Our speakers

Viswanathan Parameswar, Executive Director, Adveq Management

Viswanathan Parameswar (Param) is the Head of the Adveq Asia program and is responsible for all investment activities in the region including primary fund investments, secondaries and direct co-investments. Adveq is a leading asset manager investing in private equity and real asset funds globally with more than USD 5 billion in assets under management. Prior to this, he was the Head of the Adveq Secondaries platform, investing in secondary transactions worldwide. Param leverages his international experience having been actively involved in Adveq’s investment activities across the US, Europe and Asia, particularly in emerging markets.

Param holds an MBA from the HEC School of Management in France and attended the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme at Oxford University, UK.

Vivek Abrol, CEO, Maiyas Beverages and Foods Private Limited | @MaiyasFoods

Vivek has over 15 years of work experience in FMCG space. He has spent his career with ITC traversing across functions: Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain & Product Development. He is now leading Maiyas Beverages & Foods Pvt Ltd in the capacity of C.E.O & is playing an instrumental role in transforming the organisation into a large professionally driven FMCG enterprise in Packaged Foods space.

Vivek Agarwal, Co-Founder & CTO, Square Yards

Vivek Agarwal is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Square Yards – India’s largest integrated platform for Real Estate. Vivek has been instrumental in building various tech and product platforms for the company. He rich experience spanning 18+ years with some of world’s largest companies like Intel, Nokia and Accenture. Vivek is also an avid researcher and recognized in industry circles as a thought leader having published multiple point-of-views on proptech, global mega trends, value chains, business models, products & service strategy.

Vivek Agarwal, MD and CEO, LIQVID e-learning services

Vivek is the MD and CEO of Liqvid. The company derives its name from two words - ‘vid’ for ‘to know’ in Sanskrit and ‘liquidus’ for ‘fluid, flowing’ in Latin. The idea is to provide personalised learning through application of cutting edge technology.

Liqvid has developed a ‘mobile first’, digital language learning platform, and leverages it to provide cutting edge language learning and other solutions to enterprises, institutions and consumers globally. Liqvid follows a unique technology based, assissted learning methodology. It provides English learning solutions in India under the brand English Edge. This program has been deployed at over 5000 locations, delivering more than 1.5 million hours of instruction to more than 600,000 learners.

Before starting Liqvid, Vivek had co-founded egurucool, which  provided curriculum support and test prep courses for K-12 students in India. eGurucool emerged as the pioneer in the field of elearning in India, combining a unique learning methodology and a huge infrastructure of technology and content creation processes. The company raised more than $11 M from investors, which included Newscorp and IFC, Washington and was subsequently sold to NIIT, India.

Vivek has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. He has a passionate interest in education and is committed to exploring how technology can help reach millions of people.

@vivek_liqvid

Vivek Belgavi, Partner, Financial Services - FinTech and Technology Consulting Leader, PwC | @PwC_IN

Vivek has over sixteen years of experience of working with Banks, Insurers, and Asset Management Companies in India and globally on business transformation initiatives leveraging innovating technology solutions. He has led multiple strategy engagements in the area of digital, payments, and analytics.

As fintech leader he plays a proactive role in identifying new market propositions, team enablement and also manages key client relationships. Over the years Vivek has been instrumental in assisting NPCI in developing standards and technology platforms for BBPS, XBRL based reporting strategy for Reserve Bank of India and ADF reporting engagement projects for multiple banks. To add on this he has also assisted multiple providers with application for payment banks and developing the bank build out strategy.

An alumnus of IIMC, Vivek did his B.E Electrical Engineering from Govt College of Engineering in Pune. He is a frequent writer and speaker on emerging trends impacting the industry.

@vivekbelgavi

Vivek Biyani, Director, Future Group

Vivek Biyani joined Future Group in June, 2007 and currently serves in an executive capacity as a Director in key group subsidiaries of Future Group. Since joining the group, Vivek has been involved in the setting up of the group’s home and consumer electronics business that includes, Home Town, a large-format home products and services retailing chain, E Zone, the group’s electronics retailing chain, among other formats.

As member of the leadership team in the home business, Vivek leads the operations, category management and logistics for the retail formats. Vivek is also part of the leadership team of the digital commerce business of Future Group that operates India’s most popular shopping portal, futurebazaarcom.

Vivek did his graduation studies in Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He was a member on the Dean’s list in every semester and has held positions such as Analyst at Michigan Interactive Investments, Associate Chairperson of Business Student Council and Secretary of the Professional Development Committee.

Beyond his work environments, Vivek is an avid sports player and follows Tennis, Squash and Formula 1 racing. He also takes a keen interest in geo-political and international affairs. He is married to Tanushri and was born in Mumbai on 1985.

Vivek Desai, Founder & Managing Director, Hosmac India Pvt Ltd | @HosmacIndia

Dr. Desai is the Founder Director of HOSMAC India, is a renowned name in Hospital Planning & Management field in India and abroad. In his consultancy career spanning more than a decade, Dr. Desai has advised more than 500 hospital projects in areas of feasibility studies, market research, hospital planning and management consultancy in India and abroad. He is a visiting faculty to premier institutions like Tata Institute of Social Science, IHMR Jaipur, IIT Mumbai, Welingkar School for Management, All India Institute of Local Self Government, etc. Apart from this, he has worked as an Advisor to numerous multilateral agencies like the World Bank, UNICEF, WHO, IL&FS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare etc.

For his accomplishments, he was selected as ‘Leader of Tomorrow’ by ET NOW business news channel in the Healthcare and Bio-Technology category in the year 2011. He has been invited on prestigious industry forums like FICCI, Indian Merchant Chambers and CII as a special invitee to chart out various policy guidelines for growth of the healthcare industry in India.

Vivek Gambhir, Chief Strategy Officer, Godrej Industries

Vivek Gambhir is the Chief Strategy Officer of Godrej Industries.

Vivek joined Godrej Industries in 2009. He is responsible for enhancing the strategic capabilities within the group companies, guiding overall group strategy, conducting portfolio analysis, advising mergers and acquisitions and leading special projects.

Prior to joining the Godrej Group, Vivek was a partner at Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm. He has worked with Bain in Boston, Singapore and New Delhi. He is a founding member of Bain’s consulting operations in India. Vivek led the Consumer Goods and the Technology, Telecommunications & Media Practices in India. He also oversaw the Organizational Capability area for Bain in India.

Vivek has a MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS (Computer Science) and BA (Economics) from Lafayette College.

Vivek has written numerous columns for the Economic Times and Mint on a variety of issues such as organizational transformation, innovation, brand profitability and salesforce effectiveness. He was nominated by Business Today as one of India’s hottest young executives in 2009.

Along with his wife and two children, Vivek loves to travel to off-beat places. During weekends, Vivek enjoys playing tennis, cooking with his kids, eating at dhabas, and watching films.

Vivek Gutpa, Partner, BMR Advisors

Vivek Gupta is a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) practice at BMR Advisors, a professional services organization offering a wide range of services in M&A, Tax and Risk Advisory services.

Vivek has over 15 years experience in advising a number of domestic and multinational companies on complex transactions involving mergers, acquisitions, divestments and other business re-organizations. Vivek heads the Private Equity practice for the Education Sector at BMR. In addition to education, he has also been involved in transactions in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) space.

He is an acknowledged expert in strategic, financial and commercial areas, and has been named as a leading advisor on M&A transactions in India in recent years. Vivek is regularly tapped by the media for his opinion on industry forecasts, trends and analysis.

Prior to joining BMR, Vivek has worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice of Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the Delhi University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Vivek Iyer, Partner & Financial Services Risk Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat