ASCENT eConclave 2021
A signature event where India’s Thought Leaders, Change Makers and Innovators share, inspire and celebrate their entrepreneurial journey.
Friday, 26 November 2021
3 PM to 7 PM
Location: Virtual
A signature event where India’s Thought Leaders, Change Makers and Innovators share, inspire and celebrate their entrepreneurial journey.
Friday, 26 November 2021
3 PM to 7 PM
Location: Virtual
In a way, it reflects how technology has taken the driver’s seat and has completely changed the taxonomy of enterprise computing.
Organisations of all hues are harping onto it to stay relevant in the marketplace. A new broader set of capabilities is required to help enterprises navigate the digital disruption.
Digital transformation today is the talking point. Transformation is not just about updating your technology, but about upgrading your strategic thinking. But digital is sometimes called a double-edged sword, a judicious blend of technology and strategy that comes in concert to create a seamless interconnect of many things within and outside the organisation. For born in the cloud companies, digital is a given hygiene factor as they do not have any legacy baggage, but companies from traditional verticals, it becomes quite challenging to put in place a digital roadmap.
Against this backdrop, ASCENT eConclave 2021 aims to focus sessions and insights around fast moving technology trends, digital transformation strategy and best practices from Thought Leaders and Change-makers.
Be there on Friday, 26 November 2021 to witness the Sixth Edition of ASCENT eConclave 2021 and get enriched!
ASCENT, a vision of Harsh Mariwala (Chairman, Marico Limited and Founder, ASCENT), is fuelled by the power of trust. ASCENT creates a close-knit Trust Group of non-competing entrepreneurs who believe in Learning from Doers. Designed as a peer-to-peer platform, ASCENT leverages the “Power of Collectives” and enables entrepreneurs to share experiences, ideas, insights to learn from each other through self-facilitated Trust Groups and an extended network of Enablers.
Conclave is the annual flagship event of ASCENT where thought leaders, visionaries come together for a full day event to ideate, share and express their journeys and milestones. The Sixth Edition of Conclave will witness more than 1000 entrepreneurs on Friday, 26 November 2021.
The ASCENT Conclave, in the past five years, has witnessed over 100 Speakers, Thought Leaders, Change Makers and Innovators engaging with over 3000 entrepreneurs as part of a day-long curated knowledge and motivational sessions. The Keynote speakers at the ASCENT Conclave have been 2016: Uday Kotak (Kotak Mahindra Bank); 2017: Sajjan Jindal (JSW Group); 2018: Rajiv Bajaj (Bajaj Auto); 2019: Naveen Tewari (InMobi Group); 2020: Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon Ltd) and Dr. Raghuram Rajan (Ex-RBI Governor)
Other speakers in the past Conclaves include Deepak Parekh (HDFC), Sangita Reddy (Apollo Hospitals), Sourav Ganguly (BCCI), Falguni Nayar (Nykaa), Ronnie Screwvala (Swades Foundation), Anita and Harsha Bhogle, Ameera Shah (Metropolis), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (PayTM), Anita Dongre (AND and Global Desi), Prasoon Joshi (McCann), Sanjeev Bikhchandani (Info Edge: Naukri.com), Ashish Hemrajani (BookMyShow), PC Musthafa (ID Fresh Food), Manish Sabharwal (TeamLease), Anand Piramal (Piramal Group), Laksh Vaaman Sehgal (Samvardhana Motherson Group), Kunal Shah (CRED), Milind Soman (Actor), Nithin Kamath (Zerodha), Masaba Gupta (Fashion Designer), Harsh Jain (Dreams 11) and many others.
Chairman and Co-founder, Infosys and Founding Chairman UIDAI (Aadhaar)
Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited. He was the Founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister from 2009- 2014. Most recently, Nandan has Co-founded and is the Chairman of EkStep, a not-for-profit effort to create a learner centric, technology based platform to improve basic literacy and numeracy for millions of children.
Born in Bengaluru, Nilekani received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT, Bombay. Fortune Magazine conferred him with “Asia’s Businessman of the year 2003”. In 2005 he received the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics. In 2006, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He was also named Businessman of the year by Forbes Asia. Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2009. Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global thinkers in 2010. He won The Economist Social and Economic Innovation Award for his leadership of India’s Unique Identification initiative (Aadhaar). In 2017, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y. CNBC TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017 and he also received the 22nd Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic and Business Innovation 2017. He has been inducted as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.
