Community Business India Conference 2018

Daleep Manhas is a graduate of Wadia College, Pune and holds an MBA from Pune university. He is an ideator, innovator, and a planner, with over 17 years experience in healthcare. He has worked in across Cardiology, Diabetology, Mental Health, Nutrition and Medical Devices. He started his career in pharmecutical sales and followed it up with a stint in business development at a medico-marketing agency. He then moved to advertising, where he has donned multiple hats over the years.

His 11 year association with McCann Health started in 2007 when he joined their Mumbai office as account director. He then moved to McCann Health, Delhi as a Strategic Planner. In 2014, he switched roles once again to head the McCann Health Delhi office as the General Manager. With his vast experience in multiple roles, he soon progressed to lead the India office as Country Head, McCann Health, India.

Under his leadership, McCann Health India is investing in improving its planning and creative output, and has become a idea and business powerhouse. He has been instrumental in managing and winning some of the biggest businesses for McCann Health, including, Nestle Nutrition, Dabur, Reckitt Benckiser, BD, Tata, Cipla, Boston Scientific, and many more. Daleep is an idea-centric business person. With him at the helm, McCann has won awards and recognition for brands like Nestle Start Healthy Stay Healthy, HealthCare atHome, Omron, Narayana Health, and for the campaigns like Immunity Charm, Noon Assembly, Dobara Poocho, among others.
After all these years, Daleep is still a planner at heart, one who believes in utilising his domain knowledge to come up with ideas that enhance lives.

Devika Malik was born with hemiplegia, which causes paralysis to one side of the body. She has overcome the challenges associated with her disability to become an international para-athlete with 8 national & 3 international medals. Devika is also a psychologist, the Asian Representative of the Commonwealth Youth Sport for Development & Peace Working Group and-founder of the Wheeling Happiness Foundation. The foundation promotes inclusion, disability sports, raises funds for people with disabilities, and promotes better access and equality for those facing physical, emotional and social challenges. The foundation believes in the transformative power of sport and has helped over 50 persons with disabilities to become sports-persons. Devika is currently pursuing her PhD, the first Indian to be pursuing academic research (PhD) in the field of disability sports for women in India.

Her efforts have been recognised nationally and internationally, this includes receiving the Queen's Young Leaders Award from Queen Elizabeth II in London, an audience with the Prime Minister of India and being a Speaker at the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018, in presence of 53 Heads of States and the British Royal Family.

Elisa Paloschi is the President of Eyesfull Inc., a Toronto-based independent documentary film production company dedicated to telling stories with social relevance. Working at the intersection of storytelling and social impact, Elisa creates bridges between corporations, government, not-for-profits and philanthropists. Under Elisa’s expert guidance, these entities collaborate in the use media as a catalyst for social change.

As a documentary director, producer and impact producer, Elisa is drawn to telling stories that reflect the diversity of the human voice. Her latest feature documentary Driving with Selvi premiered in 2015 at Raindance Film Festival, London UK. Since then, it has appeared in over 100 festivals around the world, won 8 awards and was a Top 10 Audience Favourite at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. Driving with Selvi has been broadcast in 7 countries, translated in 8 languages and rated #1 Best Documentary of 2016 by Time Out London Magazine.

Elisa is currently implementing an impact campaign for Driving with Selvi. The campaign’s most recent success was Selvi’s Bus Tour, a 25-day screening tour which took the film to 29 communities across 4 states in north and south India. Partnering with 17 organizations (including Aga Khan Foundation, Plan India, Magic Bus and the Ministry of Women and Child Development) the film and post-screening discussion sessions reached 2,000 girls and women from urban slums to rural hamlets to government hostels.
Elisa is currently working on the campaign’s next phase, which aims to bring the film to 1 million girls India-wide. This ambitious goal will be accomplished by partnering with the Canadian and Indian governments, CSR programs, grassroots groups and advocacy organisations, who will use Driving with Selvi to support their gender-based work and further their own mandates, outreach and impact goals.

