Our speakers

Brij Bhushan, VP, Nexus India Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd

Brij has several years of operating and consulting experience. Prior to joining Nexus, Brij built and led the category function at Urbantouch.com - an ecommerce site for beauty and fashion products. He joined urbantouch at a very early stage and played a key role in the growth of the company. He also oversaw other functions and led multiple projects including just in time procurement, new products, leadership hiring and investor relations.

Prior to Urbantouch, Brij was a Case Team Leader at Bain & Company in San Francisco and New Delhi. While at Bain, Brij advised corporates on growth strategy, new product development, go-to-market and performance improvement with a focus on Consumer Goods, Technology, Industrials and Education sectors. He also assisted private equity clients with business diligence in a wide range of industries including IT, airlines and business services.

Previously, Brij worked in telecom product development and testing at Infosys and Hughes Software where his focus was on 2.5/3G networks. Brij has an MBA from IIM Bangalore and B.Tech in Computer Science from MDU, Haryana.

Brooks Preston, Vice President - Investment Funds, Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Vice President for Investment Funds, Brooks Preston overseas a department which has committed more than $4.4 billion to dozens of emerging market private equity funds since 1987. The Funds team currently manages approximately 50 financial commitments to private equity funds in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Emerging Europe and has the intention to grow the existing portfolio.

Before coming to OPIC, Brooks was the co-managing partner of the Virgin Green Fund Emerging Markets and a member of its Investment Committee. Prior to founding VGF EM, Brooks was the Principal at Wolfensohn & Company, an emerging market private equity firm led by former World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn where Brooks focused on low carbon energy investments in global emerging markets. From 2003 to 2008, Brooks had a number of senior management roles at BP plc in emerging markets, including head of global business development and M&A for BP Solar, and chief of staff to a Group Vice President running 10 large downstream oil businesses with $450 million in EBIT operating across 100 countries, most of them emerging markets.

Brooks was Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment and Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Forestry at USDA in the Clinton/Gore Administration. He wrote 15 laws passed by the U.S. Senate as Professional Staff Member at the Senate Committee Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where he covered forestry. Brooks also managed energy and environment issues for Senator Patrick Leahy.

Brooks has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Bruno E. Raschle, MD, Adveq Management

Bruno is responsible for defining the strategic direction of Adveq and for the firm’s business development in Asia. He is also a member of the Investment Committee.

Prior to founding Adveq in 1997 he was the founder and responsible executive of two venture capital fund of funds, MC Partners I & II, and made several direct company investments in the clean technology space. Bruno also has experience in managing and investing in start-ups, turn-arounds and expansion opportunities in other industries on different continents.

Bruno holds MSc degrees in Construction Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.

Bryan Lee, CEO / Director, Krishi Star

Bryan Stewart, Director, Liberty Global Partners

Bryan is Asia-Pacific Director at Liberty Global Partners, a private equity placement firm founded in 2002 and focused exclusively on emerging markets. He has marketed private equity funds investing in India, Southeast Asia, China, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa. He has also conducted significant research on the sector.

Prior to Liberty Global Partners, Bryan worked with the Global Horizon Fund, a PE fund of funds focused on frontier markets. He also has experience in international development work with several NGOs and the United States Peace Corps.

Bryan earned a BA from Grinnell College, and a MALD from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Bryan Stewart, Director of Asia-Pacific at Emerging Markets PE & VC advisory and placement firm, Liberty Global Partners

Bryan Stewart is a director at Liberty Global Partners and has been with the firm since 2006. Bryan directs private equity research at Liberty Global Partners, as well as having responsibility for the firm's institutional investor coverage in Asia.

Prior to joining Liberty Global, Bryan began his work in private equity with the Global Horizon Fund, an emerging markets PE fund of funds. Earlier, Bryan worked in international development in Eastern Europe and South Asia with the Peace Corps and Winrock International. Bryan earned a BA from Grinnell College, and a MALD from The Fletcher School with a focus on International Business.

