Category: 40 Under 40 Most Influential Leaders

Out-of-the-Box Ideas

Mentoring and helping start-ups to reach the next level through his ingenious angles to traditional processes such as corporate governance, accountability, hiring key people, Siddharth has been making regular waves in the pool of startups. He conducts monthly reviews, tracks the company’s progress, connects the founders to relevant people and evaluates the company’s positioning and strategies from time to time.

As a result, he is not only a favourite on the boards of various angel networks such as Mumbai Angels and Venture Catalyst, but is also popular among his team members at Everest Flavours Ltd., where he is a Director and has professionalized the way his family business runs by hiring relevant people, using various stateof- the-art facilities and research in the manufacturing processes.

His insightful ways have not only helped in improving the overall efficiency in his organization, but have propelled the company to achieve a record revenue growth. Evidences of his ideas bringing exceptional success are many. For instance, he initiated purchasing of raw material needed for his products, directly from 1.25 lakh farmer families, eliminating middlemen, and then employing a robust supply chain and advanced technological measures. When Siddharth founded Everest Travels in 2016, he aggressively expanded the company fleet and achieved instant and remarkable success through the use of technology to monitor the operations, collect metrics and increase the on-road time of drivers.

He not only decentralised the sales process in his family business and hired professionals for managing sales, thus promptly empowering his company to sell to newer international territories, but also implemented changes in policies related to long-term contracts and white labelling of goods.

He has also created a group of 15 most aggressive investors below the age of 40 years, by the name Young Funders Group, who get together once a month to brainstorm various initiatives, policy changes and investments in the start-up ecosystem.

Empowering Employees

Siddharth has the unique combination of being not only a man of ideas, but also a man of action, where he works and gets the work done by entrusting responsibilities on people, empowering them and then, powerfully guiding them. Firmly believing in the concept of Laissez Faire, he chooses the best people for the task and then trusts them to execute it in the best manner possible, without being intrusive in their work, but always leads by example and is invariably found with his team during difficult times. He knows that letting people grow with him, is actually making his growth possible, which leads to a circular mechanism of everyone’s mutual prosperity.

A fan of Mr Buffett, he lives simple, incessantly creates great ideas and greater wealth, and contributes in nation building by investing for the long run. He even tracks his investments only monthly/quarterly, and does not intrude with the day-to-day functioning of his start-ups and remains available for them whenever they need his help. His principles, ideas and traits are much ahead of his time, and they have magnetized a lot of likeminded people, who are ready to share his passion to create the extraordinary out of the ordinary through out-of-the-box ideas, consistent efforts and fresher perceptions.

Carrying the Forward

With prior experience of working as a Property Consultant at JDL Strategies Queensland, Australia, Mr. Varun Bagla is now following the footprints of his father to make Saltee Group reach newer heights of success.

Upbeat and buoyant about the growth of Saltee Group in the future, Mr. Varun Bagla plans to mark its presence by expanding the project portfolio – be it restaurants, lounges, banquets, guest suites or any other residential or commercial projects – by meeting the growing need of buyers across multiple cities, investing in streamlining processes to procure quality material and recruiting qualified professionals in areas like project management, architecture and engineering.

The Driving Force

Mr. Varun Bagla’s objective is to help buyers make informed property investment decisions in India by providing them with detailed information about projects and their future prospects, a true comparison and full documentation in order to ensure builder’s credibility; extending pre-sales, sales and post-sales support services to garner the reputation of being the most trustworthy and high-quality real estate developer among the buyers.

Mr. Varun Bagla is striving hard to establish Saltee Group as the preferred choice and the most organized and customer-centric organization in the realty sector. Building up on his experience and expertise, he finds himself in a position to soar higher with a pan-India growth strategy to deliver unique and innovative projects in the forthcoming years. His belief that “nothing great can be achieved without energy and devotion” is ably supported by a great team of professionals and skilled personnel who are committed and willing to push the entire system to develop novel ideas and products that redefine the company itself. Admiring the worth of human resource as a vital and inseparable asset, he is highly concerned about the welfare of his people.

Adopting a Futuristic Outlook

To make Saltee Group the most valuable, innovative and admired company that creates enormous value for their buyers, stakeholders and the economy, Mr. Varun Bagla continuously plans and hones the market strategies to develop, maintain and improve performance while complying with best practices, legal and other necessities, communicating with contractors, customers, regulatory bodies, environmental experts and stakeholders.

