Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Movie buff, Travel Enthusiast and some other things in no particular order.

Current stint: Business Head, Glo.Community

Suraj is currently Head of Business for Gilda.vc.  He was previously Head of Growth and Strategy at Eatable and Head of New Business Initiatives at SmartQ, both funded foodtech startups. 

Partner at Gilda Venture Capital, a $25Mn B2B & Saas focused fund with offices in India and UAE. The fund provides early-stage capital to entrepreneurs driving transformative changes through their businesses.

15 years of experience in business roles across IMEA region with large telcos, combined with 4 years with my own Startup. Angel invested in 3 companies and influenced 25 investments through my network.

I love meeting young teams who are pursuing solid ideas by building services of the future.
In my own LinkedIn invitations, I usually send a message note sharing my intent, and much appreciate others doing that too.

Hitesh Nathwani is a professional, qualified Chartered Accountant with a passion for startup related consulting & assisting in fundraising as well as related areas. Being an experienced qualified CA, with his dedication and experience, he strives to make value addition to the Gilda Venture Alternative Investment Fund (SEBI registered AIF Category 1 & 2) and portfolio Startups.

His experience also includes working for Statutory Audits, Internal Audits, Due Diligence and special assignments like Finance and Taxation Consultancy services focusing on early-stage Startups and SME based in India and UAE.

Gilda Ventures participants include government officials, private investors, venture capitalists and prominent businessmen and businesswomen seeking to explore new ventures and business partnerships with early-stage startups in MENA and India.

Arunabh Choudhary is a Partner at Juris Corp heads the Start-up and FinTech practice. He has rich experience in the sector and has assisted various Start-ups and investors on funding as well as other corporate issues. He is actively involved in creating legal & regulatory awareness amongst Start-ups. He has been highly appreciated for his understanding in the Financial Technologies (FinTech) sector. His FinTech related practice includes advisory, regulatory approvals for online instruments viz. e-wallets, payment gateways etc; drafting processes including KYC/AML, agreements, terms and conditions etc.

His other practice portfolio encompasses Commercial Laws, Tech Law, Private Equity transactions, Securities, Taxation, Competition Law and Policy Advisory. He caters to diverse national and international clients including corporates, funds as well as start-ups. He has advised organizations registered with multiple regulators viz. SEBI, RBI and IRDA. He also represents and advises the Competition Commission of India (CCI), and deals in complex matters faced by emerging FinTech entities, including aggregators.

Practice Areas
His core areas of practice are Start-Up, Commercial Laws, Tech Law, Private Equity transactions, Securities, Taxation, Competition Law, Policy Advisory and Fintech.

🏆🎬An award-winning movie and video producer, turned into a productivity coach & professional speaker ⌛📘

👉I believe in doing what you are passionate about and making a living out of it! I was always good in maths, and so I pursued a master degree in Finance with a dream to become a Wallstreet banker. Little did I know - another passion of mine: the art of making films - will become my professional endeavour and commitment.

🎬The world of movies, and video production taught me a lot. I learned the importance of time management, I learned how to use creativity to solve complex business problems, I learned how to lead teams and deliver results. I also learned a lot about entrepreneurship by running my own boutique agency in Denmark. I produced over 650+ videos for clients and won a number of awards for my work.

📘In 2006 I read my first book on the topic of personal growth. I loved the idea of digging deeper. Getting to know yourself better and improving. Ever since I've become committed to grow. I've invested in hundreds of courses, trainings, seminars, coaching trainings and workshops; I've read anything I can find on the topic, and have been applying what I've found of value on myself.

And so it was a natural progression to begin my own journey as a productivity coach and professional speaker, something that brings all my passions and strengths into one.
______________________
MY FOCUS TODAY
✅Building world-class teams, one company at a time
✅Organizing high-end masterminds and corporate offsides
✅Writing a book about team performance & culture in startups with my co-author Cristobal Alonso

A passionate and adaptable business professional with a diverse industry experience of scaling up individual accounts to strategising business growth and enabling customer success in both established corporate & fast-paced startups. A natural flair for connecting with people at any organisation level or sector and adapting in diverse industries. Proven track record of taking the ownership & leading from the front and going beyond the regular call of duty to elevate people, processes, products & partners.

ITIL V3 Expert (India) | Prince2 Practitioner (India) | ISO 27001 Lead Auditor (India) | Green Belt Six Sigma (India) | Google Certified-Online Marketing Fundamentals (India) | Advanced Digital Marketing Certificate of Excellence from & Digital Marketing Academy (UK) Mobile App Marketing (India) | ISO 20000 Foundation (USA) | Lean Agent Six Sigma (USA) | CSAM (USA)

I have been mentoring leaders in startups, different size companies, and state institutions over 10 years. I've been supporting leaders to define and improve their strengths, to find and manage personal weaknesses with a major goal to improve business performance and personal wellbeing.

Experienced Speaker & Trainer, took sessions in various institutions on different topics. Skilled in Analytical Skills, Public Speaking and Motivational Interviewing. Strong media and communication professional with a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Human Resources Management. Also attended i5 summit at IIM Indore and presented a project on HR-Tech. 

Two decades of experience in renowned multinationals across diversified sectors – FMCG (Lornamead Group), Life Insurance (AMP), Audit & Assurance (KPMG) and Oil & Gas (ExxonMobil) sectors. An active Angel Investor and serving as non-executive director in mid-size companies, both in India and abroad.

Rich experience in the FMCG - M&A space, having lead / been part of over 11 Acquisitions and 4 Divestments, including 100% divestment of UK headquartered Lornamead Group to Hong Kong-based consumer goods group Li & Fung. Handled many acquisitions as well as divestments, besides re-structuring and re-financing transactions in North America and Europe. In India, involved with divestment of Yardley brand to Wipro Consumer Care, and Tura Brand to Godrej Consumer Care.

His deep knowledge and expertise in M&A lead him to establish his own Investment Banking and Advisory Firm – ANOVA Corporate Services Pvt. Ltd. Through ANOVA, he works with Entrepreneurs and Business Owners for their requirements on acquisition of businesses or brands, sale of businesses for strategic reasons, besides helping with fundraise.

ANOVA’s recent M&A deals include OYO Rooms’ acquisition of Novascotia Boutique Homes (now OYO SilverKey), and Megadyne Group acquiring majority stake in Helicord. ANOVA also helped close an Endorsement Agreement with Mr Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a Cricketing Legend and Padma Bhushan awardee, for a UK client.

Awarded the prestigious ‘Rashtriya Udyog Ratna’ Award (2012) by National Organization for Commerce and Industry (NOCI) for his contribution to the economic growth and creating jobs in Small and Medium sectors. Barclays Capital recognized his outstanding contribution during the divestment of Lornamead Group to Li Fung by presenting ‘The Secret Weapon’ award. Also recognized by the Economic Growth Foundation, New Delhi, for excellence in the field of Finance.

Pankaj Jain is a seasoned CMA, CS and alumnus of IIM, Calcutta with vibrant spirit of entrepreneurship, having over 29 years of diversified experience across wide spectrum of industries while working at India and overseas with proven track record of aligning strategies with business and building trust based relationships globally.
While working at top corporate level positions like VP, CFO, CEO, Director, he has successfully managed the reputed business houses such as Super Seals, IAP, ERA Infra, Logix Group and has been instrumental in raising funds for projects (including megha infrastructure projects under Public Private Partnership) having cost of over Rs. 15000 crores. He has managed numerous strategic business initiatives involving Venture Formation, Business Modelling, Strategic Financial Planning, Corporate Alliances, emergers,Divestments, Cost Optimization, Business Restructuring, Capital Structuring, Corporate Governance and Corporate Financing for successful businesses with Global foot prints and hold distinction of turning around the financial position of companies through dynamic initiatives. 

If you are a young person looking for a direction for your career journey or are in your mid-career looking for help for a career change, finding a new job, planning your own business or retirement, I can help you to transition smoothly. I start with an assessment of your current status, help you in long-term planning, building your brand statement and leveraging your network and other resources to achieve your goals. It is not that difficult if you work systematically. Please ask for a free assessment session.

Experienced Chartered Accountant with a demonstrated history of working in the management consulting industry. Skilled in Internal Audit, Income Tax, Financial Accounting, Statutory Audit, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Strong accounting professional with a Chartered Accoutant focused in Accounting, Audit, Tax, Law from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Author in www.topcount.co, www.Whizsky.com and www.Merakhata.com. Most of my articles are focused on Accounting, Finance and tax matters.

With an unquenchable thirst for constant improvement and a passion for keeping up with the future, Aladdin Albatayneh’s journey has transformed him into a full-blown business-building specialist, enthused to show others the ropes. Beginning as Co-Founder and Cheif Revenue Officer for ShortPoint, a digital solutions company, Aladdin used his innate understanding of launching brands to help position ShortPoint as a global solution for seamlessly building Intra-net and collaboration sites without coding. 

ShortPoint was born in Dubai and has since gone global with its relocation to Silicon Valley, USA. This platform has helped companies like Microsoft and General Electric streamline their employee's collaboration and maximize the potential for growth.

Currently, Aladdin is the CEO of SoopaMarket, a new intelligent online grocery marketplace for retailers and food manufacturers for the Middle-East region.

International MBA with a global career spanning over a decade in strategy, business development and partnerships roles in consulting, technology and venture capital firms with cross-functional teams across international offices.

Skills: strategic planning, business development, partnerships, product marketing, business analytics.

Former Country Manager for India at Prodigy Finance, which provides international student loans via a borderless credit model enabling masters students to attend the world’s top universities. Grew India business volume by 41% year-on-year over 2017-2019, achieving 8x growth vs comparable market while managing the India team.

Digital pioneer and entrepreneurial mind with over 20 years of experience and a proven international track record of creating and building leading concepts, ideas, brands, new products, as well as as well as developing and executing fully integrated marketing and communication strategies.

Passionate, creative out-of-the-box thinker, who pioneers new business fields and markets, acting upon consumer insights and responding to market trends. Dedicated and inspirational leader that recruits, builds and coaches international multifunctional high performing teams.

Book author and seasoned speaker in conferences and seminars, on topics like digital transformation and social media, marketing strategies, Blockchain, digital marketing and innovation.

Areas of expertise include:
• Marketing strategies, Brand creation and development
• Storytelling
• Digital strategy and implementation
• Digital Transformation & Customer Centricity
• Entrepreneurship & Start-ups
• Personal Branding

Brainstorming, Innovating, Problem-Saving are not just business verbs for me, but the essence and inspiration of what I do and want to get better at.

Working at an early stage startup (first employee pride), I've seen our product grow from a combination of WhatsApp Business Account & Excel Scripts to a fast and secure WhatsApp API powered WebApp. In my pursuit to learn about building a people-first company, I've worn multiple hats over the course of time at Kaarva. I started with Operations (built and lead a 20 member team, 20M+ disbursed, 82% repeat rate) and once that started taking a form, moved to Process and Product (worked closely with our tech and marketing teams for the launch of version 0 & 1 of our product). Currently, I work with the Growth team (B2B - lead to onboarding flow, new partnerships and data-driven expansion)

That's what I do in the day time. What keeps me occupied most evenings is LoopBox - system of hyperlocal reusable food delivery options.

When I’m not working, I love hiking to rather less explored terrains in the outskirts of my city, play a game or two of football and indulge in my craving for traditional Indian desserts.

Meeting new people and learning new things is second nature to me, so please feel free to drop a hello and share your story.

I help startups build, grow, fund raise, scale, focus, achieve through operations, discipline, fund raising, business development, leverage, and team leadership - for USA, MENA, South America, Dubai, European eco-systems.

As an experienced and proven leader , advisor, and mentor , I will assist or lead in business operations, business development, org transformation, customer management, PMO, and team growth.

