Our speakers

Seedfund Bharati Jacob, Founder, Partner

Seema Chaturvedi, Founder, AWE Funds

Seema Jhingan, Senior Partner, LexCounsel, Law Offices

Seema Jhingan, a Senior Partner at LexCounsel, Law Offices, has more than seventeen years of experience. She has extensively advised in areas including Mergers & Acquisition, Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment, Venture Capital & Private Equity, Education, Licensing & Franchising, Software/IT, General Corporate and Commercial. Seema has substantial expertise in representing investors, developers, VC/PE funds, international corporations, sponsors/lenders and other strategic investors involved in the establishment, development and financing of infrastructure, education, IT and satellite projects in India.

Seema is recognized for her capability of structuring innovative investment models and has considerable transactional experience in representing investors, corporations and education companies on regulatory and licensing issues, complex acquisitions and divestments, investment structuring and exits, international collaborations and debt/equity funding, tax structuring and related documentation in the education sector ranging from formal sector (K12 to higher education) to non-formal sector (vocational programs, skill development, test prep, support services, content and multimedia providers and other unregulated areas).  

Additionally, Seema has been designated as a leading lawyer in the area of IT, Telecommunications & Media, by Asia Law and Practice and is a regular speaker at global and domestic forums. Seema is an author of several papers and published articles.

Seema Kakkar, MD, Remanika Apparels Pvt Ltd

Remanika, the brand  which stands for beautiful woman is what exactly Seema Kakkar's well known fashion brand has been catering to the fashion needs of young, vibrant and energetic woman in India for the last twenty years.

A graduate  in biology and wanting to become a doctor, Seema instead chose  to follow her passion of making bold independent  and stylish clothing line for the young women of India.

While pursuing her masters in marketing, Seema translated her dream and vision  into  successful brand and business that Remanika is today, spread over 36 cities and more than 160 outlets with a customer base that has since grown manifold. Carefully blending western cuts with traditional Indian embellishments, Remanika offers its customers casual wear, club wear and accessories with a distinct style and attitude.

Seema Pawaskar, Head CSR, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Limited

Senthil Natarajan, Managing Director, Kovai Pazhamudir Nilayam

Senthil Natarajan joined the Family Business “Kovai Pazhamudir Nilayam” in 2005 after completing M.Sc Software Engineering. Kovai Pazhamudir Nilayam, which had 6 branches spread in 3 cities in 2005 has now grown into a 50 outlet brand spread across 10 cities employing close to 1000 employees and is now expanding rapidly.

Kovai Pazhamudir Nilayam has not only extended its footprint in retail but also strengthened its backend by establishing itself into a strong sourcing and distribution company with state of the art warehouses. By now establishing a holding company, KPN Farm Fresh Private Limited to handle multiple arms of Imports, distribution and retailing, Senthil Natarajan aims at bringing global standards and more varieties to Indian consumers’ doorsteps.

@senthilsmiles

Seshu Kumar, Head - Rural Retailing, ITC Ltd

Seshu Kumar , Head , Rural Retailing , at ITC - International Business Division had graduated from IIM Ahmedabad 20 yearsback. He had an initial grounding in Sales and Distribution in Asian Paints Ltd. in Sales and Distribution before moving to the then fledgling Retail Industry as Manager - Retailing with Walt Disney India Ltd.

His tenure as part of a start up team with Walt Disney helped him learn all areas of Retailing including Systems, Processes for controlling chain stores, Visual Merchandising and how to create a fun experience in a retail store for the target segment i.e. children.

He followed up his start up experience in Walt Disney with a small stint as Consultant with KSA Technopak at KSA Technopak and then again joined a start up team in 2000 - this time in e-tailing industry with Fabmall.com (then Fabmart.com). Having quickly understood that Food Retailing is a bigger opportunity, Mr.Seshu Kumar spearheaded Fabmall’s foray into setting up the chain of Fabmall Supermarkets in Bangalore.

Mr.Seshu Kumar has joined ITC in 2004 and is spearheading ITC IBD’s initiative to set up a Chain of 700 Rural Hypermarkets over the next 10 years. During the last 6 years he had set up 24 Choupal Sagars and had built the Team, Systems and Processes to support the Mega Expansion.