He has played a crucial role in modernizing the business operations, expanding market reach and refining all aspects of profitably running the business by providing new-age real estate solutions across all sections of society. With a thorough understanding of the needs of the affluent class of the society, he has matched his pace with time to cater to the diverse needs of the people by developing some of the unique and majestic designs, world-class amenities, lavish and tranquil residential and commercial projects.

A man of supreme commitment, Mr. Varun Bagla’s enormity lies in the fact that he is not just another builder but a great innovator with unbelievable success in building, promoting and strengthening the Saltee Group empire.

Making Her Way to Glory

Born and brought up in New Delhi, Kanika Agarwal has always dreamt of making it big ever since she was a kid, be it getting good grades, participating in extracurricular activities or having a deep desire to build a legacy. Her gusto for seizing opportunities has kept her going strong and this is manifested by her efforts to build an ecosystem of organizations that mirror the vibrant present and optimistic future of digital transformation and a better world.

After quitting her well-paying job in Singapore, Kanika Agarwal charted out a new path for herself to create something more valuable and noteworthy. Starting with determination, passion and a startup capital of SGD$10000, she embarked on a journey to find her new self without seeking any external funding. At the tender age of 25, she founded a completely bootstrapped company named Passion Peers in 2016 which is a rapidly growing digital transformation consultancy, agency and platforms solutions company, and she led it to a growth rate of 90% and SGD$2 million turnover in just two years of operations. Along the way, she also started two other companies – FemPeers and MindPeers.

Hailed as one of the youngest entrepreneurs of her generation, Kanika Agarwal has served over 40+ brands including MNCs like Estee Lauder Companies, Microsoft, NIVEA, Zee TV Asia Pacific and American Standard to name a few. Being a futuristic leader, Kanika Agarwal is celebrated by her clients – spanning Luxury, Retail, FMCG, Automotive, Consumer Tech, Health and Wellness Industry – as well as by her mentees and employees for her indomitable spirit and humble attitude towards all projects.

Donning Many Hats

In the second year of running Passion Peers, when the agency had excellent turnovers, Kanika hit a roadblock that wasn’t easy to overcome. The stress of running a business, led her to General Anxiety Disorder. While battling anxiety and depression, Kanika’s menstrual health was affected as well. It was at this juncture that she started FemPeers – a platform that provides subscription based menstrual kits, complete with sanitary products of one’s choice, snacks, heating pads, and a whole lot more.

While overcoming depression, Kanika realized that easy, open conversations on the issue is what is required to help people suffering from it. Her third venture, MindPeers aims to do just that. It is a platform that aims to destigmatise mental illness, and makes certified mental health professionals accessible and affordable to anyone who needs their help.

Awards and Accolades

Kanika Agarwal has been awarded the “BERG Women Icon Award 2017” and has been listed as the top most inspiring entrepreneur by many publications including e27 and Tech in Asia. She has also won numerous awards for her experiential and innovative campaign ideas.

Her hard work has found many admirers who appreciate the value offered by her ventures and recognise her as a leader of tomorrow.

UNIQUE LEADERSHIP STYLE

UpCurve Business Services Pvt. Ltd.’s first product udChalo has become the new and affordable way of traveling for our armed forces. This booking portal venture is a way to give back to the brave men of the armed forces and their families for their unwavering spirit of sacrifice and dedication to the nation.

As children of the Defence Personnel, both Ravi and Varun were aware of the insider perspective of the problems which gave them a more focused approach following which they co-founded udChalo.

A BORN ENTREPRENEUR

After graduating from the Army Institute of Technology, Ravi has worked with several reputable organisations including Dassault Systemes. He always had an entrepreneurial streak in him, proof of which are the many accolades that he won on various platforms like Eureka 2014, Concipio 2014, B Plan 2014 and Magnate 2014. What’s more, Ravi is already counted among the 40 most influential Asians below 40!

Ravi’s Pune based venture ‘udChalo’ serves the Defence Personnel and their dependents by enabling them to travel by air on discounted tickets. The idea is to convert waitlisted rail passengers into air passengers by allotting unutilized airline seats at a discounted price; this serves as a win-win situation for the airline partners with their unutilized capacity as well as passengers who can fly instead of travelling by train. Ravi Kumar and Varun Jain’s initiative to give back to the armed forces by facilitating ease of travelling has given them an edge in ironing out the creases in their path.

