Nirav Khambhati’s Journey to Blended Finance
One of the extraordinary attributes of Chevening fellows is the dynamic trajectory of their careers and the work they do. Their curiosity and passion compel them to expand their education, interests, and influence and pursue new opportunities and challenges. The arc of their work and interests is never static. They may start out as an engineer and years later end up running [...]
Chevening and Gurukul Programmes Alumni Reunion January 2024
Individuals from the Chevening Research, Science and Innovation Leadership Fellowship Programme (CRISP), in conjunction with the Gurukul Programme alums who studied at Oxford University held their first ever joint reunion, recently, in Kochi, India. Including Chevening administrators and staff from Oxford, we had 28 who came from all over to attend. Chevening is an organization established by the UK government that [...]
An interview with Shabd Mishra, Managing Director for Renaissance eServices Ltd and founder of Meducination and Psychology World®
John Hoffmire: Let me quote something I read about you online, “In 2005 Shabd Mishra quit his job as Head of International Sales for a leading US information publisher to start Renaissance eServices in 2005. The business, located in the UK, spans over 52 countries and caters to nearly 2 million students globally. Since 2005, the firm has developed over 48,000 eLearning [...]
An Interview with Suparna Kapoor, L&D Leader, Consultant, Happiness Coach, and Chevening CRISP Fellow, University of Oxford, 2022
John Hoffmire: I sometimes struggle with the notion of a “thought leader”. In some cases, it just sounds presumptuous for someone to claim they can or should influence the thinking of others. But in your case, it seems to me that you are a genuine thought leader in the best sense – you are someone who has a positive reputation for helping others [...]
Interview with Amita Dahiya, Project Lead (Entrepreneurship) Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusive Leadership, XLRI
John Hoffmire: I’m always interested to hear how someone’s career evolves and, in some ways, changes direction. I often refer to such a career path as “following the current” as in the current of a river. It seems like your career has been a bit like that, would you agree? Amita: Yes, I think I would agree that there has been [...]
End Poverty
End Poverty (EP) is a civil society organization, started in the year 2009, based in India that designs and delivers innovative solutions for the poor of India in partnership with national and international organizations. EP’s approach is to enable and empower people for change and support them with identifying solutions and making informed choices. The programs are designed after meeting the targeted [...]
Gender Equality, Education, and Employment in India
India is a country where gender inequality has been a crucial issue for generations. Starting at a very young age, girls face a variety of barriers that contribute to unequal economic and educational opportunities. The empowerment of women, both through education of girls and employment of women, has a direct impact on the Indian economy. The literacy rate in India for females [...]
An interview with Tushar Vyas, President of Growth and Transformation for GroupM South Asia
John Hoffmire: I find it fascinating that you have been both an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur in the field of digital media. You’ve started companies from scratch, and you created new business enterprises within a multinational corporation. Tell me about your journey from start-up entrepreneur to a GroupM intrapreneur. Tushar: In many ways, there is not much difference between the mindset and [...]
An interview with Paramjyoti Chattopadhyay, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, NITI Aayog
John Hoffmire: I remember when I met you at Oxford in 2015, feeling like you and I had similar interests and unusual career tracks that bounced us back and forth between working to alleviate poverty, management consulting, and public policy. Am I right about the unusual career paths? Param: I’ve always been interested in both development finance and market opportunities that develop [...]
Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka to foster tech entrepreneurs
The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the apex ICT institution of the Government and a catalyst in driving the startup ecosystem forward, launched the ’10,000 Ideas’ national tech innovation program recently to empower the next generation of tech entrepreneurs along with startup ecosystem enablers. Facilitated in collaboration with startup ecosystem enablers and partners for entrepreneurs, ‘10,000 Ideas’ sets [...]
An interview with Dr. Kasturi Das, Professor of Economics at the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (IMTG)
John Hoffmire: Kasturi, you have covered multiple fields in your work life so far. Tell me about your professional journey, if you will. Kasturi: That’s right, John. In my professional journey spanning more than two decades I have worked in multiple capacities – conducting research, advisory, advocacy, teaching, academic administration, and community service. My journey has spread across various countries where I have had [...]
An interview with Kaushik Bose, Co-founder and CEO of SustLabs (a consumer IoT company in the energy space)
John Hoffmire: I remember when I first met you during your time as a fellow of the Chevening Research Science and Innovation Leadership Programme (CRISP). You were so passionate about energy conservation and had recently cofounded SustLabs. Is SustLabs an energy saving or a data analytics company? Kaushik: At the moment, we are primarily a consumer IoT company. We license the tech-stack [...]
