Our speakers

Rohit Jain, VP & Head of Technology, Airtel Digital

Ronnie Screwvala, Co-Founder & Chairperson, upGrad

Ronnie’s first foray was Cable TV in India and for the first two years of that journey he found no takers and only advise was to treat it as a failed start up and move on, but with him staying at it he was credited with having pioneered Cable TV for all of India.

Entrepreneurship is about finding and seizing opportunities and moving on from failures and Ronnie saw an opportunity in toothbrush manufacturing and after many setbacks went on to build one of the largest toothbrush operations in India, at a time where there was no eco-system for PE Funding or bank debt to start ups. The other opportunity was TV Home Shopping but it was well before its time and was a big failure, but not enough for him to question if he should stick it out as an entrepreneur.

Ronnie went on to build a media and entertainment company - UTV, where post many pivots and four almost near bankruptcies and 15 years of focussed work with strong co-founders and a large team, it scaled to a size spanning all aspects of Content and Platform and then he divested UTV to The Walt Disney Co in 2012.

Perception in most cases is larger than reality and so in spite of so many failures, Newsweek termed him the Jack Warner of India, Esquire rated him one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century and Fortune as Asia’s 25 most powerful and ranked 78 among 100 most influential people in the world on Time 100.

Having lived it and seen the misconception that it’s all about quick success and that failure is to frown on - he authored a book ‘Dream With Your Eyes Open’ as his commitment to champion entrepreneurship and evangelize failure.

Ronnie got the term “cat with nine lives” attached to him by colleagues and peers for the number of times he had failed, but reflecting on his setbacks and counting on his main virtue that success can never be timed and staying the course is the only option, Ronnie in his second innings decided to deepen his commitment to making India a better place through a focus on two of the largest sunrise sectors - Online Education & the not-for-profit rural / social space. He is Chairperson & Co-Founder of upGrad which zeros in on the massive Online Education market and the fact that Learning for every working professional is now a lifelong commitment. He, along with his wife Zarina,  are the  Co-Founders of The Swades Foundation, which is committed to empower one million lives in rural India every 5-7 years through a 360 degree model spanning Water, Sanitation, Health, Education and Livelihood to lift them out of poverty permanently.

As a hobby and passion Ronnie loves to tell stories that must to told via movies with his new brand RSVP and he owns 3 sports teams under the brand U Mumba in Kabaddi, Volleyball and Football even though he has never played any of the sports himself.

Roopan Aulakh, Managing Director, pi Ventures

Roopan has 15+ years of experience across Venture Capital, corporate development and technology. Currently an MD at pi Ventures, she invests in early stage Deeptech startups across diverse sectors. Prior to pi Ventures, she invested in early to growth stage global startups at Applied Ventures (corporate Venture Capital arm of Applied Materials). Before becoming an investor, she worked in DeepTech as a technologist. She holds a BTech degree from NIT Jalandhar and an MBA from ISB Hyderabad

Roopwant Singh, MD, GMDC

ROSHAN ABBAS, Founder, Kommune

Roshan Lal Tamak, ED & CEO-Sugar Business, DCM Shriram Ltd

Roshi Jain, Senior Fund Manager- Equities, HDFC AMC Ltd

Rrahul Sethi, Metaverse Expert & Founder, Metaverse911

Rahul Sethi, Metaverse Expert & Founder, Metaverse911 is a LinkedIn Top Voice with a community of 30,000+ professionals on LinkedIn. He is a renowned Metaverse professional, accelerating Immersive Tech adoption Worldwide by working closely with global XR companies & industry-leaders on Metaverse adoption.

He is a seasoned entrepreneur with experience spanning over 20+ countries. Rrahul advises BIG5 & Corporates on the Metaverse roadmap for large-scale implementations. More than 3500+ professionals have attended his Masterclass on Web3 & Metaverse from Big5, Global Insurance and Technology firms like Deloitte, Allianz, Continental, Unilever, Starbucks, Times Now etc. He has been a keynote speaker and panelist at NASSCOM Annual Technology Conference, BRICS Alliance Summit, VRAR Global Summit EU, World Tech Conclave, CII International Tech Summit, MINT CIO Summit, and other prestigious summits.

Rucha Nanavati, CIO, Mahindra Group

Rucha Nanavati, Chief Information Office at Mahindra Group, is a global leader with experience in enabling business strategies through technology solutions. Rucha has led successful digital transformations in multiple industries including high-tech, retail and manufacturing. She is passionate about fostering innovations and cultivating an engineering culture and is known for developing and directing large global, cross-functional tech teams that deliver high-value, transformational initiatives. Rucha’s previous experiences range from consulting role at Pricewater Housecoopers to technology leadership roles at Albertsons Companies and Motorola.

Rucha is passionate about mentoring and helping women move forward in technology and at workplaces in general. She also mentors start-ups and a strong promoter of women led start-ups as well.

Ruchira Bhardwaja, Joint President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Kotak Life