Our speakers

Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO, Meru Cabs | @MeruCabs

Mr. Siddhartha Pahwa joined Meru Cabs Pvt Ltd as Chief Executive Officer in 2011. He is a Chartered Accountant from ICAI and ranked 42 in the country in1996. He is also a Cost Accountant from CWAI and has done an MBA from IIM Ahemdabad.

Siddhartha started his career as a Management Trainee with Hindustan Lever Limited in 1996. He brings with him 18 years of experience in Business management, Supply Chain, Operations and Finance Management across geographical regions of Asia, Africa & Middle East. Siddhartha won the ‘Best SCM Logistics Professional Award’ for Asia Pacific region across industries held in Singapore in December 2008.

Before he joined Meru family as CEO in 2011, Siddhartha was the President -Supply Chain & Generics at Abbott Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. His expertise includes improving business performance, supply chain efficiencies and effectiveness through process implementation. Prior to this he worked as a Finance Director - Brand Development with Unilever (Bangkok) & Supply Chain Manager with Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Under his able leadership as Chief Executive Officer of Meru Cabs Pvt Ltd, a complete transformation has been done of the business by improving utilization, enhancing consumer experience and better relationship with the chauffeurs. In the near future, a vast expansion is planned in the Meru fleet size. With his innovative thinking Siddhartha has successfully launched new brands like Genie Cabs & Meru Plus for inter and intra city travel with advanced GPS/GPRS technology in different cities. He has commited to increase Meru cabs to 100,000 in next few years across India.

Siddhartha is passionate about running, football and driving.

Siddhartha Saraf, CIO, Manyavar Family Office

Siddhesh Bhobe, CEO, eMee

After 15 years as a technocrat in a wide variety of domains ranging from tire manufacturing, media & Entertainment, banking and healthcare, Siddhesh is now focused on delivering high value business solutions, addressing the key concerns of CEOs, CMOs and their customers.

As CEO for eMee, he’s focused on delivering business centric gamification and engagement solutions in a variety of domains, including Retail and marketing, HR, healthcare, learning and media. He’s a passionate speaker and writer on gamification.

He joined Persistent in Feb 1998 after his M.Tech,  from IIT Bombay and currently he is the Center Head for Persistent systems, Pune. His mobile-enabled solution for Bridgestone Europe won the NASSCOM Innovation Award  for Market Facing Business Model and Business Process Innovation.

Originally from Goa, he’s very passionate about 5 Cs: Cinema, Cuisine, Cars, Camera and Cats, not necessarily in that order. He’s an avid blogger (http://siddhesh-k3g.blogspot.com)

@siddheshb

Sidharth Balakrishna, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Zee (Essel Group)

Sidharth Balakrishna holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta and an Economics degree from the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi University. He has over 14 years of experience in the media & entertainment, artificial intelligence, energy, infrastructure and education sectors.

He is currently an Executive (whole time) Board Director and Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at the Essel (Zee) Group and is leading several strategic initiatives in digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence, etc. In the past, he has led strategy and headed many large projects including in the fields of oil & gas, renewable energy, education, water, etc. Mr. Sidharth Balakrishna has also been a Strategy Consultant with Accenture and KPMG. Some of the projects that he has led have been awarded nationally and internationally.
He is a mentor to startups with MIT, Boston, USA as well as MassChallenge Boston & Tel Aviv, Israel.

Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder, Treebo

Sidharth is the co-founder of Treebo, a new-age affordable accommodation brand that is solving the problem of poor quality assurance in this space. Before launching Treebo, he was Vice President - Strategy & Corporate Development at Myntra where he was leading several strategic initiatives for the group. Prior to joining Myntra, he worked at McKinsey & Company for ~6 years and was a Senior Engagement Manager when he left the firm. At McKinsey, he served clients across geographies on topics related to operations, sales & marketing, organization, customer experience, and launching new businesses. His passion and experiences as a traveler drew Sidharth towards the idea of launching Treebo, through which he is trying to solve the problems he has personally faced as a traveler.

@mailsidharth

Sidharth Shakdher, EVP & CMO, Hotstar

Sidharth has been a part of the founding CXO team of Disney+ Hotstar, and leads the Marketing and D2C Growth at Disney+ Hotstar. Over the past 6 years, he has built it into the largest subscription business, as well as the largest premium video streaming platform, in India today. Prior to joining Disney+ Hotstar, Sidharth led one of the largest retail categories for Amazon in the US. He has also led Dettol for North America and played a key role in building Reckitt’s digital business in the US. He holds an MBA degree from Cornell University in the US, and a BE from Pune University, India.

Sijo Kuruvilla George, Founding CEO, Startup Village

As CEO of Startup Village, Sijo provide leadership and vision in setting up the country’s first PPP model Technology Business Incubator.
Startup Village aims to bring together a powerful and vibrant ecosystem to reach out, identify, develop and accelerate the growth process of student startups. They have an ambitious plan of incubating 1000 companies over the next 10 years.

Sijo brings along management consulting experience with the two of the Big4’s, PwC & Deloitte. As a consultant with the Strategy & Operations practice, he have advised various public and private sector institutions on strategy, business plan, PPP, project feasibility, governance and urban infrastructure.

Fresh out of college and after a very brief stint with technology major Infosys, Sijo along with a few friends founded MobME, a young and vibrant startup in the Mobile VAS space. MobME today is the proud winner of many prestigious Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards, the latest being the EMERGE50 by NASSCOM.

Soji speaks at college events and conferences in his efforts to evangelize technology & entrepreneurship. He also mentor students, young professionals, entrepreneurs and startups on various aspects related to business and productivity.