BS Ajai Kumar, Chairman & CEO, HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. | @HealthcareGlbl

Dr. Ajaikumar is a doctorpeneur and the Chairman & CEO of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd with over 40 years of experience. After completing his MBBS from St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, he went on to complete his residency training in oncology from the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville followed by fellowship in radiation and medical oncology from the renowned MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. Dr. Ajaikumar also founded a not-for-pro?t hospital in Mysore, Bharath Hospital and Institute of Oncology in 1989. At the same time, along with a group of oncologists, he started the Bangalore Institute of Oncology (BIO).

HCG was instrumental in introducing high-end technologies like CyberKnife™ and TrueBeam™. It also brought in advanced bone marrow transplant therapies as well as molecular imaging. Dr. Ajaikumar acquired Triesta, which was a molecular diagnostic lab. Today, HCG is rapidly expanding and will soon have 26 comprehensive cancer care centers from its present number, 17. Among his other achievements, he has been awarded the prestigious E&Y Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year Award as well as the Asian Health Care Leadership Awards. Harvard Business School has done several case studies on HCG. Apart from his charitable work, he enjoys being a marathon runner and is a voracious reader.

@BSAjaikumar_HCG

Byju Raveendran, Founder, Byju’s @ByjusClasses

A Entrepreneur by chance and a Teacher by choice, Byju is the Founder CEO of India's largest Ed-tech (Learning) Company, BYJU’s, that  is reinventing how students learn, through its learning app. Since its launch last year, the learning app has already seen phenomenal engagement, with 3.5 million downloads and more than 120,000 paid annual subscribers. BYJU's offers learning programs that are effective and engaging for Class 6-12 & Test prep (JEE, AIPMT, CAT, IAS, GRE & GMAT).

The Learning App makes use of original content, watch-and-learn videos, rich animations and interactive simulations that, as opposed to rote memorization, make learning contextual and visual. Equally important, the app adapts to the unique learning style of each student, inviting them to explore different concepts and suggest a learning footprint for the student that can also address any gaps in learning. The company aims to inspire a lifelong love of learning.

C Balagopal, Entrepreneur, Author & Mentor

C Balagopal recently retired from Terumo Penpol Ltd., the company he founded 28 years ago,  post his 6 years successful stint as Indian Administrative Service officer in states like Manipur and Kerala. Today, Terumo Penpol operates the largest blood bag manufacturing facility in the world.  In 2013, he sold his shareholding to Terumo Corp., Japan after a successful partnership with them spanning 14 years. TPL is today respected for the quality of its life saving products which are sold in more than 50 countries across the globe, and dominates the market in India.

Balagopal now divides his time between mentoring and investing in startup ventures, especially those engaged in healthcare, community development activities, and writing. Currently he is the Charter Member and first President of TiE Kerala. He also serves on the ethics committee of Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology. C Balagopal is also mentor to Medical Technology Business Incubator, SCTIMST.

@balagopal68

C K Ranganathan, Chairman, Cavinkare Ltd.

Mr. CK Ranganathan was born in Cuddalore to parents with primary interest in education. He took up his Bachelors in Chemistry and after a short stint in the family business, he set up Chik India. The Company began its journey as Chik India and was renamed CavinKare Pvt. Ltd (CKPL) in 1998 with a starting investment of Rs. 15, 000/-.

The Company manufactures and markets many products under the brand of Chik, Spinz, Fairever, Meera, Nyle, Karthika, Indica, Tex, Ruchi, Chinnis, Maa, and Cavins etc both in domestic and international markets.

The Company has pioneered the concept of 'Family Salons' in India with its specialist brands - Limelite, and Green Trends and hence started Trends In Vogue Pvt. Ltd a Group Company which has a clear-cut focus providing personal styling and beauty solutions to everyone in the family.

Mr. Ranganathan has conferred the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Economic Times in 2004. He has been elected as Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry, Tamil Nadu State Council for the year 2009/10. He is the past President of Madras Management Association.

CK Ranganathan is one of the founder-members of the Ability Foundation an NGO working towards the rehabilitation of the disabled. He also instituted CAVINKARE ABILITY Awards to celebrate the exemplary spirit of rare breed of individuals who have risen above their physical limitations to display that attitude is everything.