GOING DIGITAL – A BRAVE NEW WORLD

NINAD KARPE

Follow Ninad on Twitter - @NinadKarpe

NINAD KARPECEO & MD, APTECH LTD

• Ninad Karpe is CEO & MD of Aptech Ltd., a global education company, which has trained more than 6.5

million students over the last 25 years and now operates 1300 plus centres in India and China, as well as 40

emerging countries.

• Since joining the company in February 2009, he has been aggressively pursuing a strategy to position Aptech

on the world stage as a truly global provider of learning solutions.

• He previously served CA Technologies, the world‟s fourth largest software vendor, as MD covering India &

SAARC countries. In this post, he was responsible for extending the company‟s technology reach and building

strategic partnerships.

• Earlier, Ninad worked as a consultant, advising companies seeking to invest in India. During this stint, he

authored books on taxation and foreign investment in India. He frequently writes for magazines and

newspapers.

• Ninad is a regular blogger (www.Reformingeducation.In) and serves as an independent director on the boards

of a number of public companies. He is well travelled and has a rare, but interesting hobby of home wine-

making.

E-COMMERCE: BOOM OR BUST

KARAN MEHROTRA

KARAN MEHROTRACO-FOUNDER & CEO, LOCALBANYA.COM

• A computer engineer by degree

• Completed his education from RGIT (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology) in 2007.

• Working since he was 18, Karan‟s career began with a hospitality company catering to BPOs and

MNCs in Mumbai and Pune.

• He then moved on to set up India‟s first water jet cutting plant in Umargaon post which he went on

to manage Kenwood Marketing for food distribution.

• Karan‟s motivation to start Localbanya stemmed from the network of food distribution he was a

part of. That, coupled with the rapid growth of e-commerce in India, excited him to enter the e-

grocery space.

• His title at Localbanya is that of the Co-founder & CEO but his role changes constantly. Currently,

his focus lies on the logistics & operations side of the business and the aim is to scale up

operations and reach more households, more cities, and beyond.

IT'S AN APP, APP WORLD!

SAURABH SAXENA

Follow Saurabh on Twitter - @Saursax

SAURABH SAXENAFOUNDER & CEO, HOLACHEF

• Saurabh is an IIT Bombay alumnus.

• part of the Startup ecosystem in India since 2006 – as an entrepreneur as well as an angel investor. Having been on both

sides, his understanding of business, strategy, scalability and profitability is seasoned and supported by his rich experience.

• His 1st entrepreneurial venture, Aakar Knowledge Solutions, built educational products & services that reached out to 2000

schools in India and 10 countries abroad under the brand name IKEN. The company was acquired by Mexus Solutions in

2008; within two years of its launch. Owing to his in-depth understanding and vision for the venture, Saurabh headed the sales

& marketing division of Mexus for over 5 years. Since then he has been an angel investor for 4 Indian startups and is a core

member of Powai Lake Ventures, an angel investment group.

• He has formulated and executed the go-to market strategy for Toppr.Com, a one of its kind adaptive platform that helps IIT-JEE

and pre-medical students with their exam preparation. He wore the visiting professor‟s hat for the renowned Rustomjee

Business School in Mumbai, where he shared his entrepreneurial insight and knowledge of technology management with the

students.

• In September 2014, he co-founded Holachef.Com, a unique platform that connects food prepared by the top notch chefs from

across the city to food enthusiasts. The portal lists a new menu of world cuisine every day and home delivers the same in

select Mumbai locations. Holachef.Com plans to expand its reach to the whole of Mumbai steadily before venturing to other

cities later this year. Within 5 months of its launch, the venture successfully raised an early stage funding of Rs 2 crore by India

Quotient.

BRAND YOU 2.0

TANVI BHATT

Follow Tanvi on Twitter - @Tanvi-Bhatt

TANVI BHATTPersonal Branding Pioneer, Brand Strategist, Story Artist, Thought Leadership Scientist

• As the pioneer of personal branding in India, Tanvi empowers leaders to become Thought Leaders, and Thought Leaders to become

ICONS at Panache – India‟s Premier Personal Branding Company. The go-to speaker and authority on Thought Leadership and

Personal Branding in India, Tanvi is recognized as the „Personal Branding Expert‟ for The CXOs by ET Corporate Dossier, where she

writes on all things Personal branding under her signature column „Brand YOU‟. She is regularly featured across national and

international media, newspapers and magazines such as Entrepreneur, inc., PITCH, India Today, Bloomberg TV etc.

• A scientist turned entrepreneur - is an award winning brand strategist and globally acclaimed champion for women‟s economic

empowerment. Has received national & international awards celebrating her pioneering work in the Personal Branding industry in

India - the latest being the prestigious Stevie Award for Young Woman Entrepreneur conferred upon her in New York in November

2014. In may 2014, she was felicitated as Brand Strategist of the Year 2014 at the Brands Academy Leadership Excellence Awards

by the Strategy King and Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand. Recognized as the Best Young Woman Entrepreneur at the National

Women Leaders in India Awards 2013 for having founded India‟s Premier Personal Branding Company - Panache.

