh was the founding business head at www.BankBazaar.com where he was instrumental in creating the marketplace business ground-up and worked closely with leading Retail Bankers across India. Saurabh has also held positions with leading software products and services companies such as Amdocs and Tech Mahindra in India, Middle-East & Africa. Saurabh holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from Pune University and an MBA in Strategy and Marketing from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman and Co-founder, IAN

Saurabh Tewari, Director & Chief Technology Officer (Telecom), Dell Technologies

Saurav Banerjee, CFO, Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri Group

Mr. Saurav Banerjee is a Chartered Accountant by profession and is presently the Chief Financial Officer of Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Ltd., one of India’s most trusted jewellery companies, which is presently celebrating its 150th year. It is one of the few companies that can trace back its lineage that far and one of the very few retail companies within this industry group to have this distinction.

Mr. Banerjee joined TBZ Ltd.in February, 2014. Prior to joining TBZ, he was the CFO of Rosy Blue (India) Pvt Ltd, a leading name in the Diamond industry. He has, in his career spanning 25 years, represented industry leaders like GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, The Times of India Group (as Senior Vice President, Finance) and Gati Limited (as CFO).

Sean Blagsvedt, CEO and Founder, Babajob.com

Sean Blagsvedt is the CEO of Babajob.com, which connects employers to informal sector employees in the developing world - such as delivery helpers, maids and drivers - through a combination of mobile phones, location, skill and price filtering and social connections. The site has registered over 3 million job seekers, added 2.5 million job positions and primarily uses the concept of missed calls to get the jobseekers to their database. Babajob has raised Series A funding from Vinod Khosla Impact, Gray Ghost Ventures and USAID. The New York Times hails Babajob.com as a significant innovation that "seeks to bring the social-networking revolution to the world’s poor."

Previously, Sean spent 9 years with Microsoft in the Office, Windows and Research groups. In 2004, Sean moved to Bangalore as the 3rd member of Microsoft Research India, heading the Program Management and Advanced Prototyping team, focusing on novel approaches to mobile phones and technology in emerging markets.

Prior to Microsoft, Sean worked at the White House with the Internet Policy czar, Ira Magaziner. Sean holds dual bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Public Policy from Brown University (1998). He is a TED Fellow and married to Jaaga.in founder Archana Prasad.

Sean Sovak, Partner, Lighthouse

Sean is a Partner at Lighthouse, having co-founded the business in the mid-2000s. He is responsible for all aspects of sourcing, underwriting and managing portfolio investments, as well as team and organizational development. Previously, Sean was a Managing Director at W. P. Carey & Co., a NYSE-listed finance company, where he served in various capacities since 1994, lastly as Managing Director and Chief Acquisitions Officer. Sean serves as a Director to Kama Ayurveda, one of India’s leading luxury personal care brands, as well as Fabindia, India’s leading ethnic wear retailer and purveyor of other home and personal care products which celebrate India’s uniqueness. In his personal time, Sean is an Advisory Board Member to the Muktangan Education Resource Center, which provides world-class education solutions for students of low income households; he has also served on the Board of the New York Philharmonic and The American School of Bombay in past years.

Sean earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics (summa cum laude) from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Sebastiaan van den Berg, Principal, HarbourVest Partners

Sebastiaan van den Berg joined HarbourVest's Hong Kong-based subsidiary in 2005 as a vice president and became a principal in 2009. He focuses on partnership investments in Asia Pacific and emerging markets. Sebastiaan joined the Firm from H&Q Asia Pacific where he focused on mid-market buyout transactions in Greater China, Korea, and Japan. His previous experience also includes positions with AlpInvest Partners N.V. in Amsterdam, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. in Hong Kong, and Goldman Sachs International in London. Sebastiaan serves on the advisory boards of several international private equity partnerships, including funds managed by Brait Capital Partners, Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP), CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific, MKS Consulting, Unison Capital Partners, and Unitas Capital.

Sebastiaan received a Doctorandus degree in International Financial Economics from the Universiteit van Amsterdam in 1995 and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1996.  He speaks Dutch and French.

Sebastian Busche, Global Lead Partner Strategy - Financial Services & Insurance, Microsoft