Tag: Founder & CEO

Business, News

Aspire Media announces the launch of its 4th Annual MSME Awards “Small Enterprise Business Awards 2021”

Aug 24, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Aspire Media Pvt Ltd, #Dojo Jose, #Founder & CEO, #General Manager, #Tapasya Ravishankar

National: Aspire Media has kick-started the nominations for the MSME’s across India with its 4th Annual awards Small Enterprise Business Awards 2021 (SEBA), to recognize successful MSMEs in India, on 25th November 2021. To reach out to maximum participants and invite them to nominate themselves, Aspire Media is tying up with many SME associations.

This year the award ceremony will be a virtual celebration of entrepreneurial excellence and will be held in its true spirits, following all the safety protocols. The registration to get nominated in SEBA 2021 is open to all MSMEs those are registered in India. There are 26 categories, from which applicants can choose from. Special Jury Awards will be announced for 4 unique categories – Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Social Entrepreneur of the Year and the SME of the Year.

Commenting on the same, Dojo Jose, Founder & CEO, Aspire Media Pvt Ltd said, “The pandemic has given us many opportunities to support MSMEs. This year, we have introduced a new category “Best SME – NRI” among the top 26 Award categories. These awards are for those NRI entrepreneurs who have invested in any successful small businesses in India and are a board member or own a registered small business in India. This Award is created to encourage NRI investments in the Indian MSME sector.”

The judging will be assessed on the responses to the Awards Criteria questions located within the entry form, additional supporting documentation, the last 3 years audited P&L and overall presentation for the entry. The outcome of each business assessment by the Jury panel will determine the Small Enterprise India Business Award 2021 winners.

Tapasya Ravishankar, General Manager, Aspire Media Pvt Ltd, stated, “This year we will be going virtual. Since we have launched Small Enterprise US edition, the SEBA 2021 will have an extended reach into the international markets. We would like to encourage all Women entrepreneurs to nominate their businesses in respective categories and get a chance to win the Special Jury Award for the Top Women Entrepreneur of the Year. We request all MSMEs across all industry verticals to nominate their businesses as we have Top 26 Award categories and 4 Special Jury Awards at the SEBA 2021.”

The organizers have partnered with Moneycontrol, India’s leading business and finance platform as their official Media Partners.

Small Enterprise Business Awards will certify and showcase the works of the champions and the qualifiers. The early bird nominations have started and will close by 31st August 2021. The regular will close by 30th September and last minute will continue till 25th October’21.

Business

BasicFirst appoints Mir Hajmiragha as Chief Technology Officer for its Tech Innovation center in the US

Aug 24, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #BasicFirst Inc., #BasicFirst Learning, #CTO, #Founder & CEO, #Mir Hajmiragha, #Mr. Randhir Kumar

New Delhi: BasicFirst, a Jharkhand Innovation Lab-selected edtech startup, today announced Mir Hajmiragha as Chief Technology Officer of the company’s technology center based out of Kirkland, US. Mr. Mir will lead BasicFirst’s technology innovation to strengthen the product portfolio while leveraging cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, to provide students with a holistic, seamless, and personalized learning experience.

Recently, BasicFirst set up its technology excellence center in Kirkland, USA to accelerate innovation in the education sector. The center will play a strategic and instrumental role in the company’s journey to transform learning and teaching pedagogy for students in the digital era. Mr. Mir Hajmiragha who has nearly four decades of expertise and experience in the technology space will head both the centers located in Kirkland, US and Bengaluru, India.

On the appointment, Mr. Randhir Kumar, Founder & CEO, BasicFirst Learning said, “At BasicFirst, we endeavor to provide tailored interactive educational mentorship to students enabled with AI/ML technology that accelerates their learning and instills confidence. We are delighted to welcome Mir Hajmiragha as the CTO who will join us on our mission to provide students with the best possible education. Mir’s technical expertise and intuitive understanding of cutting-edge technology will strengthen the company’s capabilities and competencies to propel its growth and footprints. I am confident that his experience and skills will aid BasicFirst’s expansion and enable us to take it to the next level.”