Ganesh Suresh Sawant, was born male and raised in a conservative family in Pune. At the early age of 9, Gauri realised that she was different from others.
She underwent her transition with the help of the Humsafar Trust.

Having founded her own NGO, 'Sakhi Char Chowghi' in Malad, Mumbai, Gauri promotes safe sex and provides counselling to transgender people in the Mumbai suburbs. She petitioned the the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in 2013 to have transgender recognised as a third gender in India. Sadly, five years after this ruling, her community is still striving for basic civic rights.
Gauri adopted her daughter, Gayatri, when she found out the child had lost her biological mother and would otherwise be sold. Today Gauri is working to ensure that the children of sex workers are not trafficked into the profession. She wishes to build a home for children of sex workers using her own land. Gauri believes that if children are given the right environment and love and care, they can and will thrive.

Gauri was recently featured in the Vicks ad in India that went viral.

Due to medical complications at birth, Hitesh Ramchandi was born with Cerebral Palsy and grew up with severe co-ordination, mobility and speech challenges. Whilst medical professionals were pessimistic about his future, Hitesh remained determined to overcome his challenges to create an extraordinary life. Today, Hitesh is an author, national Paralympic footballer, a Neuro-Linguistics Programming (NLP) Practitioner, Transformational Coach and Inspirational Speaker. His key message is one of personal empowerment – not just for those with disabilities, but for all: ‘During adversity you can either give up or get up’. His book, 'Better Than Normal' talks about his life, overcoming challenges and living with Cerebral Palsy, and his innovative reinvention by turning his weaknesses into his strengths.

Hitesh is ambitious: “My dream is to inspire 50,000,000 people by just 1% to live a better than normal life!” Attend his session – and be one of them!

Kirthi Jayakumar founded and runs the Red Elephant Foundation, a civilian peacebuilding initiative that works for gender equality through storytelling, advocacy and digital interventions. She also founded and runs fynePRINT, a feminist e-publishing imprint. She is a member of the Youth Working Group for Gender Equality under the UNIANYD.

Kirthi is an author, and released her debut novel in 2017, titled The Doodler of Dimashq. Her second book, The Dove's Lament, made it to the final shortlist for the Muse India Young Writers' Literary Award.

Kirthi coded an app for survivors of gender-based violence called Saahas, which works as a web and mobile app. She taught herself to code and created a web app, a mobile app and a Facebook ChatBot to support survivors of gender-based violence across 196 countries, and to assist bystander intervention.

In 2016, Kirthi was invited to Michelle Obama's United State of Women Summit at the White House in Washington DC, as a nominated changemaker. In 2017, she was one of the youth activists invited to attend President Obama's Town Hall at New Delhi.

Kirthi has spoken at TEDx Chennai, addressing Peace Education as a means to end Bullying. She has also spoken at FICCI FLO, as one of the youngest speakers to address the members. She was also a speaker at the Economic Times Women's Summit 2018. Kirthi has also had the distinction of addressing the UNV Partnerships Forum on her work as an epoch-making online volunteer with the United Nations.

Kirthi is the recipient of the US Presidential Services Medal (2012) for her services as a volunteer to Delta Women NGO, from President Barack Obama. She is the two-time recipient of the UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (2012, 2013). She received the 2016 Orange Flower Award from Women’s Web, the 2016 World Pulse Impact Leader Award and the 2017 Empowerment Leader Award from the Dais Foundation. Her work has been published in The Guardian and the TIME Magazine. She was recognized by EuropeAid on the "200 Women in the World of Development Wall of Fame in 2016." She received the Digital Women Award for Social Impact in 2017, from SheThePeople, the Person of the Year (Social Entrepreneur) 2017 from The Brew Magazine. Kirthi is a recipient of the Yuva Samman from MOP Vaishnav College, in January 2018. The Red Elephant Foundation received the FICCI FLO Outstanding NGO of the Year Award 2018, and the UN Online Volunteering Award 2017. Kirthi was also among the six women featured on Facebook India on International Women's Day in 2018.

