Yusuff Ali M A

Posted on by Prakash Advani

Yusuff Ali M A is the Chairman and Managing Director of LuLu Group International, which operates over 100 retail outlets like hypermarkets, supermarkets and grocery outlets in UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. His business interests also include conference centres and luxury hotels in India.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, business portfolio of LuLu Group International ranges from hypermarket operations to shopping mall development, manufacturing and trading of goods, hospitality assets, and real estate.

Deloitte has ranked the Group as one of the ten fastest growing retailers in the world. LuLu Group has annual turnover of USD 7.4 billion and staff force of more than 50,000.

The group is planning to invest  Rs2,500 crore in Telangana this year in three projects – a fruit and vegetable processing unit, an integrated meat processing unit and a modern shopping mall in Hyderabad.

He was the first expatriate to get elected by the UAE business community as the Director Board member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ADCCI). He was also unanimously elected by the Board members as the Vice-chairman of the prestigious Trade Committee of the ADCCI. In 2009 he was re-elected to the Director Board of ADCCI. In the year 2014 he was again re-elected for a third time and he is the only non-Arab to be elected to the Director Board of ADCCI consecutively for a record third time.

With a net worth of $2.4bn, he ranks 737 in the world and 30 in India in the Forbes list of billionaires.

He was elected as the Director Board member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ADCCI). He was the first expatriate elected to the Director Board.

Base: Abu Dhabi, UAE

Base in India: Nattika, Thrissur district,  Kerala

Age: 59

Family: Married to Shabira Yusuffali and has three daughters.

Education:  Diploma in Business Management & Administration

Other positions:

•          Director –Air Kerala International Services Ltd

•          Member of Central Wakf Council, Government of India

•          Former Director – Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (KSIDC) (2002 – 2014)

•          Director – Cochin International Airport Limited. He recently raised his stake by acquiring five lakh CIAL shares held by Thrissur-based Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd.

•          Director – Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL)

•          Vice Chairman – Non-Resident Keralites Affairs Department (NORKA ROOTS), Govt. of Kerala

•          Corporate Member – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI)

•          National Council Member – Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Co-Chairman – CII Gulf Committee

Linkedin: https://ae.linkedin.com/in/yusuffalima

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Yusuffali.MA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yusuffali_ma

Ravi Pillai

Posted on by Prakash Advani

Chairman and Managing Director of the RP Group of Companies, a global conglomerate consisting of constructions (primarily oil & gas industrial contracting and premium civil contracting), hospitality, health care and wellness, education, shopping malls, trading, travels and IT companies with a combined turnover of more than US$ 5 billion.

Coming from a farming family Pillai started his first business when he was doing his graduation. He started a chit fund with borrowed money. Later he branched into taking construction contracts.

Later due to a labour strike he was forced to closed down his business and migrate to Saudi Arabia in search of opportunities. His group has business interest in Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain and UAE. Recently they have ventured out into Africa, Australia and India.

The group has twenty two companies under its fold in various sectors in fifteen cities across seven countries and employs over 80,000 people making it one of the major employers worldwide.

Pillai’s group has announced real estate projects worth $1.5 billion in Dubai. These include a Crowne Plaza hotel due to open in 2016 and a 110-story tower that will be Dubai’s second tallest.  

Forbes listed him, in 2014, in the The World’s Billionaires at 988 in the world and 30 in India. Arabian Business ranked him as the fourth most powerful Indian in the Middle East in 2014.

Base: Bahrain

Base in India: Chavara, Kollam District in Kerala

Age: 62

Family: Married with two kids – Ganesh Ravi Pillai and Dr Aarathi Ravi Pillai

Education:  Business Administration from Cochin University

Business interests:

•          RP Group hold stakes in hotels like Leela Kovalam, Hotel Raviz, Kollam, and WelcomHotel Raviz Kadavu, Kozhikode in Kerala.

•          He owns the K Mall in Kollam and RP Mall in Kozhikode.

•          He owns Upasana Hospital and Research Centre, a 300 bed multispecialty hospital in Kollam.

•          His group owns Upasana School and College of Nursing.

•          He has also branched out into education with schools in Saudi, Bahrain and UAE.

Achievements:

•          Holds a doctoral degree (Honoris Causa) from the Excelsior College, New York.

 •         He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Government of India in 2008.

•          In 2010 he was honoured with Padma Shri.