Shachindra Nath, Group CEO, Religare Enterprises Limited

Shachindra Nath (Group Chief Executive Officer) Religare Enterprises Ltd., carries the overall responsibility for leading all pivotal operations and businesses of the group. He has been associated with Religare since the year 2000 and has been instrumental in building various businesses under the Religare umbrella from scratch. His strategic agility coupled with a hands on approach has been a key to Religare’s growth and success over the years. With a career span of more than 20 years, Shachindra is a highly accomplished professional backed by an exemplary academic record.

He is a University rank holder for his Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He also went on to pursue a Post Graduate diploma in Intellectual Property Rights from the Amity Law College, Delhi.

Prior to joining Religare; Shachindra has worked in the manufacturing and financial services sector in various capacities.

Shafaq Uraizee Sapre, Executive Partner, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan attorneys

Ms. Shafaq Uraizee Sapre is an Executive Partner in Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan and heads the Corporate Practice for the Western and Southern India region. Her practice includes a variety of domestic and international transactions with a focus on providing an integrated solution to clients. She has assisted several Indian and foreign clients in forming joint ventures, strategic collaborations and has also advised them from an Indian legal and regulatory perspective. She has advised major international businesses with their investment strategies, structuring and setting up of their operations in India. She has represented large and medium size companies from Germany and other European countries, in structuring their India business strategies and setting up of their operations in India.

She has advised large domestic and international companies in their inbound and outbound mergers and acquisitions. She has assisted several international and domestic venture capital and private equity funds with respect to the legal aspects of structuring and restructuring investments in India and globally across a multitude of sectors. She has led several legal due diligence teams and renders opinions on issues concerning litigation, arbitration, doing business in India and on contract laws. She has advised clients in relation to transactions involving structured finance and also represented clients in the real estate sector while acting for private equity investors, individual domestic and NRI investors and developers.

Shafaq has about 17 years of experience. She started her career as a litigating counsel for 6 years and thereafter, she was the Head of Joint Ventures at Nishith Desai Associates for 8 years. She was a partner at Bharucha & Partners before joining L&S in 2016.

Shafaq has spoken at several Indian and foreign conferences such as at the conferences organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, General Counsel Summits and the Munich Private Equity Training 2010 (MUPET 2010). She actively writes for publications such as the International Financial Law Review (IFLR), Indian Business Law Journal (IBLJ), and Indian Venture Capital Journal (IVCJ)

Shagoofa Rashid Khan, Partner (Head - Funds, Investment, Advisory), Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

• Association of International Wealth Management of India “India’s Top 100 Women in Finance 2020”.
• RSG Emerging Leaders 2019 ‘Top 20 Emerging Legal Leaders: India’
• Legal 500 APAC 2020 & 2019 ‘Leading Lawyer’
• AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers 2020 & 2019 ‘Distinguished Practitioner’
• Legal 500 2019 ‘Tier 1’ for Investment Funds
• Asialaw 2020 & 2019 ‘Outstanding’

Shagoofa has 22 years of post-qualification experience across structuring funds, managed accounts, fund documentation, private equity, acquisitions / exits / restructuring / joint ventures and strategic initiatives, international taxation and planning, corporate and commercial laws, business advisory, compliance and ethics advisory, audit and finance. She was in-house counsel, for 10 years, with leading Indian corporate houses.

She was Senior Vice President & Head – Legal at Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL), a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank and its alternate assets management platform. As in-house counsel, she led due diligence, negotiation and documentation for several investments and exits as well as developing litigation strategy for execution and recovery of investments through enforcement of contracts against promoters and portfolio companies. At Kotak, she was also member of the core team that structured, negotiated and implemented the strategic infrastructure fund management joint venture between Kotak, SMBC Japan and Brookfield Asset Managers, Canada. Further, she was also responsible for compliance and regulatory matters on account of which she oversaw compliance and administration of funds and investment vehicles set up in Mauritius, Singapore and Cyprus and led negotiations with all institutional LPs in the funds.

Prior to joining Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Shagoofa was Senior Director and Head of Legal & Compliance with IDFC Alternatives Limited, the alternate assets manager of IDFC group. Prior to IDFC, she was Vice President (Group Legal Team) and reported into the Group General Counsel of Tata Sons Limited. Prior to Kotak, she was Head - Real Estate Funds practice and advised several offshore and domestic funds as well as Head - International Tax Policy practice at Nishith Desai Associates.