WHO WE ARE

Subra Iyer, after a 21 year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) of which 10 years was as a partner in its Advisory division in Singapore, became an entrepreneur in October 2009. His career with PwC included being an auditor, an advisor on financial and commercial due diligence, and undertaking restructuring, acting as an insolvency appointee, acting as an expert witness (forensic accountant) and performing several forensic accounting investigations.

Subra is currently Chairman and shareholder of an emerging biotechnology company that manufactures and distributes a product that improves the yield of various crops, is Executive Director of an advisory capital business based out of South India, on the board of Jurong Port and also the chairman of the audit committee of Jurong Port, and continues to act as Expert Witness in Singapore as a forensic accountant.

Subra is a Director and Treasurer of Executives Without Borders. He holds a degree in Accountancy (Honors) from the National University of Singapore, has completed his Professional Year with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and is an alumnus of the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Avik has worked on the ground and conducted research, designed and developed business models, business plans in nine emerging markets of Asia and Africa and across sectors like energy, rural distribution, nutrition, healthcare, housing, housing finance, agricultural inputs and financial services. Prior to Re-emerging World he worked with ICI and TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) in India. In 2005 he joined The Next Practice, the consulting firm of Prof.C K Prahalad focusing on building innovative business models for low income households and entry strategies in emerging markets.

Avik has received the Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode where he was the General Electric Fund Scholar. He was also awarded the IIM Kozhikode Gold Medal for Best All Round Performance. He earned a bachelor’s degree first class with honors in mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University, India.

Ravi Mantha is an angel investor and adviser to social enterprises. From 2001 to 2011, Ravi was a portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments in Boston and London, where he co- managed the $35 billion Select global equity portfolios. With strong interest in the growth of emerging markets, Ravi was also lead portfolio manager of the $1billion Select emerging markets equity strategy. Ravi has travelled all over the world meeting managements of hundreds of companies, and is passionate about investing in sustainable business models and managements with strong personal integrity. Ravi is an active charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the global network of entrepreneurs, and is the incoming chairman of TiE Singapore. In 2011, Ravi was elected to the global board of Trustees of TiE. Ravi also serves on the board of directors of Singapore-based Asian Genco.

KC is an Ashoka Fellow, a passionate social change agent with more than 25 years of leadership exposure at the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, India with special focus on rural banking/ microfinance and agriculture development.

He holds a post-graduate degree in Political Science and an exposure to training in Rural Leadership from the Prestigious Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership from the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA.

KC is the architect of the PIE Model of Social Development. He also designs small-farmer-centric ICT applications with Grameen Intel Social Business. He has recently been nominated as an Ashoka Associate.

Anuj is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company at the age of 20. He founded Affle in 2006 with the bold ambition of becoming a global leader in the mobile media space. Anuj has a keen interest in driving technological innovations. At Affle, he also leads the product and business strategy for the company. He has in-depth understanding of the mobile media ecosystem and a passion for studying user interaction with mobile devices.

Anuj actively participates in industry forums to further the cause of the mobile media industry and towards improving standards and practices. In 2009, he was elected Director for the Mobile Marketing Association APAC Region. Anuj is passionate about entrepreneurship and believes that sustainable businesses can be built at any time, even during periods of economic recessions. Anuj is an alumnus of the National University of Singapore, Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.

James is also a member of Agility’s Asia Pacific Management Board. Prior to Agility, James was Managing Director, Central China for Schenker. He was responsible for leading the integration of Schenker and BAX in Central China. James graduated from United States Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point, NY with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Transportation & Engineering and was commissioned in the US Naval Reserve. His background in the shipping and logistics industry dates back to his days at the USMMA. Having lived in China for 12 years, James is a fluent Mandarin speaker and was awarded the prestigious Magnolia Silver Award by the Municipal Government of Shanghai in 2007 for his contribution to the city’s social and economic development. James also participates in the World Economic Forum, and is a member of the Hong Kong Chapter of the Young Presidents Organisation.

Chris Cusano is the Executive Director of Ashoka Singapore. He joined Ashoka in 2000 after working for 7 years with various grassroots human rights organizations in Southeast Asia. While at the Ashoka Global office in Washington, DC, Chris was responsible for managing Ashoka’s global process for electing new Ashoka Fellows. He is currently based in Singapore and is leading Ashoka’s expansion efforts in Asia.

Before Ash’s appointment to IntraLinks, he was Group Vice President for sales at Oracle Corporation for 11 years. During his tenure at Oracle, he oversaw rapid sales growth across several key regions, including Greater China, India, Korea, South East Asia and Australia. Ash is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and the Institute of Company Directors, Australia. He is a Graduate, International Company Directors Diploma, Australian Institute of Company Directors (2007).

Calvin Chu Yee Ming is a Partner at Eden Strategy Institute. He specializes in the areas of growth and competitive strategy, innovation scouting and development, product launch and market entry, M&A and partnerships, scenario planning and war gaming.

Calvin has advised over a hundred Fortune 500 clients in more than 20 countries, including companies such as 3M, Canon, Coca-Cola, Cummins, DHL, Disney, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IDA, International Enterprise Singapore, Intel, General Electric, MobileOne, MasterCard, The Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Arts, Nikkei, Nokia, Reed Elsevier, Roche, SKF, StarHub, Standard Chartered Bank, the Singapore Tourism Board, TNT, UNICEF, and VISA. He is Eden’s Practice Lead for the Financial Services and Government & Non-Profit sectors.

Calvin is an iAdvisor with International Enterprise Singapore, sits on the advisory boards of several social enterprises, and has appeared as a Judge at the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (Singapore Management University), the Grameen Creative Lab @ NUS Social Business Boot Camp, and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business Global New Venture Challenge. In 2009, he was inducted into the International Who’s Who of Professionals.

Calvin graduated from the National University of Singapore majoring in Psychology and Political Science, and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is a Rotary Club Board Member, an Associate Lecturer in Strategy and Organization with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and an avid student of Japanese swordsmanship.