Besides her professional engagements, Kirthi is a Zen Doodler, and runs a HerStory project called Femcyclopaedia. Her works have been commissioned by corporate establishments, non-profits and art collectors world over. She wrote and acted in Frankly Speaking, a play that takes off from where Anne Frank's Diary ended, and also wrote and acted in two other plays, named HerStory and Dolls.

'I Will Go Out' (IWGO) is the award winning movement that started in 2017 to combat street sexual harassment. Since its inception, IWGO has organised different action-based interventions and Kritisha was integral to organising the march of 2017, ChalkTheWalk and all other campaigns run by IWGO. Currently, she is working with the IWGO Hyderabad chapter and is organising awareness campaigns with corporates to combat sexual harassment at the workplace.

An alumni of St. Xavier’s, Mumbai and Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore.

Kritisha Jain is a senior copywriter at PAD - one of the leading advertising agencies in Hyderabad. Prior to this, she worked as a graphic designer with Cartoon Mango - a Bangalore based design studio.

Throughout her academic and professional journey, she has tried to understand the world of communication, tying her background in literature with that of visual communication design, aiming to understand the impact a piece of communication has on a receiver. She strives to use her expertise to further the cause of IWGO’s intention to make public places safer for women.

Maithreyi Jagannathan is a passionate and accomplished marketing leader with over 13 years of experience of working for Procter and Gamble. Within P&G she has led brand building across several geographies and multiple brands (haircare, skincare and consumer health care). She has led the Vicks India business over the last few years.

Maithreyi was part of the team that created the “Touch of Care” Vicks campaign in India and successfully led the expansion of this campaign into other markets. The Vicks #touchofcare India campaign was extremely successful in driving brand growth and received multiple awards including a Cannes lion, SABRE PR awards, SPIKES Asia etc. Under her leadership, Vicks India won the most prestigious “Brand of the year – special commendation” award from CNBC TV 18.
She is an avid skills-based volunteer and has helped train over 60 NGOs in marketing via the P&G Pro Bono School Forum. Outside of work, her interests include traveling and photography. She has a BE degree from NIT Surathkal and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil belongs to the royal family of Rajpipla, a princely state in Gujarat. He is the Chairperson and Co-founder of Lakshya Trust, the first organisation in Gujarat to work on HIV prevention amongst Men having Sex with Men (MSM) and Transgender populations. When Manvendra came out to the media in March 2006, it sent shock waves all over the world. His interviews appeared across major media channels all over the world and he used this platform to help LGBT+ people reclaim respect and inclusion in society. Currently, he is developing India's first resource centre for the LGBTQA Community at the royal establishment of Hanumanteshwar in Gujarat.
Manvendra is the Indian representative of Integrated Network for Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM), the largest Indian network of NGOs working on HIV/AIDS issues for sexual minorities in India. He was the Community Sector Representative of the India sub-region for MSMs of Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) from 2006 to 2010. He is also the Founder and Chairperson of Ekta Transglobal Foundation registered in USA, which provides a platform for global advocacy on social issues and an Ambassador Consultant (India) to AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Manvendra excels in music and has a Diploma in Indian Classical Music (Vocal) from Sangeet Mahabharti, Mumbai. He has performed at various events across Indian and abroad. Besides music, Manvendra is also a trained yoga teacher from The Yoga Institute, Mumbai and has a formal training on HIV/AIDS issues from Humsafar Trust, Mumbai.
Manvendra won the prestigious UNAIDS Civil Societies Award 2006 on behalf of Lakshya Trust for his outstanding contribution to HIV prevention amongst the MSM population. He also won the distinguished 2010 Global Citizenship Award for Leadership in Helping Humanity by Orphans International Worldwide in 2010. He was the 3rd Indian to be invited by Oprah Winfrey onto the show “Gays around the World” in November 2007 and the only Indian to be invited for the 2nd time to her farewell in January 2011. He appeared in the BBC’s reality show “Undercover Prince” in February 2009.