Simon Hopkins, CEO, Milltrust International Group &, Chairman, Milltrust Agricultural Investments Chairman, East India Capital Management

Simon Hopkins is a successful entrepreneur who has been a senior figure in the international investment management industry for more than two decades. He was an early advocate of hedge fund investing for institutional investors, and has been a prolific capital raiser for single manager funds, funds of funds and listed closed-end funds. He is passionate about emerging markets arena, having launched numerous closed end fund structures, and more recently a number of UCITS funds.

Mr. Hopkins started his career at S.G. Warburg, and UBS, subsequently holding senior roles at HSBC James Capel and Nomura International, in 1996 he created one of the industry's first dedicated research and investment consulting businesses in 1996 to provide truly objective analysis for investors. At its peak Global Fund Analysis (GFA) had over 27,000 registered users around the globe. Concurrently, he played a pioneering role in seeding many of the incipient European hedge funds through the Fortune Group, an award-winning alternatives investment advisory, and fund of hedge funds business. 

In 2011, Mr. Hopkins founded Milltrust International, an award-winning investment platform focusing on investment management in Emerging Markets, and specialist real asset solutions, driven by the changing demographics of the developing world. In addition to the group companies, he serves as an investment advisor to the British Innovation Fund, a U.K. University Venture Fund. He also serves as director of East India Investments Pte Ltd, SwallowcourtLimited, a healthcare business, Xoomtrip, a GCC-based online travel agent, Novare Fund Manager, an African asset management firm, Asian Film Fund, CITIC Securities One Belt One Road (CSOBOR), and Roslin Technologies (University of Edinburgh).  He sits on the International Council of the National University of Singapore Hospital Systems.

 He graduated with honours from the University of Bristol's Faculty of Law in1986 and speaks fluent French. He travels extensively but resides permanently with his family in Singapore.

Simon Hopkins, Chief Executive Officer, Milltrust International Group

Simon Hopkins is a successful entrepreneur who has been a senior figure in the international investment management industry for more than two decades. He was an early advocate of hedge fund investing for institutional investors, and has been a prolific capital raiser for single manager funds, funds of funds and listed closed-end funds. He passionate about emerging markets arena, having launched numerous closed end fund structures, and more recently a number of UCITS funds.

Mr. Hopkins started his career at S.G. Warburg, and UBS, subsequently holding senior roles at HSBC James Capel and Nomura International, in 1996 Mr. Hopkins created one of the industry’s first dedicated research and investment consulting businesses in 1996 to provide truly objective analysis for investors. At its peak Global Fund Analysis (GFA) had over 27,000 registered users around the globe.

Concurrently, Mr. Hopkins played a pioneering role in seeding many of the incipient European hedge funds through the Fortune Group, an award-winning alternatives investment advisory, and fund of hedge funds business. Fortune Group went on to become one of the UK’s pre-eminent multi-asset advisory firms managing over 7bn USD, with clients in 24 countries and a focus on pension funds, charities and endowments, as well as a number of the world’s leading families. The firm was successfully sold to UK-listed, financial services group, Close Brothers Group PLC, in 2006, culminating in its full integration in January 2010.

In 2011, Mr. Hopkins founded Milltrust International, an award-winning investment platform focusing on investment management in Emerging Markets, and specialist real asset solutions driven by the changing demographics of the developing world.

Milltrust advises the Irish-regulated Collective Asset Vehicle (ICAV), Milltrust International Managed Investments offering a range of world-class investment solutions including diversified farmland investments in Latin America and Australasia, hospitality in Asia and other specialist real estate investments. Milltrust Agricultural Investments is also an advisor to the British Innovation Fund, partnering with the leading Universities and Centres of Innovation in the UK and around the world.

Milltrust also delivers the industry’s first dedicated Emerging Markets Managed Accounts Platform which provides international investors with access to the local equity markets in the form of regulated Irish UCITS funds, through a selection of some of the world's best regional asset managers. It has structured investments with Value Partners (Greater China) and Keywise (Greater China), UTI International (India), Lion Global Investors (ASEAN), BTG Pactual (Brazil), ItaúUnibanco (Latin America), and Sedco (MENA).

Mr. Hopkins is a regular commentator on fund industry topics in the financial media and has addressed numerous conferences on both agriculture and alternative investments, as well as the OECD and the London School of Economics. He was profiled in a significant interview with the Financial Times in December 2008.

In addition to the group companies, Mr. Hopkins serves as an investment advisor to the British Innovation Fund, a U.K. University Venture Fund. He also serves as director of East India Investments Pte Ltd, SwallowcourtLimited, a healthcare business, Xoomtrip, a GCC-based online travel agent, Novare Fund Manager, an African asset management firm, Asian Film Fund, CITIC Securities One Belt One Road (CSOBOR), and Roslin Technologies (University of Edinburgh). He serves as a member of NUS Medicine International Council (NIC).

He graduated with honours from the University of Bristol's Faculty of Law in1986 and speaks fluent French. He travels extensively but resides permanently with his family in Singapore.

Simone Reis, Sr. Member, Competition Law Group , Nishith Desai Associates

Simone is a senior member of Mergers & Acquisitions and the Fund Investment practice of the firm. Simone's practice focuses on Mergers & Acquisitions, competition law, private equity and venture capital investments, domestic and international, capital markets, general corporate laws and advised a wide spectrum of clients, including companies and financial advisors, across several sectors such as manufacturing, pharma, information technology, banking and financial services and real estate. Simone has lead transactions relating to overseas investment, foreign investments, PIPE deals, buy outs, competition law matters and has been a speaker in various forums on issues such as competition law, foreign investments and corporate investments.