The booking service is available only for defence staff, ex-servicemen and their dependents along with Services Selection Board (SSB) candidates. The exclusivity of services has ensured that there is a wellverified niche customer base so that the benefits of this arrangement are utilized only by those for whom it is intended for; this is a point that airline partners are really anxious to ensure.

DEMONSTRATING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

Real-time booking engine udChalo offers both online and offline services and is now flying 5000 people to 66 cities every day. On the basis of current seat filling patterns and previous data, the airlines change allotted seats to udChalo within the allotted reservations/booking designator. udChalo charges a small fee over and above the airline prices; hence, it is very cost-effective. Under Ravi Kumar’s leadership, udChalo’s business model is making a revenue growth of 50% monthover- month. udChalo’s has online as well as offline counters at various locations which are managed by ex-servicemen, Veer Naris, the war-disabled and their dependents.

His understanding of army life has helped him expand his business interests into PostingChalo as well. The purpose of PostingChalo is to provide an easily accessible door-to door-solution to soldiers for the transportation of household goods and conveyance while proceeding to their posting location.

Ravi’s inspired dream of helping others has just taken flight. His consistent efforts to serve the defence personnel and their families in their best interests will surely result in more successful ventures in the times to come.

Women have always come up with something spectacular whenever they have got an opportunity and Tapasya Goel is one of those names, who has brought a radical change in the agro-business development. Her achievements have become the path to success for this industry, and her contributions to HPM, as the Executive Director, are always cherished

THIRST FOR EXCELLENCE

As the Executive Director of HPM, Tapasya Goel has indeed proved the critics wrong. Ever since her childhood, she has been a hard worker. She was very attentive in her studies which helped her build a strong educational foundation. From a very early age, Tapasya Goel had had an interest for agro-business development. It was her passion for this sector that helped her to come up with unique agro-solutions. Moreover, she has this amazing heart for farmers.

Being an Agro-analyst is not easy. You have to get down to the base level and listen to the problems of the farmers if you want to come up with the right kind of solution. This was accomplished with finesse by Tapasya Goel. She always enjoyed working with farmers and this was a huge turning point in her career. In fact, it was her modesty in her work that led HRM to gain such a huge recognition both in India and also all across the world. It is her relentless effort in understanding agrochemicals that has helped HPM acquire a massive customer base.

GLOBAL RECORDS

Truth be told, she has set global records in customer acquisition and that is really a commendable achievement. Not only for customer acquisition, Tapasya Goel has to be credited for introducing the latest manufacturing facilities that involve state- of-the-art technologies. This has increased the manufacturing capacities of HPM to about 9 thousand tonnes per year which previously were limited to just a thousand tonnes a year. That’s a whopping 9 times increase in the productivity.

As a human being, Tapasya Goel is simply unmatched. She has singlehandedly made a difference to the lives of 20 villages and the farmers that live in those villages. India has thousands of farmers who are not able to grow because of their inability to get modern technologies. This is where Tapasya Goel has come and made a difference. She has fulfilled the dreams of a number of farmers till now and those living in the 20 villages are blessed to have found someone like her. Her idea of inclusive development has been the root of success for the many farmers that she has worked with. Her desire to give these farmers a better life has been possible because of her uncompromising efforts to get the best agro-solutions at an affordable price.

BACK TO THE SOCIETY

Apart from her accolades in the agrochemicals industry, she also has done a great deal for “Girl’s Adoption CSR”. This was her attempt to provide proper lives to orphans in SOS Children’s Villages of India (Bawana, Delhi). She also went on to adopt 9 girls and took the responsibility of their education so that they could fulfill their dreams.

Tapasya Goel believes in total teamwork. Her commitment to keeping HPM as the corporate leader in agrochemicals is being fulfilled together by her entire team. She, being at the helm of the ship, strives for continuous improvement every single day. Her values towards the farmers and agrochemicals as a whole have made her a complete person in this field. Tapasya Goel’s honesty and dedication have made her what she is today. Her leadership skills are unique and that is why her strategic planning for any project comes off really well. There is no doubt that HPM is in good hands.