• Honored with „The International Alliance for Women‟s (TIAW) World of Difference Award‟ a global honor conferred upon a selection of

100 women who are passionately contributing to women‟s economic empowerment in March 2014 at Washington DC, USA. Tanvi is

the global brand ambassador-india with the international Alliance for women, where she champions the cause of women‟s economic

and social Empowerment by volunteering with diverse women centric organizations and industry Bodies to help women excel in their

careers and businesses by adopting personal Branding for professional success.

• Apart from consulting with the CXOs of the Indian Corporate Society, Tanvi frequently speaks at MNCs like KPMG, Pfizer, Infosys,

Mahindra, TATA group and industry forums like the prestigious CII, PHD Chamber of Commerce, Tedx, TIE conferences, NHRD,

DMAI, Social Media Week etc.

SOCIAL MEDIA – PERCEPTION V. REALITY

KARL GOMES

Follow Karl on Twitter - @Karlgomes

KARL GOMESCHIEF FANATIC AT FANATICS

• Karl's journey so far has been nothing short of inspiring. His work ethic has what many

would call a fanatical approach. He loves what he does. He does what he loves.

• Karl believes that in this business only the passionate and fanatic survive. And that‟s

exactly where the name of his current venture comes from.

• Fanatics, an Ideas, Experiences, Products and Platforms Startup that aims to set an

example for what the agency culture needs to evolve into in the near future so as to

adapt with the ever evolving market.

• He has been awarded at respected festivals like Cannes Lions International Advertising

Festival, The One Club, The New York Festival, Asia Pacific Ad Fest and other festivals

by the AAAI.

• Karl has also served as a member of the jury for Cannes Cyber Lions, Adfest Cyber

Lotus, The Abby Awards and even the Yahoo Uncannies.

DIGITAL MARKETING

VIVEK BHARGAVA

Follow Vivek on Twitter - @VivekBhargava

VIVEK BHARGAVACEO, IPROSPECT COMMUNICATE 2

• Vivek is a Commerce graduate from Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Mumbai

• In 1997 he actualised his entrepreneurial edge by founding Communicate 2 which was acquired by

iProspect in 2012. He continues in the merged entity iProspectCommunicate2 as the CEO

• His company has emerged to be one of India‟s largest search and social media specialist

organisations. It dominates performance-oriented digital advertising domain in India, and helps digital

agencies in Europe and the US to become more profitable and flexible by providing search offshore

services.

• Vivek has spent the last 17 years guiding the digital strategies of the likes of MTV, Newscorp, Citi Bank,

TCS, HDFC Bank, Cleartrip, and Reliance in both Indian and global markets.

• Vivek is a regular speaker at global events such as Ad-tech, SES, SMX, I-com, and the Apex Digital

conferences in India. He has been called as a guest lecture at the prestigious Indian institutions such

as IIT Mumbai, IIM Bangalore, and 20 other educational institutes.

MARKETING AUTOMATION

HAREESH TIBREWALA

Follow Hareesh on Twitter - @Harrytibs

HAREESH TIBREWALAJOINT CEO, SOCIAL WAVELENGTH

• Hareesh Tibrewala is joint CEO of Social Wavelength, India‟s largest social media

agency. Social Wavelength is a team of 170+ with a pan-India presence and works with

more than 50 national and international brands. WPP has recently acquired a majority

holding in social wavelength.

• Hareesh has been recognized as “Social Media Professional of the Year” by the World

Brand Congress and also among the “top 100 Digital Influencers” in India as per Impact

Magazine (in 2012 and again in 2013). Recently he was recognized by Afaqs as

“Newsmaker of the Year 2014”

• Hareesh is a Bachelor of Engineering from VJTI Mumbai and a Master of Science from

University of Southern California. He is a serial entrepreneur and Social Wavelength is

his 3rd entrepreneurial venture.

• He has been an invited speaker to numerous national and international events . He is

also a visiting faculty with Welingkar Institute of Management

DIGITAL INITIATIVES OF A SERVICES COMPANY

DEEPAK SHARMA

DEEPAK SHARMAEXECUTIVE VP & HEAD, DIGITAL INITIATIVES, KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK

• Deepak Sharma heads Kotak Mahindra Bank‟s digital initiatives. He is responsible for enabling growth of existing business

through various digital measures leading to customer growth, engagement, efficiency and experience. He is also

responsible for building digital lead business in retail banking along with mobile & new payments solution. He drives

internet, mobile & social media-lead engagement for the bank. Deepak believes in constant innovation and focuses on

building business models which are customer centric & disruptive.

• Deepak has worked across various international markets and brings global perspective to his business. Prior to this, he was

responsible for setting up the bank‟s highly successful Non Resident Indian (NRI) business from 2009 to 2013. Under his

leadership, the NR business became one of the key businesses for the bank contributing to over 17% of the retail bank‟s

deposits, with YOY revenue growth of over 100%.

• Deepak also played a key role in launching the bank‟s affluent banking programme - Privy League.

• With over 20 years of experience, Deepak‟s professional tenure spans across the banking, telecom and service verticals.

Prior to joining Kotak, he was part of the leadership team of consumer banking at Standard Chartered Bank (2003-2008).

As national head for corporate business he was responsible for building the corporate payroll and wealth management

business.

• Deepak holds a management degree from Andhra University and has completed an Advanced Programme in Strategy from

IIM Calcutta. He is also part of various trade and business committee and writes on subjects related to business.