Nandan Nilekani is the author of “Imagining India” and co- authored his second book with Viral Shah, “Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations”.
Chairman, Marico Ltd. and Founder, ASCENT
Harsh Mariwala leads Marico Limited as its Chairman. He is also Chairman and Managing Director of Kaya Limited. Over the past three decades, Harsh has transformed traditional commodities driven business into a leading consumer products and services company in the Beauty and Wellness space. He was the President of FICCI in 2011. He has held the position of YPO Education, Membership and Chapter Chair for the Bombay Chapter and was a member of the International Forum Board of YPO International.
Chairman, Wipro Limited
Rishad Premji is Chairman of global technology services company, Wipro Limited.
Until recently, he was the Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for shaping Wipro's strategy and growth. He conceptualised Wipro Ventures – Wipro's strategic investment arm that invests in start-ups that are developing next-generation products and technologies.
Rishad is on the Board of Wipro Enterprises, and the Wipro-GE joint venture. He is also on the Board of Azim Premji Foundation - one of the largest not-for-profit initiatives in India that works with over 350,000 government schools across seven states in India to improve the state of primary education. Separately, he is also on the Board of Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives.
Prior to joining Wipro Limited in 2007, Rishad has worked with Bain & Company in London, and GE Capital in the US. In 2014, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, for his leadership, professional accomplishments and commitment to society.
Author, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
Héctor García was born in Spain but moved to Japan 18 years ago. An engineer by profession, he worked at CERN in Switzerland before moving to Japan, where he developed voice recognition software and the necessary technology to allow new companies in Silicon Valley to enter the Japanese market. He is the creator of the popular blog kirainet.com, and the author of Un Geek en Japon (A Geek in Japan), a number one best-seller in the country.
Author, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
Francesc Miralles is a multiple prize-winning author who has written numerous best-selling books. Born in Barcelona, he has a degree in German philology and has worked as an editor, journalist and art therapist. Currently, he participates in conferences all over the world and writes about psychology and spirituality for different media. His books are published worldwide.
Co-founder and CEO, Swiggy
Sriharsha Majety is the co-founder & the CEO of Swiggy, India’s largest food ordering and delivery platform. One of the fastest Indian startups to reach unicorn status, Swiggy’s vision is to elevate the quality of life for the urban consumer by offering unparalleled convenience. As the category-creator and industry-leader in food delivery, Swiggy serves millions of users every month with an industry-best repeat rate, Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Net Promoter Score (NPS). It has partnered with over 1,50,000 restaurants partners spread across 500+ cities in the country.
Prior to Swiggy, Sriharsha co-founded Bundl with the objective of solving the shipping woes for e-commerce merchants. Sriharsha started his career in investment banking with Nomura International in the United Kingdom. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from BITS Pilani and an MBA from IIM Calcutta.
About Swiggy:
Founded in 2014, Swiggy is India’s largest food delivery platform with over 1,50,000 restaurant partners spread across 500+ cities. Using innovative technology, the platform provides a hassle-free, fast and reliable delivery experience. Every order delivered by Swiggy’s fleet of 2 lakh active delivery partners, the largest in India, ensures a host of customer-centric features like lightning fast delivery, no minimum order value, live order tracking, and 24/7 customer support.
CEO Beauty E-Commerce, Nykaa
As CEO of Nykaa's beauty and e-commerce business, Anchit Nayar will shift gears to build the business holistically focusing on business models, industry-first marketing initiatives, and best-in-class app and website experiences tailored to the needs of both customers and brand partners.
He joined the Nykaa team as CEO - Nykaa Retail and spear-headed the firm’s offline strategy with a focus on expanding the physical store footprint, thereby establishing the company’s position as a leading omni channel retailer. He grew the retail business from 30 to 70+ stores and the division's revenues by over 300 percent in two years. In 2020, Anchit had led the marketing function at Nykaa, spearheading digital, social media, mainline and customer/inbound marketing, and public relations. With a focus on automation, personalisation, and efficiency, he drove the company to acquire and retain millions of new customers despite reduced spends.
With a bachelors’ degree from Columbia University, Anchit worked for Morgan Stanley’s New York City office where he advised on deals worth $135 billion as part of the mergers and acquisitions, high-yield and equities division, and was one of the youngest Vice Presidents at the organisation.
He captained the Squash Varsity team at college and is a keen swimmer and fitness enthusiast.
President, NASSCOM
Debjani Ghosh is the President of the National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) since April 2018. A veteran of the technology industry, she is the fifth president of NASSCOM and the first women at the helm in three-decade history.
