A Chartered Accountant by professional education, she worked as a Financial Analyst with Central Bank of India. She has been part of the non-government financial sector to work with a clear focus on the financial inclusion and economic empowerment of socio-economically disadvantaged women for more than two decades. She has been leading Shree Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, Ahmedabad (since 1986) , a pioneer in providing access to financial services for working class women. The financial literacy programme, which has been snowballing as a major component of the larger financial inclusion agenda, was first initiated by Sewa Bank under her guidance in 2001. She was also instrumental in introducing the Micro Pension Scheme for women workers in the unorganized sector. A recipient of the ‘ Outstanding Women Entrepreneur’ award by FICCI in 1993-94, she has been a member of the board in the Gujarat Urban Cooperative Bank Federation, Central Depository Services Limited, a member of Advisory Committee of SEBI, and the Executive Director in Indian School of Micro Finance for Women, to mention a few.
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Trustee: Girija Srinivasan
Development Consultant
An MBA in professional education, she has three decades of experience in microfinance, rural finance including micro-enterprise finance, micro insurance, community based financial institution(SHGs and Federations), project design, monitoring and evaluation , institutional assessment and gender. She started her career with NABARD and gradually moved to freelancing in India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. As a freelancer she has worked with agencies like IFAD, UNOPS, GTZ, KFW, NOVIB, ILO, DFID, SDC, SIDBI, NABARD and some leading NGOs in India. She was a member of the Task Force formed by the Government of Maharashtra on micro-finance. Besides, she has been contributing to the field of knowledge building in the sector by authoring several articles and books.
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Trustee: Siddharth Sinha
Professor, IIM Ahmedabad
A PhD in Finance from University of California, Berkeley, USA, Prof. Sinha taught for about five years in University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has been teaching in IIM Ahmedabad since 1992. He has significantly contributed to the knowledge domain in the areas like corporate finance, corporate governance and risk management. He was member of the committee on Power Sector Reform Review, set up by the Government of Odisha. He has several publications at the national and international level to his credit.
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Trustee: Venkatesh Tagat
Development Consultant
Venkatesh Tagat has been a student of agriculture, having completed his Ph. D in soil and water management from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He worked as an agronomist at the Central Coffee Research Station, Chickmangalur. He later pursued a development-banking career by joining Reserve Bank of India and later on National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. He has had experience of working with village communities in the NABARD- KFW supported Indo German Watershed Development Program in Maharashtra. He has also designed and implemented tribal development programs in many states. He initiated the capacity development of producer organizations and prepared the road map for the promotion of FPOs in 2014. As part of a knowledge series by NABARD, he authored a paper on Financing for FPOs –focus on transforming agricultural lending which was published in 2016. Currently, he is nominated on the Board of management of AME Foundation, Friends for Women’s World Banking (FWWB), Sanghamitra Rural Finance Services, and Samunnati Agro Solutions.
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Trustee: Smita Vijayakumar
Consultant
An MBA in Finance and Marketing she has over three decades of experience as a Banker, Banking technology specialist and a Professor of Finance. She started her career in Reserve Bank of India where she was involved in currency management, making policy and supervision of Urban Co-operative Banks as well as Foreign Exchange operations of Commercial banks. She then moved to TATAs (erstwhile Tata Infotech) as the Banking Domain expert and helped them develop/ sell enterprise systems to the banking and Insurance industry. She has also been a CFO of a foreign bank - Bank Internasional Indonesia where she set up Accounting and Management Information Systems in addition to her other responsibilities. She has been a Professor of Finance in various Business Schools teaching International Finance. She has also been involved in Corporate training where she conducted programs like Finance for non Finance professionals, Retirement planning etc.
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Trustee: Jeemol Unni
Professor, Ahmedabad University
Jeemol Unni is Professor of Economics at Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad. She was the Director of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). She was a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics constituted by the Government of India. She holds a PhD in Economics and MPhil in Applied Economics. She was a post-doctoral Fellow at the Economic Growth Center, Yale University. She was a Ford Fellow at International Center for Research on Women, Washington DC, and Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands.
She is on the Editorial Board of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics, New Delhi and Journal of Development Policy and Practice, New Delhi. She was on the Board of Governors, Women in Informal Employment, Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), UK. She was an ILO Consultant with the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), Delhi
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Sanjana Govindan
Consultant
Sanjana Govindan With over 13 years of dedicated experience in the development sector Sanjana is an advocate for social change and inclusion. Her expertise lies in navigating the intricate landscape of program design and deployment, policy formulation, and strategic partnerships. She specializes in pioneering pilots and fostering innovation to generate tangible, scalable impact.
Driven by a passion for building transformative solutions and communities, Sanjana focuses on promoting women’s entrepreneurship. She firmly believes that empowering women with access to dignified and self-sustaining livelihoods can profoundly impact households. With a wealth of experience, a commitment to innovation, and a proven track record of successful project implementation, she brings valuable insights to any role within the development sector. Sanjana serves as a board member for the Association for People with Disabilities, where she lends her expertise to various initiatives, including horticulture, sports programs, and product innovation for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, she contributes to institution-building within the organization. With a rich background in strategy and entrepreneurship, Sanjana has played pivotal roles in designing and deploying several national projects for women’s entrepreneurship. She contributed to the strategy development of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) initiated by Niti Aayog and served as the Vice President of Women Entrepreneurship at the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship. Recently, she has been instrumental in scaling the social sector vertical of the Open Network for Digital Commerce, focusing on women entrepreneurs, very small sellers, and those from backgrounds of poverty and vulnerability.