Linkedin: https://ae.linkedin.com/in/ravi-pillai-a89301168

Natarajan Venkatakrishnan

Posted on by Prakash Advani

NatrajanVenkatNatarajan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat) is the  Director of Research & Development for GE Appliances, since 2006. He also leads FirstBuild, an open source micro-manufacturing to create a new world of home appliances. He has more than 25 patent filings to date.

Based in Louisville, KY, US

Education:   B.Tech degree in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India.

Family: Wife Chitra, have two children.

Interests: running, marathon,

Other activities:

On the board of the Louisville Regional Science & Engineering Fair, Dupont Manual Science Fair and the Kentucky Statewide EPSCoR Committee.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=56130439

Sanjay Shah

Posted on by Prakash Advani

Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Architect, Vistex, Inc. Vistex is estimated to be valued at US$200 Million.

Has homes in Germany and India and recently bought a a penthouse on 89th floor at the Trump Tower in Chicago, US for $17 Million from Donald Trump.

Sanjay Shah  worked at Accounting and Logistics roles before joining SAP as an Applications Consultant in 1993. At SAP he worked for 6 years as a Platinum Consultant and Logistics Developer and contributed to over 80 SAP projects.

Education:

  • B Com from Sydenham collage
  • CA
  • MBA from Lehigh University

Idol: Lee Lacocca, Chairman Chrysler

 

 

Kanwal Rekhi

Posted on by vikrant panchal

001

Kanwal Rekhi is a Venture capitalist Angel investor and entrepreneur, currently serving as the managing director at Inventus Capital Partners.

Introduction:

  • Kanwal Rekhi is an Indian-American businessman.
  • He was borned during British-India in 1945 at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan), after partition they settled in Kanpur, India.
  • Venture Capitalist Angel investor and Entrepreneur. Currently he is serving as M.D. at Inventus Capital Partners.
  • He is credited as the first Indo-American Founder & CEO to take a venture-backed company public on the NASDAQ.

Education:

  • He graduated in 1967 as an Electrical Engineer from (IIT) Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai).
  • He acquired his  Master of Science degree from Michigan Technological University.
  • Further he earned his honorary doctorates in both Business and Engineering from the Michigan Technological University.

Industry Profile:

  • Mr. Kanwal is experienced working in many position such as engineer, systems analyst, and manager before venturing in business.
  • In 1982, heco-founded Excelan in San Jose, California at the age of 36 & was named as president in 1985. The company went public in 1987 and merged with Novell in in 1989.
  • Kanwal served as an Executive Vice-President and the Chief Technology Officer of Novell until 1995.

Social and Philanthropy:

  • Kanwal Rekhi co-founded TiE in 1995 The Indus Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit support network to provide advice, contacts, and funding Indian owned startups in Silicon Valley and then spread to other countries including India.
  • He donated $3Million to IIT Mumbai to setup a new School of Information Technology which is now named after him: KReSIT – Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology.
  • He also contributed contributed $5 million to Michigan Tech in 2000 to increase the profile of educational institutions in India.

 

 

Vivek Ranadive

Posted on by vikrant panchal

Vivek Ranadive (Marathi: विवेक रणदिवे) is an Indian businessman, engineer, author, speaker and philanthropist.

Introduction :

  • Vivek Ranadive was borned on October 7, 1957.
  • Ranadivé grew up in the Juhu area of Bombay (now Mumbai), India.
  • He was the youngest of three children.
  • At 16, Ranadivé was accepted to MIT.
  • He is the founder and CEO of TIBCO

Education :

  • In 1970s, at the age of 16 Vivek was selected for MIT where he successfully completed his Bachelors & Masters degree.
  • After MIT, he joined Harvard University in 1983 & completed his MBA.
  • He was titled Baker Scholar at Harvard University.