Mir Hajmiragha, CTO, BasicFirst Inc. said, “India has seen exponential growth in online learning lately. Digital learning not only broadens the students’ information horizons but also improves their overall skills in communication, collaboration, technology, and education as a whole. It gives me great pleasure to be a part of an organization that has the potential to alter the edtech and online learning sectors by pushing the boundaries of what technology can do in the online education field. I am excited to contribute to the organization and be a part of BasicFirst’s path to becoming one of the leading edtech companies.”

Mir Hajmiragha is a senior technology specialist with cross-industry experience, focusing on leading strategic development in technological and new-age product development. He is a seasoned business leader who has held positions at Microsoft, Price Waterhouse Coopers, DocuTouch Corporation (now DocuSign), GE Healthcare IT – Enterprise Solutions, The Software Revolution Inc, Zags Inc, and Telavance Inc, among others. Mir graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with a master’s degree in computer technology and business. Further, he holds six technology-related patents on the document management system, electronic signature system, and system for managing transferable records.

Business, News

Film Star Pooja Hegde teases pTron’s new brand campaign #pTronEveryday

Aug 19, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Founder & CEO, #Mr. Ameen Khwaja, #Pooja Hegde, #pTron

Mumbai– pTron, India’s fastest growing lifestyle digital accessories brand, launches its new brand campaign titled #pTronEveryday, starring India’s celebrated actress, Pooja Hegde. Following one of the brand’s biggest announcements of the year – the announcement of the Film Actress as their brand ambassador – pTron has unveiled its very first campaign with Pooja Hegde.

The brand’s newly launched campaign #pTronEveryday with the young and dynamic pan India star Pooja Hegde, showcases its wide range of new-age audio & lifestyle gadgets that are made for the millennials.

The young & the iconic pan-India star took to her social media to kick start her ambassador journey with the campaign #pTronEveryday with Pooja Hegde. The campaign film flaunts the actress’ exceptional visuals and refined style. With products that are thoughtfully crafted for the new-age Indian youth, Pooja’s modern girl boss energy resonates with the brand’s key messaging of confidence.

Commenting on the campaign, Pooja Hegde, shared “pTron stands for living life loud. With products that are affordable & accessible to all, yet futuristic and aesthetically modern, pTron has become a significant choice of new-age India and steadily becoming the country’s most favourite lifestyle digital accessories brand. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the team for the new campaign and look forward to this exciting journey with pTron to #BeLoudBeProud”.

“We are immensely excited at the chemistry between our brand and Pooja Hegde. The new campaign represents the spirit of the millennial generation, in being fearless and confident. Pooja perfectly embodies what the brand stands for”, said Mr. Ameen Khwaja, Founder & CEO, pTron. Ameen also thanked M5 Entertainment for being instrumental in getting Pooja Hegde as a fabfit endorser for pTron.

pTron’s new range of digital accessories promise quality combined with affordability. The brand’s mantra is to make “Technology accessible to all”.

Business, News

SG Analytics appoints Kulwinder Singh as CMO

Aug 12, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #CMO, #Founder & CEO, #Kulwinder Singh, #SG Analytics, #Sushant Gupta

Pune, India– SG Analytics, the market leader in research and data analytics services, has appointed Kulwinder Singh as the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer. As the CMO, he will be leading the company’s brand management, digital marketing, public relations, and employer branding initiatives.

Kulwinder has more than 20 years of experience in senior marketing, communication, and brand management roles. Previously, Kulwinder was associated with Cadila Pharma, one of India’s leading pharmaceutical companies, where he chaired the position of Chief Communication Officer. While he was responsible for the digital marketing and communication strategy, he also led the human resource function at Cadila for a year. Kulwinder has held marketing, brand management, and communication management roles at reputed companies including – Edifecs, Synechron, VenSat, and Tech Mahindra.

Kulwinder’s appointment is the latest development in a landmark year for SG Analytics wherein the company grew phenomenally and strengthened its leadership team.