As an innovative change agent in Technology, SW, IoT, Smart Home, Big Data and Analytics, I am able to provide for your scale, growth, and business needs through commitment, network, and skills to create, build, operationalize, and guide you through your journey.

My experience includes hands-on work, and leadership in high-demand, fast-paced, or structured environments in engineering, business, SW development, IT, Hi-Tech, Big Data/Analytics, PMO, and manufacturing.

Key areas,
- Start-up Operations & Growth
- Big Data, Analytics, Wearables and IoT
- Operations: Strategy, Global/local, Planning, & Execution
- Product and Service Delivery
- Customer Service, Support, and Retention
- Team building and org structure
- Program, Product, & Project Management
- Product Life Cycles Management
- Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, & Six Sigma Methodologies
- Business Process Development & re-Engineering
- Product development – Hardware, Software, Tool & Services Products

Business Strategy and Technology products are my key strengths. I am on the board of a few companies to help them build their business strategy and scale up their technology operations. I help start-ups understand investment cycles and lead them to raise investments. My focus is on simple and quick execution and have learned to be very process-oriented in my approach.

A Certified Training & Development professional with proven success, spanning over 20 years in Facilitation Management, People Development, Consulting, Strategic Planning, Learning & Leadership Development, Instructional Design, Project & Program Management

Passionate, Experienced, Data-Informed & Insights Driven International Digital Marketer with 12+ years of proven experience in building successful antifragile start-up brands from scratch (★Recent One: Elevating an Unknown Category Brand to Category Leader & Successfully Getting It Acquired).

A Six Sigma Green Belt certified professional who has designed multi-channel digital strategies for established and emerging "B2B and B2C" brands with a core focus on "brand awareness, visibility, customer acquisition, nurturing and retention" across *Paid, *Owned and *Earned Media channels including Trade Shows, Events, Partnerships and instrumental in brand: Pennyful.in’s" successful acquisition.

Specialize in early-stage traction and establishing growth channels, SEO, PPC, Affiliate Marketing, Customer Research, Positioning and Messaging.

Strong ability to understand prospects and users-customers' needs. Experienced in owing full funnel from Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Revenue.

Experienced in designing, strategizing and executing multi-million (¥/₹/$) paid acquisition campaigns on Google Ads (Search, Display, Prospecting & Remarketing), Yahoo! Gemini, Bing Ads and on Facebook Ads, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Successfully transformed ordinary email marketing programs into high performing, super high ROI generating email marketing engines for leading B2C brands.

Significantly improved email list size, engagement, revenue, referrals by deploying innovative personalized and customized segmenting and targeting email strategies for a mega-sized list.

Successfully launched and managed PR programs in the US and India (In House and Agency) and got the best media placements (Fox Business) for brands across continents.

My Toolkit: Asana, Slack, Ahrefs, MailChimp, WebEngage, Google Analytics, Ads, Facebook Ads, AdRoll,

📌 12+ years of Business Leadership experience | MBA in Sales & Marketing | Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology
📌 Strategic Business Management Specialist having a successful career with diverse roles distinguished by commended performance with P&L responsibility
📌 Skilled in turning around under-performing businesses and enhancing the value of operating business units through process improvements focused on sales & best practice identification and implementation
📌 An energetic leader known for skills to envision & create successful outcomes in complex and multi-cultural environment
📌 Co-Founded a handicraft distribution business under the banner www.Zestango.com
📌 Deep understanding of various Business Domains - Education, Financial Services, Public Sector, Travel & Transportation, OEMs, General Trade / Retail, QSR, Telecom, Enterprise & Cloud, and AI-enabled voice technology, FMCG, and ITeS
📌 Set up profitable businesses from scratch for 4 diverse business units in past 5 years at Amazon and Zopper
📌 Drove 25% growth on distribution of Microsoft Mobile Devices and enhanced prepaid revenue by 30% for Airtel
📌 Pioneered the GTM strategy for rural India for Airtel Money through a unique customer connect model
📌 Built & led winning teams 150+ in size at Zopper, Airtel and Microsoft
📌 Possess International exposure across India, Europe, US & Middle East

ABOUT MYSELF
✎ I am adventurous, a diligent self-starter, a go-getter and a continuous learner. My professional stints have made me meet interesting people and learn from the positive aspects of their lives. I am savvy about emerging technologies that provide customers with fantastic & innovative experiences. I firmly believe in delivering business solutions through focused efforts and having a long term outlook.

