Sumita Ghose is the founder and managing director of Rangsutra, a social enterprise which works for socio economic development of weavers and artisans in rural India by engaging both: the community and the market. Prior to setting up Rangsutra in 2006, she lived and worked in different parts of rural India for many years, working with rural communities for social change and economic development.

Sumita has Masters degrees in Economics and Conflict Resolution. She has been the recipient of several awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship, and the Nari Shakti Puraskar, awarded by the President of India in 2016. She is a Yoga practitioner and a certified Yoga teacher.

Manoj Pavithran is a member of Auroville Campus Initiative (ACI) and is a founding member of the Swadharma programme of ACI. He is also part of the department of further learning of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER).

He has co-founded Telos in 2010 and Upasana in 1997. He also makes 3D motion graphics videos to share the vision and work of Sri Aurobindo. He is actively involved in building software for Auroville and using the same in building communities, collective self-awareness and creativity.

He did his post graduate studies in Product Design from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, in 1993. Manoj is passionate about the evolutionary yoga psychology and its transformational practice, integral yoga.

Kalyani Kandula is an Independent environmental management consultant based in Hyderabad. She has worked over the past decade with a range of clients including The World Bank, GIZ, FAO and SIDBI.

Prior to consulting, Kalyani has worked as Senior Programme Coordinator with the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) for 11 years. Her work over the past two decades has focused on environmental education and management in the context of rural livelihoods and micro-enterprises.

She is an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Vivek Sharma is a Programme Director with the Gandhi Fellowship under the Kaivalya Education Foundation (KEF) of which he is also a founding member. Gandhi Felllowship works towards creating social entrepreneurs and is actively involved in rural education.

After being involved in a string of mainstream careers in media & technology for over 15 years, Vivek switched to working on education, development & governance issues in India. And he has been active in these areas for the last 14 years.

When he is not doing advocacy at the top, he can invariably be found spending time with youth learning and solving problems along with them.

Pranay Gupta is the Co-Founder of 91springboard, the first and the biggest coworking hubs company in India with hubs across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

An IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, he was previously Joint CEO at CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad's incubator where he was instrumental in setup and running of Power of Ideas, iAccelerator, MentorEdge etc. He was leading the Internet & Mobile domain activities for them and had lead investments in 40+ startups.

Prof. KV Raju is the first Director and founding member of the Development Management Institute established in 2014 with the active support of Government of Bihar and development support organisations.

Prior to this, he joined Institute of Rural Management, Anand in June 1994 as Visiting Fellow and worked as faculty member from July 1995 – March 2014. He taught courses related to participatory governance and management of producers' enterprises; values and ethics in management; social entrepreneurship and leadership for societal transformation.

Prior to joining IRMA, he worked with Samakhya (Cooperative Development Foundation) for more than decade (1983-1994) in empowering farm producers at grassroots to undertake processing and marketing of value added products in erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh. Prof Raju is an alumnus of IRMA from second batch (1981-83). His current interests continue to be in participatory governance and management of resources, institutions and enterprises for promotion of well-being and sustainable livelihoods.

Pranay Gupta is the Co-Founder of 91springboard, the first and the biggest coworking hubs company in India with hubs across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

An IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, he was previously Joint CEO at CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad's incubator where he was instrumental in setup and running of Power of Ideas, iAccelerator, MentorEdge etc. He was leading the Internet & Mobile domain activities for them and had lead investments in 40+ startups.

C Shambu Prasad is a Professor in the General Management area (Strategy and Policy) at the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA), Anand. At IRMA, he coordinates the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Enterprises (CSEE), the Verghese Kurien Centre of Excellence. He recently helped launch and now heads IRMA’s enterprise incubator iSEED.

His expertise is in science and innovation policy and his education has been multidisciplinary with basic training in mechanical engineering, a Masters in Industrial Management from IIT Madras and a doctorate in science, technology and society studies from IIT Delhi.

Dr. Shambu was awarded the Villgro-CSIE award for ‘Academic Contribution to the Field of Social Entrepreneurship' in April 2013 and was the Fulbright Nehru Senior Research Fellow attached to Cornell University pursuing a study on System of Rice Intensification. He has been a member of a Sub Group on Upscaling Innovative Technologies in agriculture for the 12th Five Year Plan.

G V Krishnagopal is a social entrepreneur with more than 17 years of experience in the livelihoods sector and is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of ALC India. He completed his Post-Graduate Diploma in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management, Anand, (IRMA). His primary focus and interest has been in development of producer owned collective enterprises.

A man with a vision, he is a firm believer in dharma, and strongly believes in the power of enterprises to transform the lives of the less fortunate. He has to his credit the incubation and promotion of Mulkanoor Women’s Cooperative Dairy, one of India’s most successful rural enterprises.

Mr. G. V. Sarat Kumar is a social entrepreneur with more than 13 years of experience in the livelihoods sector. A Rural Management graduate from Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), he has experience at the grassroots level in community health, human resource management and livelihoods promotion. He has been with ALC India for 10 years and is currently heading its Community Program Services domain. He also serves as the company’s Chief Program Officer.