“Not only for customer acquisition, Tapasya Goel has to be credited for introducing the latest manufacturing facilities in HPM, which involve state-of-the-art technologies”

“The young & dynamic Vivek Patni, is one of the most powerful businessmen of India, as he manifests great zeal in leading his team of experts, & is always eager to get the results”

MAN OF VIGOUR & PANACHE

Having inherited the glorious business legacy from his blood relations, Vivek Patni has invariably demonstrated extraordinary passion and dedication to accomplish great ambitious plans to take his organization to fresh heights. With his far-seeing ability and an analytical bent of mind, he has enabled his organization to achieve remarkable success in a short span of time

ENERGETIC & INDUSTRIOUS

Blessed with sharp entrepreneurial skills and an astute observational power, Vivek Patni has been playing a vital part in all the key policy making decisions of Wonder Cement. Exhibiting keen interest in the corporate affairs of the company, he successfully leads the branding, communications and marketing divisions of his company, in his quest to earn a place in the premium segment of the market. His hands-on approach has earned him various prestigious awards including the ‘Shaan-e-Rajasthan’ award for his remarkable contribution to the growth of his organization.

CONTRIBUTION TO SPORTS

Being a passionate sports enthusiast with special inclination towards cricket, he has been a driving force behind the sports-building initiatives taken by the company. He was the brain behind Wonder Cement’s smart initiative of inaugurating the Wonder Cement Saath7 Cricket Mahotsav in Bikaner to promote sports in Rajasthan. As he had planned, this cricket carnival witnessed 4,000 teams from across the state in the race for the title, as cricket lovers from 10,000 villages and cities across the state took part in this competition making the tournament a big success. To give direction to his love for cricket, he has also set up a fully equipped cricket
academy with state-of-the-art facilities— Wonder Cricket Academy in Udaipur, where he has employed some of the best coaches from across the nation to polish the skills of upcoming players. To give a concrete shape to his dreams, under his insightful vision, the Academy is going to directly induct the top four players from the Saath7 tournament—three boys and one girl.

MAINTAINING THE STRATEGIC EDGE

Possessing razor-sharp business acumen, Vivek always develops great marketing strategies to tap his consumers using social media tools to the full effect. Understanding well that the consumers nowadays have access to multiple locations to communicate, his firm is targeting social media platforms to engage with its customers for effective marketing. His vision can be gauged by the fact that Wonder Cement has already managed to engage with over
18 million users in social media and around 4 lakh users on Twitter much ahead of its contemporaries JK Lakshmi Cement, Ambuja Cement and ACC. On Facebook, he carried out a campaign #PeopleOfWonder, which had the total engagement of over 1 lakh and total reach of over 9 lakh people. Another digital campaign #wonderofcement he carried out on Facebook had over
8 lakhs of total video views. With his astute leadership, Mr. Patni has been the driving force behind his company extending its footprints out of Rajasthan to neighbouring states also, such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, making Wonder Cement one of the fastest growing cement brands in these states.

LEADING THE PACK

The young and dynamic Vivek Patni, who is still in his twenties, has been counted among some of the most powerful businessmen of India, as he manifests great zeal in leading his team of experts, and is always eager to get the results by employing both traditional and state-of-the-art ways. He always takes a keen interest in all the corporate affairs of his company and likes to have a say in all key policy making decisions. A keen observer, he is always ahead of his times in using technology to his advantage, always identifying the thrust areas for his company before others. He has also been widely applauded for his success in setting up a frontline ultramodern manufacturing unit in a record time of 18 months, increasing the manufacturing capacity of his company multiple times.

“Having already established a niche market in the dessert category, Vikas used his entrepreneurship skills & created an effective marketing strategy to spread brand awareness”

RIDING THE SUCCESS WAVE ON CHOCOLATE DESSERTS

Starting his professional journey with a single outlet at Ahmedabad in 2007, the suave Co-founder and MD of The Chocolate Room India, Vikas Panjabi, has established over 260 chocolate cafes extending its footprints in 8 countries, over 20 states and over 60 cities and is aiming to grow twofold in the next 2 years

TAPPING THE RIGHT NERVE

Establishing the first chocolate café brand to have introduced franchise in the Indian market and live kitchen concept in the Indian café industry, Vikas has set the trend for serving a plethora of fresh sumptuous chocolate desserts and beverages to his customers. As he well understands that quality and international standards are important to survive in any F&B business, before serving to the customers, all his products are test-marketed to gauge their appeal to the public and only after passing through stringent quality test procedures are included in the menu.
Having registered The Chocolate Room (TCR)’s presence with about 260 outlets in cities including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Gurgaon, Lucknow, New Delhi and more, Vikas is aiming to expand its footprint to 500 outlets and increase its turnover to Rs. 300 crore by fiscal year 2020.

