About us

A graduate from London School of Economics with a M.Sc. in Social Policy and Planning, Meenu is the Founding Member & Executive Director , AZAD FOUNDATION, a social enterprise that supports resource poor women to gain “Livelihoods with dignity”. She has a work experience of over 20 years as a grassroot worker, trainer, implementer and a leader. She has been involved in development initiatives as the Country Director in ActionAid Uganda (1998-2003). In India she has also led an innovative initiative of Aagaz Academy-Schools of Leadership for elected women panchayat leaders. She has also written and published many articles on women’s rights and has been the recipient of multiple awards including ‘International Inspiration’ Award by IBM iX ‘Everywoman in Travel’ award, 2018 and featured amongst the ‘Seven Women Changing the World for Good in 2019’.

A postgraduate in History and an LLB from Delhi University, MPhil from University of Madras and an MBA in Public Service from the University of Birmingham, UK, Alka is currently the Principal Controller Def Academy (Air Force) at Dehradun. She has worked closely with several educational, defense, scientific and security-related Government and Autonomous organizations in various capacities with the core responsibility of administration and finance. A sports enthusiast and trained mountaineer, she has participated in several expeditions in the Indian Himalayas.

Anuvinda is a lawyer by training. She is presently the Executive Director of the Christian Coalition for Health. The organisation advocates for quality, accessible, affordable and compassionate care for resource poor people living in difficult to reach areas. She was a former general secretary of the YWCA of Delhi. She is a strong advocate for the empowerment of women.

With a Masters in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan, Mumbai, Nandini has had nearly four decades of experience in the development sector ranging from the grassroots to international donor agencies. She has initiated many programmes that focus on women’s economic empowerment and leadership development besides working on participatory training methodologies, issue of conflict transformation, youth, organizational development and democratic governance. She is also on the board of a number of NGOs.

Rohit Bhasin is a Chartered Accountant with over 38 years of post qualification experience in leading organisations such as PWC, AIG and Standard Chartered Bank. He is a seasoned Finance leader with strong functional expertise in the areas of Business Strategy, Investment Advisory, Business Planning & Restructuring and Corporate Finance, including M&As and Valuations, across sectors. Prior to his early retirement in March 2017, he worked with PwC across various roles and spectrum of services.
Currently he serves as a Board Member on several corporate and social sector organisations. He is also a business coach to a few industry leaders and conducts select consulting engagements.

Ritu Mal is a postgraduate in Management from IIM Calcutta. She has about 4 decades of multi-disciplinary experience in the corporate sector in large and medium sized companies, and as a management consultant. She has provided consulting assistance in the area of Strategy, People Management and Organisation Development to the corporate as well as not-for-profit sector. Over the last 15 years, she has been serving as a board member for a few social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations.

Dr. G Venkat Raman is currently an Associate Professor in the Area of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management, Indore. Venkat is a Sinologist and is one of those rare Indian academics who have completed his doctoral studies from the School of Government in China’s oldest and premier University, Peking University, and Beijing. Venkat is a fluent Mandarin speaker. He has also worked in Beijing as a professional for two years and eight months.

His areas of research interest are China’s interface with Global Governance and Business Ethics pedagogy. He has published academic papers in management journals like the Journal of Business Ethics China Report and the International Journal of Emerging Markets.

Madhu has been in the financial sector for over 30 years. She serves on multiple boards as an Independent, Non Executive Director. Madhu has been actively involved in the NGO sector. She is one of the Founder Trustees of Azad Foundation. She is an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad ,and BA Mathematics Honors’, from University of Delhi.

Rajiv Khandelwal is the co-founder and Director of Aajeevika Bureau, a public service organization based in Udaipur, Rajasthan that provides services and support to rural migrant workers who enter urban markets for wage work. Rajiv has over three decades of experience as a leading development practitioner and researcher. He is deeply committed to challenging informality in work, securing workers’ rights and advancing policy for inclusion of migrant labour in India’s growth story. Rajiv is a graduate of the Institute of Rural Management Anand and has participated in academic programmes at INSEAS and Harvard Kennedy School. He was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2005 and subsequently named the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010.