She is a firm believer in the power of technology in enhancing lives and livelihoods, leveraging it for societal good. She was instrumental in developing ‘Think Digital, Think India’ strategy aimed at establishing India as a hub for digital talent and innovation. Debjani strongly believes technology will have the most impact on humankind when it’s used as an enabler of inclusive growth and that India must lead in the digital era with focus on the responsible build and use of tech as an accelerator and equalizer.
As the NASSCOM President, she actively works with the industry and Government to accelerate the growth of the Industry and strengthen India’s position as hub for Innovation and Digital Talent. Her approach has been focused on a three-point agenda - talent development and re-skilling, strengthening the innovation culture in the country and collaborating with governments across the world to open new opportunities for the Indian IT industry.
The pandemic has created a tremendous opportunity for the tech industry to reinvent itself. The NASSCOM playbook for reimagining the industry focuses on Trust, Digital Talent, People-first Innovation, Agility & Resilience as the core differentiators. Debjani believes that by leveraging these differentiators to the fullest, we can create a future that’s better than the past.
In January 2018, she was felicitated by the President of India under the auspices of the ‘First Ladies’ program, which honors exceptional women pioneers in their respective fields. In 2020, she has been honored by Vogue as the Tech Leader of the year 2020. She has also been listed among the India’s most powerful women in tech by Business Today.
With multiple feathers in her cap, before joining NASSCOM, she was the first woman to lead Intel India and the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT), she was also a member of the executive council at NASSCOM. She believes that learning never stops and a trainable mindset is the biggest strength one can have.
Debjani holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Osmania University in Hyderabad,
India, and an MBA degree in marketing from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai, India.
CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay
Harshil started Razorpay after discovering the dismal state of online payments in India. He graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2013 and started working at Schlumberger.
With an idea to change the way online payments functioned in India, Harshil quit his full-time job and founded Razorpay with his Co-founder, Shashank Kumar in 2014 to simplify online payments.
Razorpay is one of the only two India-focused companies to be selected for the prestigious Y Combinator (YC) programme. Along with 33 reputed investors, the company is also backed by GIC, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator, Matrix Partners and Mastercard with a funding of $366.5 Mn from Series A, B, C, D and E rounds.
Three years since its founding, Razorpay rebranded itself in 2017 as Razorpay 2.0, a Converged Payments Solution company with a product suite designed to ease businesses of managing concerns around the flow of money in their financial systems. In 2019, Razorpay acquired two companies - Opfin, a Payroll and HR Management Software company, to solve for seamless automation of a business’s entire payroll process and Thirdwatch, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven company specialising in big data and machine learning for real-time fraud prevention. Progressing in its journey that started with Razorpay 2.0, the Company also launched it’s neobanking platform, RazorpayX and lending platform, Razorpay Capital - both designed to power the financial systems for disruptive companies.
Razorpay has been charting exponential growth since its inception. In the last six years, the company has powered digital payments for over 8 Mn businesses including the likes of Facebook, Airtel, BookMyShow, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Cred, ICICI Prudential among others and is all set to reach 10 Million businesses by 2021. In the last six months, Razorpay has witnessed a 40-45% growth, month-on-month. The company now plans to further solidify its position as one of the largest full-stack fintech companies in the country. Razorpay also expects a 4x growth in its revenue in this year, 2021.
While Harshil is a mechanical engineer by degree, he has been coding since his schooldays, some of the codes on which Razorpay runs were written by him. And behind that cool and calm demeanour is a Black Belt in Karate; Harshil likes to practice Karate in his free time. Harshil was featured in an eclectic list of 30 promising young Indian talent under the age of 30, by Forbes magazine (2017), 40 Under 40 by Fortune India (2019), featured as LinkedIn’s Power Profiles in India (Technology) in 2019, featured in Entrepreneur magazine as ‘Top 35 Under 35’ entrepreneurs (2021), recently he also got recognized under Forbes 30Under30 ASIA class of 2021.
Co-founder, TATA 1mg
Gaurav is co-founder of TATA 1mg, India’s largest digital health platform.
At TATA 1mg, Gaurav leads the eCommerce business and also the company’s overall product and technology strategy. He strongly believes in the role of technology in simplifying a user’s healthcare needs and journey.
Under his leadership, TATA 1mg has developed and deployed market leading technological advancements and customer-centric products year on year, including many in artificial intelligence and machine learning which have helped establish TATA 1mg as one of the most innovative healthcare companies in the world.