SETTING A NEW CHOCOLATE CULTURE

Vikas has set a new trend in the chocolate industry, and his enthusiasm and efforts have been well rewarded as he and his company has won numerous prestigious awards. Dedicated to offer his customers complete satisfaction and high-quality delicious chocolates, he has in his kitty 20 flavours of Italian hot chocolate, chocolate fondues, chocolate melting pots, chocolate cakes, waffles with strawberries and hot chocolate sauce, and a special dessert hand-made chocolates using the finest Belgian Chocolate, launched in October 2007 in India.
Having already established a niche market in the dessert category, Vikas used his astute entrepreneurship skills and created a strategic and highly effective marketing strategy to spread brand awareness, appealing food products to gain global recognition, cross-promotional offers with MNCs, collaborative branding with other companies, growing faith and support of customers and above all excessive oral publicity that has led to the spread of an unheard of chocolate culture in India.

QUEST FOR QUALITY

Having established an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, Vikas has always keenly focused on high quality and standards being followed by all his franchisees, and thus maintains the following excellent qualities in all of them— reliable background, financial credibility, favourable retail background, young entrepreneurs, motivation to not only run the outlet but also come up with more numbers, customer service skills to get the customers educated about the brand, and a good market area of over 1,000 sq. ft. with excellent footfall possibility. He is ever ready with his team of experts to provide all kinds of assistance to a prospective franchisee such as equipment, staff selection, staff training and on-going support to maintain impeccable value of its chocolate products and satisfactory customer service.

SPREADING WINGS

Riding on the wave of success, Vikas has some great ambitious plans for his organisation, as after extending its outlets in tier-II and tier-III cities, he is targeting bigger cities for expansion. TCR is now moving towards raising equity and looking to spread more company outlets in 2018 by raising equity. Realising a high percentage of sale in his company through selling chocolates to corporate houses and to customers who visit his outlets, he is planning to get into retailing chocolates through its current and modern trade outlets to take it to the next level. Extending its presence to countries like Australia, the USA, the UK, Canada, Oman, Dubai, and Cyprus, he is consistently growing his brand as a pioneer among the chocolate serving cafés.

“His intention behind TNB Ventures was to build kickass start-ups & to be the companion of choice to both start-ups & corporates eyeing to innovate & build upon their entrepreneurial capacity”

GIVING WINGS TO ASPIRING START-UPS

Having proved himself as an entrepreneur realizing revenues of S$47 Million in 4 years of his previous venture and founding, managing and exiting funds worth over €300 million, Vicknesh is keenly engaged in Singapore’s start-up ecosystem and playing a significant role in the cultivation of aspiring entrepreneurs and start-ups in Singapore

REALIZATION OF A DREAM

A graduate with a double degree from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and a postgraduate in Business Administration from UCLA Anderson and the National University of Singapore, Vicknesh R Pillay has been appointed a judge and a mentor for several entrepreneurship workshops, conferences and start-up competitions.
Coming up with a vision to establish a next-generation venture capital platform, TNB Ventures, Vicknesh along with his bunch of entrepreneur friends has already realized revenues of S$47 Million in 4 years of his previous venture as an established entrepreneur.
His intention behind establishing TNB Ventures was to build kickass start-ups and to be the companion of choice to both start-ups and corporates eyeing to innovate and build upon their entrepreneurial capacity.

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

Already established as an entrepreneur who founded, managed and exited an independent advisory firm, Vicknesh was conferred the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award at the coveted Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Awards 2013.
At present, Vicknesh works as a Board of Director at several companies advising and aiding them on their internal strategies and regional expansion plans.
According to Vicknesh, Singapore start-ups have transformed into next- generation solutions in the space of Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things.
Well understanding that these days local start-ups are focusing to mark their presence in the international arena from an initial stage of their expansion, while many global start-ups are coming up in Singapore using it as a base to fulfil their ambitions, and the government and private sector players are making joint efforts to set up the building blocks to promote a vibrant tech start up ecosystem in Singapore, Vicknesh, as the Managing Partner of TNB Ventures, likes to make full utilization of his experience of fund management, investment and go-to-market experience to lead TNB’s flagship venture capital fund.

HELPING START-UPS IN THEIR INITIAL STEPS

TNB Ventures in a joint initiative with Aura Group, an Australia-based fund manager, has realized the first close of their joint TNB Aura Fund 1 managed by Vicknesh along with the Head of Asia for Aura Group. The limited partners of the fund include institutional investors and UNHW individuals who provide strategic value to TNB’s portfolio companies. The fund prefers B2B companies that can offer balancing value to each other even if it is across industry verticals.
The company’s investment thesis is focused on IoT/IIoT, Robotics, Big Data, Al, AR/VR and the fund offers go-to- market assistance and options making use of TNB’s widespread corporate partner network within the comprehensive idea of Smart City, which is very interactive to the frontier technologies objective of TNB’s fund. The fund would provide its founder access to mentors having great business intellect and positive entrepreneurial experience.
A research by BCG reveals that the IoT market is expected to register significant increase in revenue across all levels of the technology deal and by the year 2020 the B2B spending on IOT Technologies, apps and solutions are expected to register a growth up to $267 billion.
TNB ventures under the effective leadership of Vicknesh has also entered into partnership with SPRING SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of SPRING Singapore, to jointly invest in and develop early-stage IoT, advanced manufacturing and engineering start-ups in Singapore with a maximum joint investment amount of up to S$4 million per venture.

“Gaining a lot of experience in hospitality industry, project management and team management, Mr. Gracias rose to the prestigious position of CEO of Remax Alliance”

TRANSLATING VISION INTO REALITY

With high in-depth knowledge and understanding of the nuances of hospitality entrepreneurship, the environment conscious Mr. Shawn Gracias has been quick to identify the rich and multi-polar potential of hinterland waterways and has launched many eco-sensitive projects such as premium yacht clubs, party catamarans, luxury product lines and a chain of services and facilities for the tourists

GROWING QUICK & WELL

After successfully completing his Bachelor’s degree course in Hospitality Management from the Institute of Hotel Management, Mr. Shawn Gracias began his professional career by joining the hospitality and hotel management sector in Dubai. Gaining a lot of experience in hospitality industry, hotel and restaurant management, project management, interpersonal skills, team management and with a fair knowledge of tools and technologies from a number of companies in the field, he rose to the prestigious position of Chief Executive Officer of Remax Alliance, already holding the responsibility of Managing Partner of Diamond Network’s Goa Club. His high calibre and understanding of hospitality sector can be gauged from the fact that in 2014, Mr. Shawn was appointed as the Vice President (Corporate) to supervise the marine tourism activities to help and to promote Champions Group’s water sports and other related activities in Goa, in close association with the Tourism Board in
Goa and elsewhere in India.
The focal object of this comprehensive exercise under Champions Group and plans for expansion in Goa gave a decent boost to the tourism industry’s revenues by way of wealthy tourists worldwide being embedded with the belief that Goa is an exotic and the most attractive sought-for tourists’ unique holiday destination.
To top it all, for the speedy and successful completion of this roadmap, the Champions Group under the highly capable leadership of Mr. Gracias, allied with Goa Tourism Development Corporation and all others engaged in tourism-related activities as well as Airport Authority of India for taking substantial measures to attract foreign tourists through specific measures for ensuring their adequate comfort.

MAN OF SUNDRY SKILLS

Having been associated with Club Goa as the Managing Partner, and Director of Resorts with the Royal Group in Goa, Mr. Gracias has an enriching experience of managing numerous large projects for and in collaboration with the Goa Tourism Development Corporation. He has also been a member of the pre- opening team to plan and implement the whole scheme of operations for the launch of Dar Al Masyaf Madinat Jumeirah in 2004-05, a hotel in Dubai, which received recognition as the best hotel in the world by Gallaventer’s Guide. During his stay in Dubai as a member of the pre-opening team, he was actively involved in training the staff in room management, food and beverage system, front-office practicalities, guest billing, foreign currency exchange, airline ticket reconfirmations, allocation of rooms, cashiering operations, active guest relations, supervisory role for the housekeeping of guest rooms, secretarial operations, rosters and schedules for
new colleagues.
During his tenure as the pre- opening team manager for restaurants & bars under Emaar Hospitality Group, he successfully handled the task of supervising F&B operations of restaurants, hospitality groups and its respective clubs to assure high standard of F&B service for guest satisfaction, guest feedback for further improvement.