I have spent over 12 years as a storyteller, marketing professional, and facilitator. I have consulted various large B2B and B2C clients as well as startups on their brand messaging, story, and content strategy and followed through with flawless execution.

An entrepreneur at heart, I stepped out of a lucrative corporate career to follow my passion. I successfully founded a boutique marketing consultancy that filled a big void in the market – that of bridging the gap between business outcomes and creative conceptualization. My strong point is content and I have been the voice of many a CEO and Chairpersons in leading organizations. I have personally been published on reputed platforms such as the World Economic Forum on a variety of topics including technology, entrepreneurship, and women centric issues.

After a deeply personal journey I went through, I published my first book, A Piece of Him. Based on real life experience the book is a story of vulnerability, strength, and unflinching perseverance. Having facilitated 500+ hours of trainings, I now coach people from all walks of life to lead happy and fulfilling lives.

I am a single mom to a feisty 1-year old baby boy and a laid-back 3-year old Labrador. When I'm not writing, I love to think up and contribute to new business ideas.

All closed deals start with the identification of an opportunity - I help you find more opportunities to effectively acquire, grow & retain customers. I assist CXOs to design, deploy, maintain & scale their go-to-market (GTM) plans to maximize revenue & growth. {Skills} Business Development, Consultative Selling, Strategic Partnerships, Negotiation, Customer Success, Coaching & set-up Team+Processes. As a results-driven business strategist, I focus on growing businesses, driving revenues, customer loyalty & forging relations with strategic partners.

Exposure to 20+years in B2B market in the telecommunication industry in the key areas of Marketing and Sales, Mobile Financial Solutions, Business Solutions, Product Life Cycle Management, Market Segmentation and Strategy development, Cloudification and Connectivity including Digitization and Digitalization applications that are relevant to various verticals.

Specialities: Design and launch of telecom services from the drawing board to the field. Group-wide roll-out of Business segment propositions based on Value Management principles, Profitability, Channel Design, Support processes that objectively lead to Business customer delight.

A seasoned CEO/COO, tech entrepreneur, podcaster, and advisor helping real businesses in the digital sector to grow and scale effectively. An impressive track record of developing and successfully exiting start-up and scale-ups in the UK, with a particular focus on Tech for Good, FinTech, Smart Home, SaaS, and Wellbeing.

Sanjay has a reputation for making hard decisions, delivering outcomes that maximise the success of growing businesses. Experienced working with a range of diverse competing stakeholders including Corporate Partners, VC investors, senior NED, and highly-experienced technical founders.

With a passion for transformative technologies, Sanjay is a pioneer of SaaS and Smart Home, having co-founded, developed and then successfully exited cutting-edge UK-based VC-backed B2C and B2B businesses. Through Sanjay’s iTunes® podcast ‘The Business of Meaning’ he now shines a light on exciting purpose-driven businesses that are pursuing meaning as well as profits.

Sanjay now helps organisations create deeper connections with their customers through the medium of podcasting.

Sanjay is an experienced panellist, speaker, mentor and business leader, having been featured in numerous publications including the Financial Times, Forbes, The Guardian, and TechCrunch.

Interested to work in an executive or non-executive capacity with entrepreneurs who want to change the direction or accelerate the growth of their business.

Capt. Savio Gomez, MSc MBA PhD

🌐 Fintech, Startups Incubation Acceleration Venture Capital M&A 🚢 Auditor / Inspector OCIMF CDI CDIIMPCAS

Savio is a Marine Consultant and a Business Strategist with international & diverse experience in two very different realms.