A strategy professional with more than 26 years of corporate experience, including CXO roles over the last 12 years, Marut has extensive experience launching Greenfield companies. With 12 years of contemplative practice, Marut brought meditative practices to the workplace in India. Eventually, this led her to leave commercial sector and devote herself to bringing mindfulness into the workspace. Today, Marut is the Country Director India and a Senior Consultant and Trainer with Potential Project International, a Global Leadership Services firm present in 28 countries. She has, for the past three years, brought the immensely popular Mindful Leadership Summit to India.
She is also a contributor to the book 'The Mind of the Leader', authored by Rasmus Hougaard (founder and CEO of Potential Project and global leader in mindful leadership and mindful organizations), being published by Harvard Business Review in 2018. Marut is passionate about working with leaders to enhance performance, effectiveness and well-being. Her area of specialisation is in organisational excellence and workplace wellbeing. She develops and delivers customised, evidence-based solutions to diverse work environments.

Selvi gained notoriety as the protagonist of a Canadian documentary film “Driving with Selvi”, which documented her incredible life story. She is India’s first female taxi driver. Today she runs her own taxi company and lead seminars to educate women. However, Selvi’s journey was not at all easy. Family tradition led her into an abusive marriage at the age of 13. Her husband and immediate family members - including her own mother and brother - tortured her. In these lonely times she contemplated suicide. At the age of 18, having endured this violent marriage for many years, she escaped, intending to end her life by throwing herself under a bus. It was at that moment that she made the powerful decision to live and embrace the challenges ahead. Selvi has made a remarkable transformation from a timid, soft-spoken, and fresh runaway into a powerful symbol of female empowerment.

Elisa Paloschi was touched by Selvi’s life story and decided to bring Selvi’s determination to the world through her documentary "Driving with Selvi". This audience embark on an intimate journey of healing, obstacles, and fulfilling dreams. Throughout this journey, Selvi’s unwavering spirit shines through. Wildly charming (without even realising it), remarkably strong, and utterly courageous, by the end of the film Selvi, shares important, hard-won secrets about happiness and life.

The film has won many accolades and awards including the “Truth to Power Documentary Award (2015)”, “Best of the Fest (Audience Award) - Wakefield International Film Festival (2016)”, “Documentary Feature Award - Atlanta Film Festival (2016)”, “New Mavericks Award - Atlanta Film Festival (2016)”, “Golden Sheaf Award - Best Documentary, Yorkton Film Festival (2016)”, “Golden Sheaf Award - Best Director - Non Fiction, Yorkton Film Festival (2016)”. It was also listed in the Top 10 Audience Favourite Documentaries at the IDFA Audience Awards.

Shipra is an Australian National University Graduate and Alumni of Boston Consulting Group. Shipra's personal struggle with depression motivated her to work to positively impact the lives of people who are struggling with emotional and mental health issues.
Shipra is an innovator and a visionary. She never stops, not until she creates the best solution possible. Along with a network of therapists and the collective insights of her consumers' behaviour via Epsyclinic - she and her team have created their innovative mobile first product - I Will.
She was named "Exceptional Woman of the Year in Healthcare 2017" by the Women Economic Forum and 100 Global Healthcare Leaders 2018 from World Health and Wellness Congress Awards.

Based in Palo Alto, Ferose heads the Globalisation Services unit and is responsible for enabling the global adoption of SAP products worldwide. The unit consists of 1200+ employees spread across 40+ countries with the mission of empowering all businesses to run compliant locally and compete globally. Before heading Globalisation Services, Ferose was the Managing Director of SAP Labs India. Beginning at the age of 33, he held this post for over 5 years, during which he transformed SAP Labs India into an innovation hub. In 2012, the company was recognised as a “Great Place to Work” in India for the very first time. Ferose is a Director on the Board of Specialisterne Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation with the goal of creating one million jobs for people with autism and similar challenges. He is the founder of the India Inclusion Foundation, a nonprofit aiming to bring the topic of inclusion to the forefront in India. The India Inclusion Summit, The Inclusion Fellowship and Inclusion Platform (Incluzone) are some of the initiatives started by Specialisterne Foundation. Ferose has co-authored a best-sellinf book on people with disabilities, GIFTED. The book has been translated into four Indian regional languages. The Kannada translation won the prestigious Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. Ferose also teaches “Personal Leadership” at Columbia University, New York.

