AVPN Road Show 2012 Mumbai Seminar : Artha Impact

Register now for the AVPN Road Show 2012 Mumbai Seminar happening on 15th October 2012. We have confirmed speakers for our local panel, who will be offering in-depth insights into the venture philanthropy markets in India vis-a-vis the perspectives of our international speakers. Ruth Jones from Social Venture Partners International, based in Seattle, and Shaks Ghosh of Private Equity Foundation in London, will be sharing successful case studies with the panel and audience. Our local speakers include Arathi Laxman, Executive Director at Social Venture Partners in Bangalore, Naveen Jha, CEO of Deshpande Foundation, Varun Sahni, Co-Founder of Impact Investment Partners, and moderator, Neera Nundy, Co-Founder of Dasra.

About the AVPN Road Show 2012
The road show visits Mumbai (15th Oct), Singapore (17th Oct), Hong Kong (19th Oct) and Tokyo (22nd Oct) and is an opportunity to learn about venture philanthropy in the USA and in Europe as well as closer to home. In each city there will be a private roundtable discussion and networking lunch for AVPN members followed by an open seminar and general networking in the afternoon. These events bring together the diverse groups that make up the VP community – including private equity firms, foundations, wealth and asset managers, high net worth individuals, social impact investors, professional service firms and Universities. All participants will have a chance to meet leading venture philanthropy practitioners and interact with like-minded peers. The AVPN Road Show 2011 attracted positive feedback and nearly 400 participants across the same four cities. We look forward to seeing you again this year as well as many new faces. More information at http://www.avpn.asia/events/25/save-the-date-avpn-roadshow-mumbai-singapore-hong-kong-tokyo/

Programme for the event:

4.30pm   Registration
5.00pm   Presentations by Ruth Jones & Shaks Ghosh
6.00pm   Local panel
7.00pm   Networking Reception
8.30pm   End of Event

Speaker Profiles

Shaks Ghosh is the first Chief Executive Officer of the Private Equity Foundation. For the previous nine years she was Chief Executive of Crisis, a homelessness charity in the UK. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Shaks pursued a career in housing and regeneration working at Community Housing Association and the National Housing Federation. She has a Masters degree in Urban Studies. Shaks spent her early years in India, but now lives in London. The Private Equity Foundation’s mission is Full Potential. It is focused on helping disadvantaged young people to develop as learners, workers and good citizens. Our model borrows tools and techniques from the business sector and supports community organizations to increase their scale and impact. We are committed to engaged philanthropy and provide opportunities for our members to make a real difference to the communities and where they do business. The Foundation has 11 trustees drawn from the private equity industry and is supported by over 60 firms who are part of the European private equity community.

Ruth Jones is Chief Executive Officer of Social Venture Partners International (SVPI), the network of Social Venture Partner organizations in North America and Japan (www.svpi.org). Prior to joining SVPI, Ruth was Manager of Operations at Community Foundations of Canada, and General Manager of Philanthropy Australia, the membership association for Australia’s private, family, corporate and community foundations. Social Venture Partners builds powerful relationships among people who want to give back and organizations making change possible. The 2,300 members of the SVP network in 27 cities share a common goal: making a greater impact with their giving; funding and strengthening non-profits; and equipping their community to tackle its greatest social challenges. Since 1997, SVP partners have given collectively $46 million (USD) and tens of thousands of skilled volunteer hours to more than 550 non-profits. If you are out the change the world, SVP’s goal is to connect you with the people and organizations that can make a difference.

Arathi Laxman is Executive Director at Social Venture Partners, Bangalore a venture philanthropy organization with 26 chapters worldwide, and launched in India this year. Every SVP chapter is about bringing individuals together who are passionate about driving social impact in their local community through grant making, volunteerism, and nonprofit capacity building. Prior to joining SVP, Arathi managed a ground breaking project working with waste pickers that was funded by the World Bank and Accenture. She helped organize them into a sustainable business making recycled paper products and, it is an example of a true cross sector business model. The cooperative directly supplies to large corporations like Staples and Walmart.

Naveen Jha is the CEO of the Deshpande Foundation where he oversees strategic growth and expansion of the organization by actively engaging, cultivating and managing NGOs, entrepreneurs, academics, investors and philanthropists from across the world. Under Naveen’s direction, the Foundation has expanded upon its locally-focused model to create an entrepreneurial network coined the ‘Sandbox.’ This network now acts to strengthen local enterprises and build initiatives essential for long-term economic development through the testing and scaling of innovative, high-impact ideas. Applying a ‘bottom-up’ approach to solve societal issues, Naveen has cultivated an effective ecosystem where local resources are put to use through entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability. This approach has already been adopted by the United States and Canada.

Neera Nundy‘s expertise in maximizing social return on investment is rooted in her strong corporate background advising investors and valuing companies. Her five years of investment banking experiences at Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg bring an analytically rigorous, impact-oriented perspective to portfolio organizations Dasra supports such as SNEHA and Mann Deshi.One of Neera’s key successes is the pioneering partnership between Dasra and Social-Impact International, and the highly successful executive education program that she and her team have designed and delivered to over 100 of India’s leading social entrepreneurs that include Husk Power Systems, Embrace, Industree and Lend-a-Hand. Neera also led the international launch of Village Capital supporting successful organizations such as Milaap, SMV Wheels, Sabras and Under the Mango Tree. Neera continues to play a crucial role in bringing knowledge and analysis to Dasra’s research with specific expertise in improving public education, child malnutrition and employability.

Varun Sahni is a Co-Founder of Impact Investment Partners, a venture fund focusing on critical goods and services in emerging markets. Impact Investment is currently building out its first fund – India Healthcare Fund, which will invest in enterprises providing healthcare products and services to mass low income markets. From July 2005 to July 2010, Varun was the India Director of the Acumen Fund where he was responsible for all India activities as well as jointly responsible for the global portfolio and a member of the extended leadership team of Acumen Fund. Varun has been involved with a number of industry networks such as the Healthcare Leadership Council