Chennai
Raja (P Rajasekharan), Co-founder - is a social entrepreneur with a background in development sector and financial services. Prior to co-founding v-shesh, Raja was a Senior Regional Specialist with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). He started his career working for IDBI in Mumbai as part of the Business Development and Project Finance departments. Raja has done MS in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and is an MBA from Mumbai.

Ram (R Ramanathan), Co-founder - A Chartered Accountant by training, Ram has a background in marketing of financial services and has held senior management positions with RPG, ICICI and TVS Groups. Ram has diverse experience in financial services right from Merchant Banking to urban Microfinance and has led some pioneering projects in reaching out to and servicing non-urban markets.

Shashaank Awasthi, Co-founder - is a social entrepreneur with a background in financial services. Prior to co-founding v-shesh, he was Regional Head of Commercial Banking at ABN AMRO Bank, India. Prior to ABN AMRO, he worked with IDBI Bank and Tata group in Delhi and Mumbai respectively. Shashaank is an MBA from Mumbai.

Meenal Patole, Advisor and Mentor - Livelihood Services - is an MPhil from IIT Mumbai and MA from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has worked and consulted with EDA Rural Systems, CARE India, FWWB, ACTED, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Opportunity International and International Youth Foundation. Meenal has also founded Takshashila Development Services (TDS), a not for profit microfinance and livelihood focussed entity that works in Mumbai.

Meera Datta, Advisor - joined Indian Postal Service in 1974, having passed the IAS/ Central Services Exam and retired as Member Postal [Operations and Business Development] Postal Services Board, India Post, New Delhi on November 30, 2008. Apart from a highly successful professional career, she has a keen interest in Philately and is a Consultant to Asia Pacific Postal Centre at Bangkok. She   has also written articles, poems and stories that have been published.

Smriti Chhabria - is the office manager.  She is involved in all aspects of v-shesh’s work, ensuring that the office, team and programs run smoothly and seamlessly.  Smriti has prior experience with technology and financial services firms and is a graduate in Economics.

Rashi Soman - is building our practice for hiring differently-abled job seekers and actively manages important client and network relationships. Rashi is an MA (Economics) from Delhi School of Economics and followed that up with an MBA from Hyderabad based Indian School of Business. She has worked at American Express and was with NIIT’s Hole in the Wall project thereafter. She has also worked at grass-roots having been involved with children from difficult backgrounds and as a consultant to Aman Biradari.

Joseph - is a graduate in social work and has prior experience in projects like Tsunami support etc. Joseph has been working with students and is well considered as a counsellor and trainer for educated and differently-abled job seekers. At v-shesh, Joseph is involved with work across employment and market access services.

Karthik - is member of the core team building our Rural Network Services platform. Karthik manages important client and network relationships engaging with them to build models for distribution of products and services. Karthik is a commerce graduate and completed his Masters in Financial Management from Pondicherry University. Karthik has 10 years of experience in financial services with Citigroup, TVS Group and Fullerton India Credit Company.

Kuppuraj - has client management and operations experience of over 11 years in financial services having worked with SREI Equipment Finance, IndiaBulls and Fullerton India in Tamil Nadu. Prior to starting his professional career, Kuppuraj completed Masters in Arts from Presidency College in Chennai.

Alafia - is a graduate in BA - Psychology, Journalism & Literature. Alafia has also done a diploma course in counseling on emotional basis and has prior experience in counseling candidates, both disabled and non-disabled. Alafia's hobbies include reading books, dancing, skit performance and music. Prior to v-shesh, Alafia worked at EnAble India in Bangalore

 

Centres
Shobha Sharma - has over 5 years of experience having worked with Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, Bharti Airtel and Shree Investment.  She is a post-graduate in Sanskrit literature from MGK Vidya Peeth, Varanasi and completed the NCFM Capital Market (dealer) Module from NSE, Delhi. She is pursuing distance MBA from Symbiosis, Pune

Laxmidhar Sahoo - has extensive experience in financial services and financial inclusion having worked at grass-root level with SREI group and ICICI Group. Laxmidhar is a science graduate from Utkal University in Orrisa

Laxman - has been a field volunteer with Pratham prior to joining v-shesh and is completing his Bachelors degree from Indore University. Laxman has extensive grass roots experience and possesses excellent interpersonal skills

Prashant - has worked with Pratham for over 7 years in various positions across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. His last assignment was that of a District Coordinator, Indore. A graduate in Marathi Literature from Amravati University, he brings with him extensive field experience both in program implementation as well as content development and training

Rajesh - has over 15 years of experience in financial services having worked with TVS Finance, Ashok Leyland Finance and Fullerton India in middle management positions including head of a branch. Rajesh has also been involved with training and HR during his earlier assignments and enjoys assisting individuals develop professionally. Rajesh is part of the team building our Market Access Business

Sachin - comes from a financial service background having spent over a decade in various functions in consumer lending. His last position was with Citigroup in the Consumer Financing business at Mumbai as a member of the team managing credit and collections

Deshbroto - has over 5 years of grassroots experience spanning 3 states having started his career with Grameen Vikas Shodh Avam Takniki Kendra in Rajasthan and later at Hole-in-the-wall project of NIIT. Here he was a part of the core team which was responsible for implementing and managing education kiosk for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Deshbroto has a Masters Degree in Social Work from Shantiniketan in West Bengal

Bisweswor - is a development professional with a mix of grass-root and organisational experience at Orrisa and New Delhi. Before joining v-shesh, Bisweswor was with Gram Vikas as part of the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Documentation Department. Prior to Gram Vikas, Bisweswor was part of the team at ‘Hole in the Wall’ Project of NIIT group