Sarat is known for his love of bikes, cars and everything that is fast. He has been involved in the incubation and promotion of more than 35 collective enterprises. His areas of interest are youth employment, artisan livelihoods, and business plan development.

With experience of over 21 years chronicled with well-earned success in FMCG / Dairy industry; managing marketing operations/ sales / business portfolio, brand & product strategy through a collaborative management style for the Retail & Distribution industry. Leveraged industry knowledge to ensure client retention and organic growth; led business planning of channel / distribution partners including development & execution of joint sales plans, local area marketing and staff coaching.

Experienced in defining performance metrics for measurement, comparison or evaluation of supply chain factors, such as product cost and quality.

Mr. Amirapu Sitaramaiah is one of ALC India’s senior most consultants. He has a career spanning 42 years behind him. Mr. Sitaramaiah worked in State Bank of Hyderabad for 32 years until he retired as Chief Manager, Agri. Banking Department. He currently heads Access Livelihoods Development Finance (LLP), ALC India's sister organisation providing financial assistance to producer owned companies .

An avid badminton enthusiast, he is also a part time writer and stage actor. His areas of expertise include micro credit and micro finance, seed funding for enterprises, banking, Agri-business marketing and finance, and auditing.

Mr. S. Swaminathan is a communication professional who completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). He has over 13 years of experience in communication, web management, branding, advertising, content writing, project management, business development and micro credit. He is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Access Livelihoods Foundation.

Swami, as he prefers to be called, is a parkour practitioner and a fitness freak who loves books and movies. He is instrumental in establishing and maintaining partnerships with all the stake holders in the ecosystem.

Mr. Debashis Mandal comes with more than 12 years of service in the development space. He acquired his Masters in Rural Management from the Indra Gandhi National Open University and is currently heading Access Tribal Livelihoods Services(ATLS). ATLS is currently incubating 12 tribal enterprises across three states.

A gifted singer, Debashis loves to interact with and mentor the youngsters in ALC India. He is happiest when he is working directly with communities. He specializes in livelihoods, research, community-based trainings, capacity building, field guidance and mentoring, enterprise promotion and fund raising.

Mr. Ganesh Kumar Singh is a dairy professional with more 18 years of experience in the industry. A graduate in dairy technology, Mr. Ganesh has provided his services to some of the biggest names in the sector like Dinshaws Dairy, Dwarka Group, Aurangabad Milk Union, and Sumul Dairy among several others. He is currently heading ALC India’s Livestock Enterprise Program and is incubating a dairy producer organisation in Maval, Pune.

A person who begins his day with yoga, Ganesh is extremely diet conscious but can’t resist a good plate of biryani. His expertise includes dairy establishment, value addition processes, dairy management, enterprise promotion, capacity building, production and quality management and institution building.

Sharad Pant is a development professional with more than 17 years of experience including international experience in Agri-Business management. In ALC India, he has been primarily engaged in the promotion of three women farmer producer companies in Mehbubnagar District of Telangana. He is currently heading ALC India’s employment generation programme.

Sharad follows a highly disciplined routine and has a black belt in Taekwondo. He specializes in enterprise promotion, business planning, capacity building, and development of training modules.

Ms. Sruthi Kunnel is a communication professional with 10 years of experience in journalism and communications. An MBA graduate from Hyderabad Central University, she then obtained a Masters in Journalism from University of Missouri – Colombia. She has worked for organisations like Indian School Of Business (ISB) and DuPont in Hyderabad, before becoming a Teach for India fellow, where she taught 28 third/fourth graders for two years in a low income private school. Along with Mr. Krishnagopal, she has been instrumental in designing and developing the Transforming India Initiative, and is currently heading the program.

A lover of food and travel, Sruthi is also known for her inability to reverse her car. Her expertise includes project management,research and analysis, content writing and editing, branding and marketing, website management, and development of print and visual communication materials.

Ms. Vijaya Switha founded Chitrika in 2005 to pursue her interest in the craft sector. As the CEO of Chitrika for the past 13 years, she has been involved in promoting artisan collectives. Her primary focus is on creating new economic opportunities for artisans by ramping up their business, administration and technology skills in managing producer enterprises. She leads the Chitrika team in honing their capacities to provide impactful service to craft communities.

She completed her Post-Graduate Diploma in Rural Management in 2004 from Institute of Rural management, Anand (IRMA)

Ms. Dr. Surekha Saxena heads the Internal Operations in ALC India. She is a dedicated and passionate professional engaged in the livelihoods space for the past 12 years. Her areas of expertise include business planning, evaluations and impact assessments, baseline studies, operations management, capacity Building, project quality management, institutional management, and fundraising.

Prior to her engagement with ALC India, she has worked with Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department and Chitrika Artisan Development Foundation.

She has received a PGDRM from Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar and a bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry from College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati