Category: Leaders

A postgraduate in Business Management from XLRI Jamshedpur and in Marketing from Symbiosis, Kartik is a software programmer by qualification. He is a thorough professional who believes in continually upgrading his knowledge and skills and has recently attended a few executive courses with INSEAD at their Singapore and Fontainebleau, France campuses. In July 2019 Kartik completed his certification in Digital Business strategy from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Having started his journey with Herman Miller as the Country Manager for India in 2009, Kartik has contributed immensely to its success and growth. In fact he has grown with the organization. He quickly went on to become the Director of the company followed by Strategic Business lead to manage China and Hong Kong and within a year was entrusted with the opportunity of leading the Contract business for APAC. In 2015, he moved to Hong Kong for this new role and in 2016 was promoted as Vice President for APAC region. In early 2020, he was given the responsibility of HM Internal Business Unit in India and during COVID-19 period Middle East and Africa were added to his existing region, resulting in an extended region called APMEA.

He has played a significant role in expanding the Online and Retail business for the organization from Japan and China to rest of the region. He has been largely responsible for creating the Korean entity and growing the business at a CAGR of 41% in 4 years. Kartik is full of gratitude for Herman Miller, which gave him ample opportunities to grow and evolve as a leader.

When asked about his career high point, he delineates, “It is difficult to contextualize high point in one’s career, as every high point is a step in the direction of the next high point. So, if I were to call out one such high point, it would be joining this wonderful organization Herman Miller because this job has given me several such high points in the last eleven years – each special and significant in their own way.”

AN EXEMPLARY LEADER

An autonomous leader, Kartik emphasizes upon individualism, independence and autonomy. He intends to make people feel strong, capable and committed so that they perform to the best of their capabilities. He asserts, “I am someone who has believed in giving autonomy to my people and the key to put that trust in the people is to hire well. 90% of your job is done if you recruit the right person for the job and then granting autonomy is easy. The most important thing while hiring is not to hire someone who is like you, because if you clone yourself you are not going to get freshness of ideas and new routes to meet your business goals.”

Kartik very well understands the significance of harbouring trust among his teammates. He rightly emphasizes, “Ours is a matrix organization, a model which has worked very well for us. The matrix leads typically have been with the organization for over 10 years and so the familiarity, understanding and mutual respect between the leads has helped in fostering an environment of trust leading to everyone, including the team members of each matrix organization, working in a cohesive manner towards a common goal. And the very people centric nature of the organization takes out the sense of insecurity amongst the employees allowing them to focus on the given task. (We have in the past been rated as the top 100 companies to work for by Fortune).”

TURNING ADVERSITY INTO OPPORTUNITY

An enthusiastic and optimistic leader, Kartik envisions COVID-19 as an opportunity to explore and look beyond the current offerings of the firm so as to seek fresh avenues to diversify and expand. Talking about his vision for the future growth of the organization, he elaborates, “In the current scenario, my short term goal will certainly be to keep our flock together and to keep them motivated, to think about what new product offerings and solutions we will need to be ready with for this new and altered world and to keep the engagement going with influencers in the market. Mid to longer term would be to tap the opportunities that we have generated with these new solutions and engagements.”

Talking about some of the measures he had undertaken to cope with the challenges faced in the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic situation, he says, “First and foremost was to ensure the safety of our colleagues. Protocols were set to sanitize the offices at regular intervals. Strict travel protocols have been put in and stay in place even today with very few exceptions. These protocols have been appreciated by our employees and they feel safe and proud to work with a company that puts the interest of the employee first.”

He adds, “We took up several initiatives where we offered counselling to our employees to help them in dealing with these tough times as they are first on our list to give back to the society.”

“Several community activities were undertaken and continue to be undertaken where we are getting food or other necessities delivered to people most affected by this pandemic. In addition, Work From Home initiatives taken up by our corporate customers were supported by us by extending deep discounts to their employees so as to enable them to equip their homes with ergonomic high quality furniture to ensure that their body is supported well when working from home,” he says.

BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

He truly understands the significance of CSR and enthusiastically participates in giving back to society. As he puts it, “In 1953 our founder D. J. De Pree made a statement that ‘We will be good stewards of the Environment,’ – at a time when there was no apparent environmental threat or for that matter no carbon credits or hole in ozone, but he had that vision for the earth. This direction is ingrained in every Herman Miller employee & pursued at all levels and all products have been designed keeping in mind the environmental impact. Beyond that, Herman Miller Cares – our division which is very active in giving back to the society engages with all our locations across the world to make sure that we are contributing more than our share to the society.”

A graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Surathkal, Mr. Gumaste joined Kirloskar Group in July 1981. In 1993, he joined Kirloskar Ferrous project team in the early stages of project implementation. Mr. Gumaste took over as Executive Director in July 2002 and as Managing Director in 2003. Under his leadership, the firm has witnessed improved profitability and has been in a continuous profit-making mode since the last 16 years. As Executive Director, he played a significant role in turning it around to make it an enviable organization. By virtue of his visionary leadership, he turned around the 100+ year old foundry unit (a sick unit) – Shivaji works LTD Solapur in 2007 – into a profit-making firm and helped in creating infrastructure for manufacturing export quality castings to Global OEMs. The organization has also invested in coke oven with power plant, power generated by using the Waste Heat Recovery technology thereby achieving a near self-sufficiency in the power requirement at Koppal plant at a marginal cost of power generation. Similarly, the company has invested in Solar power plant in Koppal as well as Solapur to achieve green energy and also benefit on the power cost. The company has acquired a Pig Iron asset to achieve business growth. To enhance bandwidth in line with Business growth, Technology adaptations in manufacturing process including Robotics and 3D printing were successfully implemented. Owing to his dedicated efforts, KFIL was listed among the Fortune 500 companies in the year 2019 under the category of mid-size company.

NURTURING LEADERS

A leader par excellence, Mr. Gumaste has been efficiently steering the organisation to glory by walking the talk and establishing a climate of trust and transparency, and creating adequate facilities for nurturing and honing technical and managerial skills of employees. Thus, many of them have taken up higher responsibilities with ownership and empowerment. His business acumen, analytical skills, strategic thinking, cool composure and empathy cast a positive influence on the people working with him. No wonder, a few of the employees who have grown under him, are holding responsible positions like Functional Heads, SBU Heads, and Plant Heads. He is a true leader who believes in creating leaders. His focus is to inculcate and balance technical skills with soft skills including managerial and business skills by facilitating various internationally renowned managerial development programs in the organization. He strongly believes and demonstrates “people first” in all KFIL actions. Under his leadership, KFIL regularly carries out assessment for people competencies and skills, with an aim to identify fast trackers and future business leaders. Based on the inputs from expert trainers, assessment focused training programs are evolved and are monitored at defined intervals. For people development activities, the inputs are taken from Employee engagement surveys by 3rd party; Focused groups interviews, Business Excellence assessment feedbacks, Thomas Profiling (DISC profiling), 360 degree feedback, Emotional intelligence, inputs from other stake holders and so on. Mr. Gumaste has built an Ecosystem involving key stakeholders in communicating the Purpose, Vision and Strategy and building transparency, mutual trust and mutual growth by arranging vendor meets where KFIL business plans and preparedness of the vendors are discussed and necessary technical and other related helps are extended.

INNOVATING FOR CONTINUAL GROWTH

To cater to continuous business growth, he has brought transformation in the areas of Technology, People and Processes, and has introduced contemporary technologies in Foundry: conventional to advanced technologies like robotics in many of the processes, simulation and 3D modelling to process design and latest technology like 3D printing (Industry 4.0), and UG 3D modeling Software for 3D model designing. This has enabled the organisation to bring in international customers like Volvo, Hino and Daimler – serving Euro VI engine blocks – for the first time from India. With regard to the Pig Iron Plant, he has introduced Shaft-less stoves – Russian technology which resulted in increased gas temperature, thereby leading to reduction of coke consumption and further commissioned Coke Oven plant to gain advantage of cost with quality Coke. KFIL is the first company to set up Sinter plant in MBF category to reduce the cost by utilising iron ore fines and thus reducing the cost of production.

WORKING TOWARDS A BETTER WORLD

Under his exemplary leadership, KFIL is committed to K-Group’s purpose of “Enriching Lives” and aims “to be a preferred Employer & responsible neighbour.” Since inception, KFIL is engaged in societal development, through various programs aimed at improving quality of life of community in vicinity. It has integrated social concerns with business approaches respecting the needs and expectations of all stakeholders including society and “values the opportunity and responsibility to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.” Kirloskar Ferrous Rural Development Trust  has been  established to cater to the requirements of Koppal, Hospet & Solapur region. People in the nearby villages and the surrounding region are beneficiaries of his dedicated social endeavors. They include setting up a health center and offering specialist medical services. Multispecialty health check-up camps and blood donation camps are being conducted every year. Preventive health-care awareness & vaccination drives are being conducted on a regular basis. He also works towards nutrition support to pregnant women & old people, financial assistance for treatment of major illnesses, water management in the nearby villages & providing drinking water facility and so on. Constructed “Sthree Shakthi Karyalaya” to empower women by giving training on tailoring, beautician, food processing etc. His focus areas are Health & Hygiene, Community Development, Education & Environment. He has been creating awareness about Water, Sanitation and Hygiene through the WaSH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) initiative. 54 schools and around 14 thousand children have benefited from this initiative.  Through Vasundara Film Festival, every year, movies related to environment conservation in Hospet, Koppal and Solapur are screened.

CARVING HIS OWN DESTINY

Hailing from a humble background, Mr. Sundarraj gave up his studies at the University of Madras in pursuit of his goals. From his first job as a clerk in an organization to becoming the branch in-charge, he has consistently given his best at every stage. Today, he commands and guides the company that has various offerings including Subham Expressways, Subham Express Cargo LLP and Subham Hostels. As a first generation entrepreneur, he established the company in 2002 and in a short span of time it has achieved huge success.

IMMENSE PASSION FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Mr. Sundarraj gave up his job as a clerk and started working on his dream of developing Subham Groups to take care of the financial needs of his family. In 2002, with Subham Tours and Travels, he set off on a journey that went on to gain a lot more momentum. He then expanded to Subham Freight Carriers India Pvt. Ltd. in 2005 and set up the first branch in Pune. With sheer dedication and a clear vision, he was able to establish it as a Private Limited company in 2011.

GROWING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH

In just a little over a decade since its inception, Subham Groups has grown to achieve the 204-crore mark in revenue. Having established itself as an impressive and popular logistics service provider, Subham Groups presently enjoys holding a huge customer base across diverse industries in India. Reliability and efficiency are the pillars on which the company stands tall. In his entrepreneurial journey, Mr. Sundarraj ensures that the company keeps up with the expectations of its valuable clients.

A DEDICATED PROFESSIONAL

A leader of matchless acumen and great vision, Sudheer is one of the most renowned leaders in the Indian granite industry. As the Managing Director of Jyothi Granite Exports, he is making giant leaps in the sector with great agility, winning attitude, and futuristic vision, which relies on the core of customer satisfaction and constant innovation. With his expertise and dedication, he has managed to transform the organization into a globally revered property, following the footsteps of the legendary founder Sidda Raghava Rao.

Sudheer is a very dedicated individual who looks forward to challenges and aims to win over them with great zeal. He has been holding the reins of the legendary brand since 1995 and in the past twenty-five years, has added humongous power to its reputation, popularity, and success.

ENCOURAGING INNOVATIONS

A business that doesn’t innovate constantly becomes stagnant and constant innovation and transformation with  time and technology make a modern business a successful entity. It adds to not only the reputation of a business but also to the trust and confidence of employees and clients.

Sudheer understands and believes in the aforementioned philosophy and constantly keeps him engaged into finding newer and better ways to engage in business, which not only benefits economically but also credits the growth to the overall environment.

Under his leadership, Jyothi Granite Exports is one of the leading companies in India with a strong international base. He is taking care of its world-class quarries and production facilities personally, making sure that everything is in sync with the latest technologies.

The brand has a great legacy of introducing innovative patterns and colors in its products and introducing ultra-modern technology at its production facilities and Sudheer is constantly working to take this heritage ahead. He is constantly planning new innovations  and exploring technologies that can benefit them.

VALUING VALUES

To lead a team, one needs to become a selfless, dedicated, and focused individual, and adhere to core values of honesty, passion, and respect. Sudheer is one such leader who always does the honest thing no matter how tough it gets. He is highly respectful of all his employees, colleagues, and subordinates. He listens to everyone’s opinions carefully and motivates the employees to always put their best foot forward.

Under his exemplary leadership, the brand has been taking great leaps in the CSR sphere too. Sudheer feels that a socially responsible company helps in making this world a better place. Social responsibility empowers employees to leverage the corporate resources at their disposal to do good. He is of the view that formal corporate social responsibility programs boost employee morale and lead to greater productivity in the workforce.

The biggest achievement for them has been providing about 100 drinking water purifying units for nearly 100 villages.

LEADING A UNIQUE BUSINESS

The founder of Technopilot and Group CTO of Virenxia, Dr. Thomas is one of the leading forces in the frontier technology arena. Established in 2013, Technopilot, under his stupendous leadership, specializes in harnessing the best of radical technologies to give its clients a secure operating environment & Top Notch Network Security by not just strategic fire fighting  but by using advanced techniques like Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Nanotechnology, Quantum Physics, Visualisation & The Law of Attraction . It is the only firm in the world that provides an umbrella of services such as Top-notch network security, Business success coaching as well as Energy healing services which is backboned on its trademarked Divine Grid Healing.

CHASING HIS PASSION

A highly commended former naval commander, Dr. Thomas had always had a great interest in futuristic technologies & its workings. His pursuit to understand subjects & get to their roots, led him to seek the best possible education. An avid aviator, he was educated from the premier institutions in the world including Stanford University USA, Oxford, Kent State University USA & IIT Delhi. He has obtained several Doctorates & undertaken pioneering research, in the niche areas of Computer Science, Network Security, Quantum Science & Alternative Medicine, with a Fellowship in Corporate Social Responsibility from New York. His dedication to the subject matter brought him laurels & a unique distinction in conceptualizing, developing and executing niche projects in the Indian Navy including Naval Intranet in 1998, Navy-wide enterprise E-Learning in 2004, Malware Analysis Lab in 2008, In-house developed Server Operating System, securing Naval networks & in TEMPEST. The intellect has also worked at the highest echelons in Network security including with the NSA, DRDO, and securely hardening the Indian communication backbone infrastructure. Presently heralding the technologies of the enterprise Company Virenxia , he aspires to take the core quantum sciences dovetailed into niche technologies, to make significant IMPACT, especially in the agri sector . 

LEADING LIKE A LION

Dr. Thomas believes that leading a good institution is as much about personal growth as it is about growing the business. It is the journey towards leading others and getting a global overview of trends, innovation, and future business scenarios.

He says that there are good Companies with well defined  processes &  systems and then there are great Companies with extraordinary, motivated people, who go the extra mile to provide excellent service and who are also exceptional leaders. While with Technopilot, people were trained to harness spiritual energy towards creating business excellence at the workplace. He plants the seed into the clients’ business that exceptional leaders are manufacturers of success. Collaboration, receptivity, empathy, intuition, resilience, & sensory awareness are essentials that constitute the backbone of his leadership principles. He insists that it is important for a Company to be a family, so that people feel as if they’re part of the Company & the Company is like a family to them. He believes in opening two way communication channels to garner ideologies, towards promoting its services using niche technology mediums in vogue today.

Nupur is a leading investor in private equity and venture capital and a specialist advisor to large institutional investors. Through WinPE, Nupur aims at delivering actionable insights and improving the engagement and participation of women at all levels in the investing ecosystem, partnering with renowned regional and global investing firms to close the gap between intention and action.

JOURNEY TO THE TOP

Nupur is a Chartered Accountant and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Her thesis at MIT Sloan was lauded as one of the best in a decade by her thesis advisor. She has also pursued executive education from Harvard Business School. Nupur started her career at PwC in the financial services industry practice and has many firsts into her credit through the course of executing different technical assignments for the firm. Her next stint was with Discovery Networks, where her role was to spearhead the capacity building in the finance function. She also got the opportunity to work with Wolters Kluwer (one of the world’s leading publishers in the STM segment) when they launched operations in India. Working alongside the MD of Wolters Kluwer, she managed to grow the business from scratch by building a 30-member team within a year. Her next role was with IFC (The World Bank Group) where she was responsible for designing & piloting a risk management framework for the decentralization of IFC’s investmentrelated decision-making in Asia. In her last & most recent full-time role, Nupur led the PE & VC funds business in the region for IFC. She is known for establishing IFC’s brand and credibility as one of the most respected institutional investors in this space. Under Nupur’s stewardship, IFC’s portfolio doubled in size.

A SKY SANS CEILINGS

Nupur launched WinPE in 2020, its concept was the upshot of her personal experiences. She was the only woman at her first networking event. Even after spending more than a decade in her professional domain, she noticed that there are only a handful of women in senior roles at investment firms. That inspired her to launch WinPE for bringing about transformation in the investing world. Through it, she aims at encouraging more women to participate as capital allocators, investors, & recipients of investment capital through a holistic approach that engages key stakeholders. Nupur’s innate leadership qualities have played a strong role in shaping her goals as well as the achievement of them.

She mentors women entrepreneurs across numerous platforms & also serves as an independent director on the Board of SIDBI, the Indian development finance institution. She is an external expert on the investment committee for the INR 10,000 crore fund of ‘Fund for Start-ups’, for investing in the Indian start-up ecosystem and an independent member of the investment committee at the Fund of Funds managed by NIIF, the quasi-sovereign fund sponsored by the government of India. She is an advisor to and a member of the investment committee for the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) investment funds mandate given by the Dutch government.

ONWARDS & UPWARDS

Nupur was featured in the Forbes W-Power list of Selfmade Women in 2020 & also listed among India’s top 25 Women Leaders in Finance (AIWMI 2019). She was also felicitated with the Business Excellence & Innovative Best Practices – Academia Award 2019.

An alumnus of NID and IIM Bangalore, Niharika is a sustainability-focused retail entrepreneur running her own relationship clothing line called Bonorganik, which within just a few years of launch has become the preferred choice for many couples and parents for comfortable, stylish, and eco-friendly clothing. One of the largest destinations of twinning apparel in India, famous globally, Bonorganik is a perfect example of a new-age retail business that is environmentally conscious and dedicated to the larger good of the society rather than just driving economic growth.

Niharika had established Bonorganik in 2012 with her husband Puneet as an organic baby and kidswear brand. However, their foray into the relationship clothing segment was an eureka moment that followed a challenging encounter at an exhibition.

The couple was participating in various exhibitions across the country to promote the brand and on one such occasion, all the stock went sold out just before the exhibition. Anxious founder Niharika Verma was also, re-furnishing her house and occurred to visit a home furnishing shop where they showed her swatches of fabrics and assured to send the stitched drapes at home.

That idea clicked her, and after one sleepless night, she made one pair of Dad and Son Shirts and compiled all the stock fabrics in a swatch book for the customers to choose from. Today BonOrganik is on its way to becoming the world’s only brand that sells clothing for all relationships.

Served over 2 million customers so far, have more than 6 lakh followers on social media BonOrganik impact on the environment and Retail ecosystem has been noteworthy. The brand and the founders have been at the forefront of driving a change in the retail sector globally with their honest and earnest attempts.

THE GROWING BUSINESS

When Niharika had started the journey of Bonorganik, she had minimal resources, one computer to manage the backend but great zeal and confidence to achieve something big with her idea. The lady toiled hard, worked day and night, supported by her husband and business partner, to come up with one of the world’s finest retail brands.

She built Bonorganik into a thriving business employing more than 300 people. A crusader of women’s rights and believer in equal opportunities, today, 70 percent of the workforce at her place is women.

A socially conscious entrepreneur, Niharika also extended great efforts to help the community during the ongoing COVID crisis too as she pivoted her entire efforts to manufacture PPE Kits and Masks and made them available for more than 5 lakh front liners within a span of a month. She also raised money through crowdfunding platforms to donate more 1.5 lakh masks to the slums of Bangalore.

Her work in the space of Sustainability, Ecommerce innovation and retail has been acknowledged by many national and international platforms. sShe was also amongst 14 women entrepreneurs selected by SonderConnect to represent India at the Blackbox, Silicon Valley.

She has also won many awards for her excpetional work, including Top Retail Minds in Asia 2018, 2019, 2020 by Asia Retail Congress and shopping awards; Women Achiever of the Year 2018 award by GWFM & Jain University, Bangalore; Indian Achiever Award 2018 by Indian Achievers Forum, Women in Leadership 2018 honor by World Women Leadership Congress & Award; Most Influential Brand Listing 2019 by the Economic Times & Asia Retail Congress and Shopping Awards.

The Chairman and Managing Director of WAAREE Group, Hitesh is one versatile, dynamic, and optimistic leader with over three decades of experience in the corporate world. A quick learner and adaptor to new challenges, he is reckoned for his efforts in making workplaces evolve into a powerhouse of ideas, where all members are equal participants in the process of growth and success.

Soon after graduation, Hitesh had started his career in 1989, by establishing a hardware process control instrument trading company and moved into manufacturing of process control instruments, gas station equipment, and industrial valves. Going ahead, taking giant strides towards making WAAREE an internationally acclaimed brand, he led its expertise in multifarious verticals such as Solar Energy, Industrial Valves, Petroleum Equipment & Process Control Instrumentation. He looks after the overall business strategy of the Company and International Business Development coupled with expansion projects of the Company.

He is the founder secretary of Instrumentation Expert Club and President of Jain Education and Empowerment Trust (JEET) and is a patron member of the Jain International Trade Organization (JITO) and an active philanthropist.

LEADING TO NEW DIMENSIONS

Hitesh believes that the success of a business lies in its power and ability to embrace novelty and include a future focused approach towards planning, keeping sustainability, sustenance, and affordability in mind. His vision towards WAAREE has been that of establishing it as a strategic business that evolves with time. With the same thought in mind, he led the company’s foray into the renewable energy sector in 2007 and since then, has taken several initiatives to accelerate the company’s top-line and bottom-line growth.

His vision and strategic business leadership are instrumental in establishing WAAREE Energies in a leadership position in the solar industry. Today, the brand is a diversified player in the solar space offering solar PV panels, EPC services for utility grid projects, solar rooftop solutions, solar water pumps, solar thermal, solar home lighting solutions, and is also an independent power producer. It had started as a module manufacturer and today has India’s largest solar PV module manufacturing capacity. The JMK and Mercom Reports of CY 2019 have credited WAAREE as the number one Indian manufacturer for solar panels.

Hitesh is also the chairman of the All India Solar Industries Association and in his capability has been actively voicing out his thoughts on the need to improve and strengthen the industry. He insists that India has great potential to lead the growth of the solar industry of the world and it should be tapped into with a tactical and community-friendly approach by supporting the businesses through active policy interventions. Recently, he insisted that the government should work towards imposing 50 percent tariffs duty to help the domestic manufacturers of solar panels and related services.

STELLAR LEADERSHIP STYLE

Hitesh’s leadership style has always been that of a motivator and enabler. He reckons that happy employees are productive employees and they also may be safer, record fewer absences, have fewer work-related conflicts, and more likely to remain with the company. Hitesh believes in providing the people with a safe and comfortable working environment and encourages them for work-life balance.

He also motivates the people at various levels of WAAREE teams to think innovatively in whatever they do. They are guided to challenge the conventional way of doing business at every point and see opportunities where others see problems. It was his leadership that led WAAREE sail smoothly through the tough times of pandemic, with no pay cuts and layoffs. WAAREE didn’t opt for any loan of moratorium and neither defaulted any of their payment commitments. Hitesh is a well-versed leader with an amicable and welcoming attitude that helps him connect with all the people around him on a personal level and contribute towards their growth. He also strives to create a lasting, positive change in the lives of the customers and communities. He believes in training his own people as the agents of change who work to make the world a better place. Under his leadership, the group has made a priority to recognize performance and announce to everyone the value the employees bring. Role Clarity, Right Compensation, Recognition, Development, and Feedback are the five pillars on which he keeps the company standing tall.

THE BENEVOLENT SOUL

In addition to being a stellar businessman, Hitesh is also a staunch philanthropist who believes in supporting the well-being of humankind. He wants to have a lasting impact on society and therefore putting band-aids on the ills of the community is not his aim. He believes that education is the key to success, and this has led him to support around 7000 students to get free education across 400 cities.  He understands that without a lasting impact, charities will keep them coming back annually to repeat the same process, or cycle. His initiatives have uplifted thousands of families from poverty, and helped them become self-sustainable.

MARCHING TOWARDS SUCCESS

Under Hitesh’s leadership, Waaree has emerged as the largest Module manufacturer in India and has delivered more than 3 GW of premium quality solar modules to customers in over 68 countries in the past 12 years. Waaree is the only Indian company to be listed consecutively for 22 quarters in Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Tier 1 Module Manufacturers ranking in terms of bankability.

Waaree has over 350 franchisees across India which is the largest sales and service network held by any Solar company.

Vertex Global Services, ranked 19th among the world’s 50 most innovative companies, has been digitally transforming organisations by offering cutting-edge solutions. With limited resources and a firm belief in the power of technology, Vertex started from Florida in 2016. Technology-driven enterprises then, on the other hand, were at a nascent stage of becoming pervasive businesses. With operations in India, the UK, and the Philippines, the company skyrocketed and established a global footprint after just a few years in the market. While staying committed to environmental and humanitarian causes, Vertex reached a major achievement by generating 100% revenue YoY and served 3000+ satisfied customers in a short span. It is embossed as one of the top innovative startups in India that is responsible for digitally transforming organizations by deploying efficient and revenue generating solutions. Under his guidance, Vertex has paved a way to transcend the geographical boundaries in search of quintessential opportunities that can be turned into effective business planning.

Vertex works on the motto of “One dialogue, Many solutions.” As a highly driven leader, he was quick to leap enthusiastically in the driver’s seat, climbing the entrepreneurial peak. Leaving no stones unturned, Vertex has channelized the power of technology by deploying chatbots, Smart IVRs, AI & Machine Learning, and the key services range from Customer Experience Management, Human Resource Outsourcing, Performance Marketing to a whole online Digital Academy.

WEARING MANY HATS

A unique perspective is imperative to bring progressive change in the society. An inspiration like Mr. Arora has transformed the lives of many. Through multiple programs, he has brilliantly uplifted the society. As a leader, he has set different paradigms for the youth to hone their skills and mold themselves to be the leaders of change. He has been recognized for his excellence in areas such as social, professional, financial and innovation, which led him to gain the prestigious title of the ‘CEO of the Year’ by ‘Indian Achievers’ 2020. As the captain of the ship Mr. Arora has built a solid foundation, which certified Vertex as best place to work. He successfully created a network of partners, and added important and valuable client businesses to the growing roster. In a short span of just 4+ years the organization has set footprints in 4 continents. Acknowledged as the first-generation techentrepreneur and Boston Group certified business professional, Gagan Arora was also appointed as the Chairman for FOREIGN INVESTORS COUNCIL-FIC Delhi in December 2020. At Vertex, he wears multiple hats, motivating his team to achieve unimaginable milestones. His vision towards upskilling and education for all, earned him the position of Director of the International Education Committee at ASIAN ARAB CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE, where he has 52 countries directly under his supervision.

OPPORTUNITIES AMIDST ADVERSITIES

During the pandemic, Vertex was busy turning misfortune into fortune. To make an impactful change in the education sector, he initiated Vertex Digital Academy to influence new-age learning and holistic development for all. Vertex Global Services has won 20 awards this year in ‘services and operations’ categories. He has won 5 awards himself in 2020. He was awarded by CNBC for being one of the 40 Under 40 Top Influential Leaders and by Forbes for being the Top 100 Great Managers. He also won the Most Innovative Young Tech-Entrepreneur 2020 by Brand Opus India.

Aseasoned professional, Ms. Chandni believes in staying focused on the direction forward. Known for her dynamism and pragmatic approach, she is driven by her passion and has held positions of great responsibility. With her business acumen, astuteness, cognizance, and farsightedness, Ms. Chandni has been taking GLS University far ahead of the competition. She has established strong networks and built a solid, dependable team which is essential for the smooth execution of any successful business.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

In 1993, Ms. Chandni embarked on her career as an Assistant Merchandiser at JCPenney, USA while pursuing Fashion Merchandising from Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. Later, she went on to pursue a Master in Business Administration from the London School of Economics. She also holds a degree in Law from IM Nanavati Law College with 6 Gold Medals. What’s more, she is also well versed in Psychology and Philosophy and holds a degree in both subjects.

Ms. Chandni’s association with Education has been more than a decade old. Initially, she was associated as a consultant for international and professional education and is now working as the Chief Operating Officer at GLS University, established under Gujarat Law Society.

At GLS, she takes care of International Collaborations with different Universities across the globe, including marketing and promotions of GLS University. She also plays a significant role in making top management level decisions.

AN EXCEPTIONAL STRATEGIST

Possessing 20+ years of professional experience, she has in-depth knowledge about the international market. She played a pivotal role in creating the right pricing strategy of the world’s largest coffee brand Starbucks and played an instrumental role in the training of staff and organizing their first store launch in India in 2012 at Mumbai. She walked her way up the ladder of success with companies like Earlsdon Trading UK, Delta Trade International, Debenhams PLC. She has excelled in her roles as Country Head, Business Head and Asia Pacific Head in companies like NEXT, Accessorize, and Calvin Klein. Ms. Chandni has been widely recognized for her leadership qualities. Recently, she has been honoured with the Award of Iconic Women for Creating a Better World For All in July, 2020 by Women Economic Forum, All Ladies League. She has also recently been conferred with “CEO of the Year” Award by Indian Achiever’s Forum and has received World Women Leadership Congress Award 2019 for her immense contribution to the fashion industry.

A MULTITASKER

A vibrant multitasker, she also loves to take up challenging roles as a bold and efficient leader. She is a constant learner who believes in upgrading her knowledge regularly. Currently, she is pursuing PhD in management while shouldering her professional responsibilities with absolute dedication. She is also associated with the field of law and is practicing at Nanavati & Nanavati, Ahmedabad (India).

She also works as an independent brand consultant for various international brands and has helped numerous brands establish their brand identity even in different challenging environments while providing impetus to strategic planning.