Industry Profile :

  • While still in college at MIT, Ranadivé started his first company, a UNIX consulting company.
  • He also held management and engineering positions with Ford Motor Company, M/A-Com Linkabit and Fortune Systems immediately after college.
  • Teknekron Corp., a technology incubator, provided $250,000 in seed capital to Vivek Ranadivé in 1985; in 1986, Teknekron Software Systems was born.
  • In 1997, Ranadivé founded TIBCO Software Inc. with funding from Cisco and Reuters.
  • In 1999, TIBCO’s revenues were $100 million, leading them to file for an IPO on the NASDAQ.
  • Currently, TIBCO is active in a wide range of markets including retail (FedEx and Amazon.com), manufacturing, financials (Chicago Mercantile Exchange, NASDAQ and Goldman Sachs), the military (the Department of Defense, United States Department of Homeland Security), airlines (Delta) and tech companies (iPhone activation with AT&T, eBay).
  • By 2011, Ranadivé had grown TIBCO’s annual revenues to $920 million and its customer base to 4,000.
  • In 2010, Ranadivé became the co-owner and vice chairman of the Golden State Warriors, making him the first person of Indian descent to own an NBA franchise.
  • On March 21, 2013 it was announced that Ranadivé has joined Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov to be a major investor in the attempt to purchase the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association.
  • On May 16, 2013 it was announced that the Ranadivé lead ownership group came to an agreement with the Maloof family to purchase 65 percent of the Kings for approximately $348 million and will keep the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento.
  • At the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos, Ranadivé, along with WEF’s founder and chairman Klaus Schwab, launched TopCom, a private social network for world leaders.
  • In 1999, Ranadivé published The Power of Now with a foreword by Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy which details how winning companies sense and respond to change using real-time technology.
  • The book was a New York Times bestseller.
  • In 2006, Ranadivé published The Power to Predict with a foreword from FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith which explores how companies can break new ground in their quest to anticipate customers’ needs, capture new opportunities, and predict and avoid problems.
  • The book was an international bestseller and was profiled in Forbes, Harvard Business School and The Wall Street Journal‘s SmartMoney.
  • In 2011, Ranadivé published The Two-Second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future–Just Enough, which reveals how our understanding of human mastery is being applied to the way computers “think.”
  • The book was a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller and was reviewed positively by David Stern and Marc Andreessen.

Awards, Acheivements & Recognition :

  • 2005 Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award (WIBTA): North America Technology Change Agent Award.
  • InfoWorld’s 2002 Top Ten Technology Innovators.
  • 2002 Ernst & Young Software Entrepreneur of the Year.
  • 2008 South Asian CEO of the Year by the South Asian MBA Association (SAMBAA).

Social Life :

  • Ranadivé has three children: Aneel, Andre and Anjali.
  • He enjoys playing golf, cycling, tennis, hiking, and has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
  • Ranadivé, along with TIBCO’s director of business development, former NFL running back Roger Craig, used to coach his daughter’s national runner-up junior basketball team.

Twitter Profile :

Facebook fanpage :

 

Amit Singhal

Posted on by vikrant panchal

Amitabh Kumar “Amit” Singhal

Amit is senior vice president and software engineer at Google Inc.

Introduction :

  • Amitabh Kumar Singhal was borned in Born in Jhansi, a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India on Sept, 1968.
  • He is senior vice president and software engineer at Google Inc.
  • He is the head of Google’s core ranking team.

Education :

  • He completed his Bachelor of Engineering degree in computer science from IIT Roorkee in 1989.
  • He then continued his computer science education in the United States, and received an M.S. degree from University of Minnesota Duluth in 1991.
  • Amit continued his studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and received a Ph.D. degree in 1996.

Industry Profile :

  • As he completed his Ph.D, he joined AT&T Labs , where he continued his research in information retrieval, speech retrieval and other related fields.
  • His friend Krishna Bharat persuaded him to join Google in the year 2000.
  • At Google he use to work in Google’s core search quality department.
  • Google search algorithms are the result of Amit & his team.
  • According to New York Times, Mr. Singhal is the master of what Google calls its “ranking algorithm” — the formulas that decide which Web pages best answer each user’s question.

Awards, Achievements & Recognition :

  • According to New York Times, Mr. Singhal is the master of what Google calls its “ranking algorithm” — the formulas that decide which Web pages best answer each user’s question.
  • In 2011 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
  • Fortune named Amit Singhal one of the smartest people in tech.
  • In 2011, Amit Singhal was given the Outstanding Achievement in Science and Technology Award at The Asian Awards.

Twitter Profile :

 

Sujay Jaswa

Posted on by vikrant panchal

Sujay Jaswa

Sujay jaswa is the CFO of Dropbox.

Introduction:

  • He is the CFO of Dropbox.
  • Before that he also served as Vice President, Business at Dropbox.