Fern Ngai is Chief Executive Officer of Community Business, a Hong Kong based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing responsible and inclusive business practices. With fifteen years of experience in harnessing the power of business to drive social change, Community Business has an established reputation as a thought leader and trusted partner in corporate social responsibility and diversity and inclusion in Asia. Community Business conducts pioneering research, facilitates networks and events, leads campaigns and provides training and consultancy.

Fern joined Community Business 5 years ago and under her leadership, the organisation has expanded its products and services, established a subsidiary in India, and has launched the groundbreaking Hong Kong LGBT+ Inclusion Index and annual Awards. Fern is a Steering Committee member of the 30% Club Hong Kong which believes in collaborative, concerted business-led efforts to help accelerate progress towards gender parity on Hong Kong corporate boards. She was also a finalist in the 2017 Telstra Business Woman in Asia Award.

Originally from Canada, Fern has 40 years of broad experience in financial services, technology, change management, and in workplace diversity and community programmes. She held leadership roles in the human resources, technology and operations, governance, and corporate affairs functions at Standard Chartered Bank and was its first diversity and inclusion champion for Hong Kong. She volunteers as a board director of KELY Support Group, a Hong Kong charity dedicated to supporting young people.

Jiby is Programme Manager, based in Bangalore, India.  He is responsible for driving strategies and projects for Diversity and Inclusion in Asia Network in India (DIAN India), DIAN India Deliverables, project planning for Community Business India Conference, as well as supporting training and consulting for companies in India.

Prior to joining Community Business, Jiby worked on innovative strategies to promote accountability and awareness related to diversity and inclusion, driving cultural interventions focused on behaviour and leading organisational change to reach a more diverse and inclusive audience. Throughout his career, he has led various initiatives that resulted in the overall growth of the diversity and inclusion practices.

Graduated from Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management University, India, Jiby holds a Bachelor degree in Psychology. Born and raised in Northern India, Jiby’s roots are from the South. He is fluent in English and also Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil.

Kapila is Programme Manager, based in Bangalore, India.  She is responsible for driving strategies and projects of Diversity and Inclusion in Asia Network for India (DIAN India), nurturing members relationship as well as designing and delivering consultancy and training to companies in India.

KapiIa has more than 10 years of professional experience in sales and marketing, branding and corporate communications.  She worked at some of the biggest multinational and local mass media and information companies, responsible for marketing and promotional materials, liaison with public relations and advertising agencies and so on. 

She has also taught Business Management and Commerce at an Undergraduate college in India, which she values as an extremely gratifying experience.

Graduated from Pondicherry University of India, Kapila holds a Master degree in Marketing.  She is fluent in English and Hindi.

Kate Vernon is Director, Strategy and Marketing, based in UK, responsible for driving and overseeing strategic initiatives, research and special projects.  As member of the Executive Team, she works closely with Fern Ngai, as CEO, in defining the strategic direction of the organisation to ensure Community Business maintains its position as the leading not-for-profit advancing responsible and inclusive business practices in Asia.

As a leading member of Community Business since 2005, and the author of numerous pieces of research exploring Diversity and Inclusions issues in Asia, Kate has played an instrumental role in building Community Business as an organisation, and establishing and strengthening its position as a thought leader.

Prior to Community Business, Kate worked for 12 years in the private sector, holding senior international marketing positions for global companies such as Reed Elsevier, Aspect Telecommunications, Cable and Wireless, and PeopleSoft.