MANAGERIAL EXCELLENCE

Through his superlative managerial skills, he has shown true intrapreneur qualities as under the management of Club India-Diamond network, Mr. Shawn Gracias spared no effort in elevating Diamond Network as an icon for Goa and beyond within the sectors such as hospitality, food, beverages and real estate. Under the ceaseless efforts of Mr. Gracias, Diamond Network has gained a lot of prestige and goodwill through the efforts, trust and participation of brands, companies, ambitious entrepreneurs and private establishments who have benefitted from the links.

“Mr. Gupta has turned Sharda University into a prominent multidiscipline campus of the country, and has evolved it into an outstanding institution renowned for high quality of teaching”

LEAVING GLOBAL FOOTPRINTS

Mr. Prashant Gupta has always believed that ethics and good governance coupled with a vision to see future are the mantras to
excel. This core ideology has seen him become one of India’s leading young business leaders

LEADING WITH YOUTHFUL DYNAMISM

Mr. Prashant Gupta is the Executive Director of Sharda University (India’s truly global university with students from 74+ countries) and Sharda Hospital (One of the largest super-speciality hospital & research centre in Delhi-NCR). He is also the Founder & CEO of Sharda Tech that provides a comprehensive portfolio of world-class services and solutions for ERP and Digital Marketing.
Mr. Prashant Gupta is the alumni of the very prestigious Nottingham Business School. He has a vast experience in multiple fields of market research, planning business strategy, public relations and team management. He is among the select young business leaders who have received prestigious honour and recognition from various industry bodies.

GOING BEYOND BOUNDARIES WITH SHARDA UNIVERSITY

Through indefatigable efforts of Mr. Prashant Gupta, Sharda University has over the years become one of the leading centres of education, research and innovation in Delhi NCR region.
Testimony to Sharda’s quest for world-class education are the various prestigious accolades and rankings including being awarded Best Private University by National Education Awards 2017, and awarded Best Private Global University of the year by National Education Excellence Award 2017.
The University proudly boasts of a large pool of 1200+ faculty members from renowned universities of USA, UK, Greece, Singapore, Japan, Russia, etc. What’s more, students from 74+ countries have experienced Sharda making it a truly global University.
Mr. Prashant Gupta has envisioned Sharda University to offer a truly international education experience and is spearheading modernisation plan of the University through hi-tech labs, well stocked libraries, AC classrooms with latest teaching aids, and facilities for indoor and outdoor sports.
Under his insightful guidance and headship, the University has devised an effective evaluation system to measure the efficacy of various educational programmes for regular update and advancement of teaching techniques to match and compete with the best in the world. For this purpose, Mr. Prashant Gupta, with his vast experience in the field, has set up special innovation labs not only to measure performance parameters but also to suggest specialised solutions wherever required. OFFERING WORLD-CLASS CARE THROUGH SHARDA HOSPITAL Mr. Prashant Gupta’s thought and values reflect in the success of Sharda Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR).
The hospital has 900+ beds including casualty, trauma, critical care and various intensive care units like ICCU, CTVUS ICU, MICU, SICU. Over the years, Sharda Hospital has achieved unique milestones like 300,000+ IPD Admissions, 300,000+ Investigations, 2 Million+ Consultations, and 100,000+ Surgeries.

WORLD-CLASS IT SERVICES THROUGH SHARDA TECH

Mr. Prashant Gupta has also set up a technology and services company called Sharda Tech at its Greater Noida campus, where he has taken great pains to manage IT infrastructure and software development. In sync with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Digital India, Sharda Tech has toiled hard right from its inception and it led to winning the prestigious “EdTech Start Up of the Year” award by Business World in its 3rd Digital India Summit 2017. The company has now embarked on an exciting journey to build some highly innovative solutions on mobile and AI that will help address the challenges of higher education in times to come.