OUR MENTORS

Mohit Kapoor VP, Group Alliances & Advertising at Reliance Jio

Mohit Kapoor is a Business leader in telecom and internet space committed to fast and disruptive growth. He has over 23 years of professional experience and is currently leading Jio's strategic alliances teams across all industries- FMCG, Automobile, BFSI, Travel, Technology, Ecommerce, Advertising ecosystem. Mohit also drives and delivers Jio’s advertising revenues through technology, business model innovations and consumer solutions

Previously he has held leadership positions in organizations including Alcatel (Country Manager), UTStarcom (Director) and Videocon (Head – New Products). Enriched with extensive experience in building from scratch and scaling consumer digital businesses, Mohit has founded two start-ups – Goolel and iAppster and he is also mentoring start-up’s at Jio-GenNext.

Mohit is an ardent traveler, cruise bike rider and dog lover and enjoys great cuisines from across the globe. He is an alumnus of NUS, Singapore and currently resides in Mumbai, India.

Kalyanji M. Gala Chairman IMC India

IMC was founded in 1975 with the objective to bring state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies from world over to India. It represents about 30 companies worldwide. Mr. Kalyanji M. Gala is founder and CEO of IMC India.

Mr. Gala is also Director at Kutch Crop Services Ltd. KCS was formed to take over the operations of Date Palm tissues culture lab from an NGO to support the farmers & bring most profitable varieties of Date Palm.

Kalyanji bhai is also Trustee at VRTI.org and Chief Mentor at Shree Vivekanand Rural Development Institute (VRDI), Kutch – Gujarat, where VRDI’s prime focus is on women empowerment. VRDI supports artisans and entrepreneurs to reach out to the markets to creating suitable employment.

Ami Shroff Managing Trustee Shrujan

From summer training at NGOs to working as an intern with an agro company in the borderline region of Kutch, Ami Shroff, has had a varied journey before she formally joined Shrujan in 1998. She initially joined the family trust run, not for profit organization, Shrujan, as a project coordinator in Kutch to work at the grassroots level and also lead the “Design Center on Wheels” project for the organization, the first of its kind and scale in India. In fact it was her deep involvement and commitment for the operations at Shrujan Trust that led to the genesis of the first of its kind research and documentation project in the Kutch region called “Pride and Enterprise” which documented and researched the embroidery craft story of the Kutch region. This initiative went on to win the Rolex Awards in 2006 for Chandaben Shroff, the founder of Shrujan, and also Ami’s mother.

Today, Ami has taken forward her mother’s vision and championed yet another successful project under the Shrujan Trust ambit, the Living and Learning Design Center (LLDC). This ambitious project has been launched in a 9 acre green campus in Bhuj, with an ambition of becoming an inclusive hub for all crafts within the Kutch region, creating a collaborative environment that not only enables but also empowers.

The campus at LLDC also houses’ India’s largest ‘Crafts Museum’ that is comparable to any international museum of high caliber both in terms of collection and presentation capabilities. Ami intends to build profile for the LLDC as a melting pot for craft enthusiasts and craft experts from all over the world, and also a place where anyone, from any background can be empowered with the power of creativity and art.

Sithu Aung Staff Software Engineer Intuit

Sithu is senior technical professional at Intuit as well as lecturer at San Jose State Univeristy.

He drives RESTful API standard and non-functional features for Intuit Payment Platform. He teaches software engineering graduate courses, such as distributed systems, virtualization and cloud computing.

Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai Author Corporate Chanakya

Author Of The Book, Corporate Chanakya, Winner Of The 2009 Sardar Patel Award, Dr. Pillai Is A Leading Management Guru And Also The Director Of The Chanakya Institute Of Public Leadership (Cipl) - A Training For Future Leaders Inspired By The Ancient Indian Wisdom.

Radhakrishnan Pillai, fondly known as CHANAKYA Pillai, He is a teacher to his students, an author to his readers, a management trainer, consultant and guide to his clients.

Radhakrishnan Pillai has been confirmed with the Sardar Patel National award 09 for this research on Chanakya and his principles. Also his first book ‘The corporate Chanakya’ has created record for the highest number of pre-release sales for any first book of an author.

He believes that “management” is a universal art that can be put to use in almost all fields and thus had explored the same through management courses in fields ranging from ‘Industrial development’, ‘Tourism’ and ‘Youth in National development’ and have finally got his management consultant cerificate from the international Institute of management Consultants, to spread the essence of ‘management’.

Dr. Ela Dedhia Educationist Nirmala Niketan College, KVO Samaj

Ela Manoj Dedhia is a renowned educationist, has been a professor since last 36 years and is heading the Department of Textiles and Fashion Technology, Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science.

She is actively involved in organizations of the Kutchi Visa Oswal Community for Empowerment of Women, Youth and Children where she is the Managing Trustee of Matushree Manibai Shivji Devji KVO Kanya Kelavni Fund; Honarary CEO for Education of the 104 year old Shri Hirji Bhojraj Trust which includes Shishuvan School; Immediate Past President of the 70 year old Shri KVO Seva Samaj; Committee Member of 105 year old Sheth Dhanji Devshi KVO Kelavni Fund; Advisor to Palagali School now Orchid International School.

Over last two decades she is continuously involved in guiding KVO youth for education and careers in India and Abroad.

Pratap Joisher Chairman Premcem Gums

Pratap Joisher has been instrumental in laying a strong foundation for the growth and progress of Premcem Gums as a leader in the guar industry. He ably took over the reins of the business from his father, the Late Shri Chhaganlal Velji Joisher, very soon after the inception of the company. While the guar business was one amongst many belonging to the extended Joisher family, it was he who established Premcem Gums as one of the most respected and reliable organisations in the Guar Gum industry. A pioneer and a veteran of the Guar Gum business, he brings nearly 5 decades of industry experience to our organisation.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Mumbai University and a Licensiate in Technical Chemistry from VJTI, Mumbai.

Apart from business, he devotes his time to philanthropic activities. He is a Lifetime Trustee of the Shri Kutchi Bhanushali Seva Samaj Trust – an organisation that works for the upliftment of the Kutchi Bhanushali community. His particular interest is to support medical and educational projects.

Michael Zyda Professor USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Michael Zyda, widely known as Mike Zyda, is an accomplished American computer scientist and video game designer. Currently serving as a Professor of Computer Science Practice at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, he has significantly contributed to the field of video game design and virtual reality. In recognition of his outstanding research, he was honored as an IEEE Fellow in 2019 and an ACM Fellow in 2020.

Michael Zyda is the visionary founding director of the Computer Science (Games) degree programs at USC Viterbi, reflecting his commitment to advancing education in the realm of computer science and gaming. His academic journey includes earning a bachelor's degree in bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego, a master's degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a doctoral degree in computer science from Washington University in St. Louis.