Gaurav was born and brought up in Kanpur. He is a Computer Science graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Prior to TATA 1mg, Gaurav spent over a decade in the Silicon Valley where his last role was General Manager for Zynga’s most successful online social game FarmVille.
CEO and Co-founder, Vedantu
Vamsi Krishna is the CEO & Co-Founder of Vedantu- a pioneer in LIVE and interactive online learning, which enables students to learn online with some of India's best-curated teachers.
Vamsi, along with his friends Pulkit Jain & Anand Prakash, founded their first educational venture, Lakshya, in 2006. In 2012, MT Educare acquired Lakshya. Following the acquisition, they founded Vedantu, which became India's leading interactive online EdTech company.
Vamsi has emerged as a seasoned EdTech expert because of his passion. Vamsi has been closely involved in every aspect of Vedantu's business. Under Vamsi's stewardship, the business & strategy, branding, marketing, and recruitment functions are handled. Teacher by choice, he has over 15 years of experience in teaching. His commitment has now become part of the DNA of the company. Vamsi is an alumnus of IIT-Bombay.
Head, ASCENT
Archanna Das is a committed sustainability, brand and communication management professional with 18 years of experience and has been heading ASCENT Foundation for 6 years. In her journey at ASCENT, she enabled the scaling-up of the member base from 150 to over 750, expanded the ASCENT support to entrepreneurs PAN India and has enhanced the member experience through engaging and relevant value adds in the form of curated knowledge sessions, mentoring programme, workshops and large format signature events. Her last assignment was with HSBC India where she played a pioneering role in building the brand – sustainability and corporate social responsibility through the multivariate domains of community investment projects. She has worked previously with GTL Limited and Faber Castell.
CEO, Nova Group of Companies and Founder-CEO, Pureblu Technologies Pvt Ltd
Ajit is the CEO of Nova Group of Companies, a 42-year-old company offering HVAC solutions in Consulting, Contracting and Customer Services. He is also the founder of a technology start-up Pureblu Technologies that offers IT and IoT solutions for the HVAC&R industry. He is the current National President of The Refrigeration and Airconditioning Trades Association of India. A mentor to many, an avid marathoner, trekker, a thought leader on disruptions and a strong advocate of entrepreneurship, he believes the HVAC&R industry is a fast-evolving segment for growth and disruption.
Co-founder and CEO Gemini Power Hydraulics
Sarika Sethi is an entrepreneur by profession. Her journey in the business world began 30 years ago and today she is the COO of the company which she started with her husband in 1990 in Mumbai. Called Gemini Power Hydraulics Pvt Ltd., the business operates in the area of engineering & construction equipment, representing several international heavy engineering companies in India. Over the last few years Sarika has, in her role, facilitated a 25% growth in the business adding 150 employees to the business.
Navigating through the dynamic terrain of business exposed to her some critical fault lines in a traditional business set up, the sharpest of this was the tough access to a business guide and sounding board. She realised early on how a business mentor could impact a leader’s engagement with their business and eventually influence the bottom-line. This intervention could also be critical in helping organisations stay real, agile and create more diverse enterprises.
In 2015 Sarika set out to fill this gap on her own. This set her on a fascinating journey of life, performance and transformation coaching. In the process she has added professional coaching skills to her business skills.. She is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She is also a certified advance NLP* coach and is also a Certified ACC Coach from International Coaching Federation
Sarika is now empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs and individuals, by enabling them to gain from the coaching process to accelerate their own path to personal and professional success. Her coaching methodology is neuroscience based, process-focused, outcome driven, and moderated by her experiences in both professional and personal spaces. As a coach she facilitates self -awareness sessions leading to holistic change in ways in which individuals approach everyday choices and decisions. She also works with teams to unlock productivity.
Sarika believes that coaching benefits individuals by offering them better control over their lives. This is achieved by supporting individuals, in breaking out of their self-limiting beliefs, and harnessing their true potential.
Sarika has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and has done her Executive General Management Programme at IIM Bangalore. She is based in the city of Mumbai in India.
You can connect with her over mail sarika@geminiindia.com or mobile +91 9820054388
Sourav Ganguly | Bloomberg Quint | 28 November 2020
Dr. Raghuram Rajan | The Print | 27 November 2020
Harsh Mariwala | The Print | 26 November 2020
Harsh Mariwala | The Indian Express | 24 November 2020
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