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Chairperson: Jayshree Vyas
Managing Director, SEWA Bank
A Chartered Accountant by professional education, she worked as a Financial Analyst with Central Bank of India. She has been part of the non-government financial sector to work with a clear focus on the financial inclusion and economic empowerment of socio-economically disadvantaged women for more than two decades. She has been leading Shree Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, Ahmedabad (since 1986) , a pioneer in providing access to financial services for working class women. The financial literacy programme, which has been snowballing as a major component of the larger financial inclusion agenda, was first initiated by Sewa Bank under her guidance in 2001. She was also instrumental in introducing the Micro Pension Scheme for women workers in the unorganized sector. A recipient of the ‘ Outstanding Women Entrepreneur’ award by FICCI in 1993-94, she has been a member of the board in the Gujarat Urban Cooperative Bank Federation, Central Depository Services Limited, a member of Advisory Committee of SEBI, and the Executive Director in Indian School of Micro Finance for Women, to mention a few.
Read more…
Read less…
Trustee: Girija Srinivasan
Development Consultant
An MBA in professional education, she has three decades of experience in microfinance, rural finance including micro-enterprise finance, micro insurance, community based financial institution(SHGs and Federations), project design, monitoring and evaluation , institutional assessment and gender. She started her career with NABARD and gradually moved to freelancing in India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. As a freelancer she has worked with agencies like IFAD, UNOPS, GTZ, KFW, NOVIB, ILO, DFID, SDC, SIDBI, NABARD and some leading NGOs in India. She was a member of the Task Force formed by the Government of Maharashtra on micro-finance. Besides, she has been contributing to the field of knowledge building in the sector by authoring several articles and books.
Read more…
Read less…
Trustee: Siddharth Sinha
Professor, IIM Ahmedabad
A PhD in Finance from University of California, Berkeley, USA, Prof. Sinha taught for about five years in University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has been teaching in IIM Ahmedabad since 1992. He has significantly contributed to the knowledge domain in the areas like corporate finance, corporate governance and risk management. He was member of the committee on Power Sector Reform Review, set up by the Government of Odisha. He has several publications at the national and international level to his credit.
Read more…
Read less…
Trustee: Venkatesh Tagat
Development Consultant
Venkatesh Tagat has been a student of agriculture, having completed his Ph. D in soil and water management from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He worked as an agronomist at the Central Coffee Research Station, Chickmangalur. He later pursued a development-banking career by joining Reserve Bank of India and later on National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. He has had experience of working with village communities in the NABARD- KFW supported Indo German Watershed Development Program in Maharashtra. He has also designed and implemented tribal development programs in many states. He initiated the capacity development of producer organizations and prepared the road map for the promotion of FPOs in 2014. As part of a knowledge series by NABARD, he authored a paper on Financing for FPOs –focus on transforming agricultural lending which was published in 2016. Currently, he is nominated on the Board of management of AME Foundation, Friends for Women’s World Banking (FWWB), Sanghamitra Rural Finance Services, and Samunnati Agro Solutions.
Read more…
Read less…
Trustee: Smita Vijayakumar
Consultant
An MBA in Finance and Marketing she has over three decades of experience as a Banker, Banking technology specialist and a Professor of Finance. She started her career in Reserve Bank of India where she was involved in currency management, making policy and supervision of Urban Co-operative Banks as well as Foreign Exchange operations of Commercial banks. She then moved to TATAs (erstwhile Tata Infotech) as the Banking Domain expert and helped them develop/ sell enterprise systems to the banking and Insurance industry. She has also been a CFO of a foreign bank - Bank Internasional Indonesia where she set up Accounting and Management Information Systems in addition to her other responsibilities. She has been a Professor of Finance in various Business Schools teaching International Finance. She has also been involved in Corporate training where she conducted programs like Finance for non Finance professionals, Retirement planning etc.
Read more…
Read less…
Trustee: Jeemol Unni
Professor, Ahmedabad University
Jeemol Unni is Professor of Economics at Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad. She was the Director of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). She was a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics constituted by the Government of India. She holds a PhD in Economics and MPhil in Applied Economics. She was a post-doctoral Fellow at the Economic Growth Center, Yale University. She was a Ford Fellow at International Center for Research on Women, Washington DC, and Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands.
She is on the Editorial Board of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics, New Delhi and Journal of Development Policy and Practice, New Delhi. She was on the Board of Governors, Women in Informal Employment, Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), UK. She was an ILO Consultant with the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), Delhi
Read more…
Read less…
Trustee: Sanjana Govindan
Consultant
Sanjana Govindan With over 13 years of dedicated experience in the development sector Sanjana is an advocate for social change and inclusion. Her expertise lies in navigating the intricate landscape of program design and deployment, policy formulation, and strategic partnerships. She specializes in pioneering pilots and fostering innovation to generate tangible, scalable impact.
Driven by a passion for building transformative solutions and communities, Sanjana focuses on promoting women’s entrepreneurship. She firmly believes that empowering women with access to dignified and self-sustaining livelihoods can profoundly impact households. With a wealth of experience, a commitment to innovation, and a proven track record of successful project implementation, she brings valuable insights to any role within the development sector. Sanjana serves as a board member for the Association for People with Disabilities, where she lends her expertise to various initiatives, including horticulture, sports programs, and product innovation for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, she contributes to institution-building within the organization. With a rich background in strategy and entrepreneurship, Sanjana has played pivotal roles in designing and deploying several national projects for women’s entrepreneurship. She contributed to the strategy development of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) initiated by Niti Aayog and served as the Vice President of Women Entrepreneurship at the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship. Recently, she has been instrumental in scaling the social sector vertical of the Open Network for Digital Commerce, focusing on women entrepreneurs, very small sellers, and those from backgrounds of poverty and vulnerability.