Education :

  • He completed his High school in 1997, from Bellarmine College Preparatory, California, USA.
  • He completed his Bachelors in Economics from Princeton Universtiy.
  • Finally after his bachelors he attended Howard University in the year 2008 to complete his MBA.

Industry Profile :

  • He worked less than a year as an intern in Selectica.
  • Sujay served as a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company.
  • He also served as an Associate in Cisco Systems’ Corporate Development group
  • Since April 2005 – 2006 he worked as a Director in CinemaNow (Now Best Buy).
  • In Sept 2008 as a Principal he worked at New Enterprise Associates for 2 years &  4 months till December 2010.
  • He was appointed as the VP (Vice President) of Dropbox in 2010.
  • In April 2014, as the new financial year began he was promoted as the CFO (Chief Financial officer) in Dropbox.

LinkedIn Profile :

  • http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sujay-jaswa/0/6/35

Twitter Profile :

  • https://twitter.com/sujayjaswa

Facebook Profile ;

  • https://www.facebook.com/sujayjaswa

Ruchi Sanghvi

Posted on by vikrant panchal

She was the first female engineer hired by the social-networking website Facebook.

Introduction :

  • Ruchi Sanghvi was born on 20th January, 1982.
  • Ruchi was raised in Pune, India.
  • When she was young, she intended to join her father’s business after completing her studies.

Education :

  • Sanghvi pursued her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Industry Profile :

  • Prior to Facebook, she was a software engineer in the Real Time Communication Group at Oracle.
  • Ruchi joined Facebook in 2005.
  • Sanghvi was Facebook’s first female engineer.
  • Sanghvi was one of the main people working on the first version of Facebook’s news feed product, first launched in September 2006, and she wrote the blog post announcing its launch.
  • In 2006, Sanghvi became the product lead for Facebook Platform.
  • In late 2010, she quit Facebook
  • In 2011,she started her own company Cove, with Aditya Agarwal.
  • Later this company was been sold to Dropbox in 2012.
  • In February 2012, Dropbox, the file synchronization and backup service company, announced that it had acquired Cove and that Sanghvi and Agarwal would be joining Dropbox.
  • Ruchi is the Vice President of Operations at Dropbox, managing product, marketing, communications and other functions.
  • Ruchi Sanghvi is an investor and adviser in a number of Silicon Valley companiesincluding privacy-oriented photo-sharing service Path and workplace collaboration application Asana.

Awards, Achievements & Recognition :

  • Sanghvi was awarded a TechFellow “Best Engineering Leadership Award” in 2011 for her work at Facebook.

LinkedIn Profile :

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/rsanghvi

Twitter Profile :

  • https://twitter.com/rsanghvi

Faacebook Profile :

  •  https://www.facebook.com/ruchi

Om Perkash Malik

Posted on by vikrant panchal

Om Perkash Malik

He is an Indian-American web and technology writer.

Introduction :

  • Om Malik was born in New Delhi on September 29, 1966.

  • He is the founder of and senior writer for GigaOM.

  • He is an Indian-American web & technology writer.

Education :

  • Malik completed his  graduation from St. Stephens’ College in New Delhi in 1986, with an honors degree in chemistry.

Industry Profile :

  • Malik moved to New York City in 1993 to be a writer for India Abroad and then for Forbes.
  • He was also a senior writer for Red Herring, focusing on the telecommunications sector, and later became a senior writer there.
  • In late 1994, he launched DesiParty.com, an events site for Indian emigrants.
  • In 1995 he helped launch the now-defunct magazine, Masala, and its website Masala.com, a South Asian portal.
  • In 1997, Malik was on the original team at Forbes.com led by David Churbuck.
  • He then left Forbes in the year 1999.
  • In 2000, he moved to San Francisco, California to write for Business 2.0 magazine.
  • In 2001, he started GigaOM, a Web 2.0 blog published by GigaOmniMedia, Inc. in San Francisco.
  • The website has a monthly global audience of 500,000, is among the top 50 blogs worldwide by Technorati Rank, and is part of CNet’s 100 Most Influential Blogs.
  • His first book, Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist, was released on May 15, 2003.
  • Malik’s writings have also appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, and Crain’s New York Business.
  • Malik announced on June 12, 2006, that he was going to work on GigaOM full-time, although he is still a contributing editor and writes a column for Business 2.0. In addition to GigaOM, he also writes for the blogs Web Worker Daily and Tablatronic.

Twitter Profile :

  • https://twitter.com/om