Graduated from Durham University, Kate holds a Bachelor degree (first class) of Arts in Chinese Studies. 

Mano relocated from Bangalore to Pune in May 2016 to take on his current role. Mano is a member of the NT India Executive Management Team and an additional Director on the NT India Board of Directors. Prior to his current role Mano was Head of Hedge Fund Services - Bangalore where he was responsible for HFS Operations in India supporting HFS Service & Delivery teams across all regions. Mano held this position from October 2012 until April 2016.

Mano began working at Northern Trust in 2007 as a Contractor - Senior Business Analyst in Investment Operations Outsourcing - EMEA. He was responsible for large IOO Client Implementations and Client Change. In January 2009, Mano officially joined Northern Trust as a Vice President continuing his work in IOO-EMEA. In October 2009, Mano transferred to the Bangalore office as Head of Investment Operations Outsourcing - Bangalore. In this position he was responsible for IOO Operations supporting clients across all regions. Mano held this position until September 2012.

Prior to joining Northern Trust, Mano was a Senior Consultant at Insight Asset Management (London) from August 2005 to December 2006. Previously he spent six years at State Street, first as a Fund Accountant in the Sydney, Australia office then as a Consultant in the London office. He also was employed as an Auditor at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Mellener joined Northern in August 2017 and is currently responsible for the design and delivery of the D&I strategy for India. She started her career in July 2000 with Infosys Technologies Limited in the talent acquisition function. She spent five years with Infosys United Kingdom worked in different HR functions including Diversity and Inclusion. She joined the AXA Group in 2008 as an HR Business partner and D&I lead for AXA Business Services in India. In 2012, she transitioned into a full time D&I Programme Manager role for the AXA Group globally. In this role she was responsible for driving different D&I programs across regions and in 2016, she took on the additional responsibility of supporting the D&I strategy for AXA in Asia.

Mellener has a Master’s Degree in Human Resources with a specialization in Diversity and Culture. In addition she is a certified MBTI administrator. In 2017, she was presented with an award for Excellence in D&I by the World HRD Congress, Mumbai India. She has been invited to speak about Diversity and Inclusion in several external forums as well share best practices with other organizations and is currently a task force member for the 2018 DIAN India D&I deliverable.

Having spent close to 13 years of her career in the D&I space she could not have asked for a more fulfilling profession and such as a rewarding career. The fact that the work she does can impact people at the very individual and grassroots level is really what drives her to continue working in this space. She has a keen interested in mental health and social inclusion specifically educating children from underprivileged backgrounds. Her interests include gardening, cooking, exploring new cultures and her pet stray dogs.

Rashmi is Senior Manager, based in Bangalore, India. She plays a leadership role in building Community Business’ India business and has overall responsibilities for the development and growth of the operations in India. 

Apart from Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), Rashmi has extensive experience in various areas of Human Resources, ranging from leadership development, action learning, talent management, employee value proposition to developing a global mindset in the workplace.

Prior to joining Community Business, Rashmi had worked for a multi-national mass media and information company for over 9 years where she was responsible for the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategy and agenda for its India Operation Centre.

Graduated from Symbiosis University in India, Rashmi holds a Master degree of Business Administration in Human Resources and Marketing. She is also keen on continuing her academic pursuit focusing her research on Social Innovation.

Sandeep is Programme Associate, based in Bangalore, India. He is responsible for helping deliver Community Business’ strategy in India, including DIAN India and our wider programmes and events.

Prior to joining Community Business, Sandeep had worked for communication agencies for over 6 years. Experienced in design and creative development, he worked on various projects ranging from websites, online communication to product packaging deliverables.  Sandeep has always had a passion for diversity and inclusion (D&I) and has a core belief that everybody has a special responsibility for making a positive difference for their fellow beings.

Graduated from Sikkim-Manipal University of India, Sandeep holds a Bachelor degree in Communication and Journalism.  During his leisure time, he loves travelling and interacting with new friends. He speaks five languages - English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil and has recently started to learn Portuguese.