In the International Business - Fintech - Blockchain - AI realm:
- A certified Blockchain & AI professional;
- A Regional Partner at a virtual incubator assisting IT startups through acceleration and incubation programs.
- A consultant to a financial intermediary bank and a lending house.
- A business consultant to projects in relation to strategy, business development, partnerships, project enhancement.
- A M&A Advisor handling transactions related to consolidations, tender offers, purchase of assets and management acquisitions.

In the Maritime Transportation & Technology realm:
- An experienced and qualified Maritime Transportation & Technology Consultant with close to 3 decades of experience.
- An OCIMF SIRE Auditor
- Accredited OCIMF SIRE, CDI-M and CDI-IMPCAS inspector.
- A class I Master Mariner who has sailed as a Captain & Deck Officer on various types of vessels - oil, chemical, gas, FPSO, bulk, etc.
Rendering Services such as:
- Audits of new & existing OCIMF SIRE inspectors.
- OCIMF SIRE inspections of oil, chemical and gas ships.
- CDI-M inspections of chemical & gas ships.
- CDI-IMPCAS Audits of Ship Agents, Freight Forwarders, Container Freight Stations, Container Port Terminals & Tank Container Operators.
- TMSA / Marine Terminal Information System (MTPQ, MTMSA & MTOCT) Audits and GAP analysis reviews on behalf of Terminals; including due-diligence audits.
- Audits - ISO systems (9001, 14001 & 21500), OHSAS 18001, ISPS, ISM.

Helping Businesses and Startups to grow with a focus on business process consulting, People Empowerment, Right Technology adoption, channel development.
Catalyst & Sales Trainer !!!!

I have 15+ years of experience, working on emerging technologies, creating B2B and B2C Mobile, Web and Desktop software for consumers and businesses (Fortune 500 companies to Start-ups). I help businesses deliver - by creating engaging products, catalyzing sales, establishing processes, building teams, coaching team members and managing projects from idea to marketing. Have been instrumental in awesomizing several (25+) products and their delivery.

A successful and lateral thinking Cybersecurity and Information Risk professional with an ability to consistently deliver in a fast-paced, high pressure and deadline driven environment.

Has over 15 years of professional experience in leading and transforming Information Security & IT Risk practices with project experience in multiple geographies such as US, UK, Switzerland, Vienna, Singapore, Malaysia, China and the Czech Republic.

Well versed with technology and security solutions and has a 360-degree view of information risks through working in various roles in information security operations/consulting, internal auditing and in external audit/assurance practice of a Big 4 professional services firm.

Shashank holds an MBA from University of Cambridge, UK and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science.

Specialities:

Offensive Cyber Security
Threat and vulnerability management
Cyber Security Strategy and Target Operating Model development and implementation
Security Architecture Development
ISO 27001 Compliance

Certifications:

TOGAF (Part 1)
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge - Cloud Security Alliance (CCSK)
ISO 27001:2005 Lead Auditor (ISO 27001 LA)

Previously Held Certs:
SANS GIAC - Digital Forensics
PCI Internal Security Assessor ( PCI ISA)
ITIL Foundation

Shailendra has been active in Helping People Grow.

When People grow they need Counselling, Guidance, Mentoring and Coaching. As & when required, all this was exercised with people around to help them reach their Personal / Professional growth. He has been a People Person with Business in mind in his professional journey of over two decades of diverse experience in Business Management, Consulting, Franchising in - Education & Training, Telecom, Recruitment, Concept Sales.

He is currently offering following services to help people leverage his expertise in:

• Career Mentoring-Counselling-Coaching to professionals College students, Startups
• Helping Individuals in Job search, Job Interview Preparation, Career Planning, Career GOAL setting, Career issues, Career Success strategies, Career Roadblocks, Resume review, LinkedIn profile review, Professional networking strategies, Career-related webinars
• Franchise advisory to companies
• Sales and Business advisory to companies 
• HR and Recruitment advisory

Assisting startups raise smart money and tackle financial/business challenges.