“I am very excited to welcome Kulwinder to the team. It’s because of SG Analytics’ position as a leader in the research and data analytics space that we’re able to continuously attract top-calibre talent across all functions, from sales & marketing to technology, and from innovation to customer experience,” said Sushant Gupta, Founder & CEO, SG Analytics. “Kulwinder’s experience in building powerful brands and driving our digital marketing efforts will be invaluable to SG Analytics as we accelerate our growth strategy.”

“I’m extremely excited to join SG Analytics – a people-first company with a fantastic management team and a great vision. My experience in developing strategic brand and marketing programs over the last 10 years makes my role as the Chief Marketing Officer at SGA, easy to assume,” said Kulwinder Singh, CMO, SG Analytics.

SG Analytics conducted two major hiring drives during the pandemic to onboard talented professionals, when many companies were laying off their staff. In addition to this, the firm recently announced a company-wide profit share plan for all its employees, reflecting a unique employee-oriented approach. The new appointment follows the rigorous hiring plans announced by SG Analytics previously.

Business, News

BharatPe Ex Chief Business Officer Pratekk Agarwaal joins Decentro as an Investor & Advisor

Aug 12, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Decentro, #Founder & CEO, #Pratekk Agarwaal, #Rohit Taneja

India: Decentro, one of India’s leading API banking platforms, is pleased to announce that it has added Pratekk Agarwaal to its growing list of advisory council members. He will support Decentro with strategic advice on expanding alliances with fintechs, banks, NBFCs and insurtech companies that are looking to embed API Banking workflows. He is also an angel investor at Decentro and will help them with his deep network in multiple spaces – Financial Services , Payments , Insurance , Lending, FMCG , Marketplaces and more for faster penetration.

Pratekk brings 18 years of multi industry experience in building a successful business from scratch with a strong focus on financial services. He has previously worked with India’s leading fintech and NBFCs including BharatPe, Bajaj Finserve, Fullerton , IndoStar Capital , and ftcash. He has recently founded, Trutes Advisors, a boutique business advisory firm, that helps Startup Founders & NBFCs with a range of operations from sharpening business models to hiring the right talent.

Commenting on the latest workforce development, Rohit Taneja, Founder & CEO, Decentro, says, “Really happy to have Pratekk joining us on this mission to help both the new age companies as well as existing financial institutions get access to banking APIs in a fully democratic way at 1/10th the cost and time as compared to the alternative. At Decentro, we really value people with entrepreneurial experiences that bring along a holistic view of the landscape. We are expanding our modular product line to provide a seamless infrastructure for co-branded cards, and embedded finance to various companies across the country.”

“I have been closely monitoring Decentro and have been fascinated by its growth in a span of just 12 months as well as its potential to bring digital transformation for financial products with lower operational expenses and faster go to market timelines. The team has a great combination of high-paced execution abilities and the product is powerful and unique in terms of its plug and play approach that I have seen first hand on the customer front. I look forward to working with the Founder’s and unlocking the immense value potential with them for their journey over the many years and decades to come across India and beyond as well,” says Pratekk Agarwaal

Decentro has grown its customer base by 5X in the past 7 months since January and its transactional volume has grown exponentially by more than 100X over the last 12 months since its first product launch in July 2020. The company is processing more than 4.5 million API hits now per month and is looking to augment its current workforce of 22, for additional positions across engineering, compliance, and bank partnerships in the current financial year.

Decentro recently announced a strategic partnership with Quickwork, bringing together two new and exciting domains, BaaS and iPaaS for the first time in India. This integration reduces manual data entry, increases productivity, and provides access to banking flows for small and non-tech companies in various processes like KYC & Onboarding, Virtual Accounts for Money Collection, Automated Payouts, Credit Bureau checks and many more.

Health, News

The Pleasure Playbook by Domina: Pee Safe Launches an Exclusive Online Platform for Women

Aug 12, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Co-founder & Director, #Founder & CEO, #Pee Safe, #Srijana Bagaria, #Vikas Bagaria

Delhi: Pee Safe, India’s leading hygiene and wellness brand has built an online platform named The Pleasure Playbook by Domina. The idea is to build a safe and exclusive community for women to hold conversations on personal topics such as sex, health and wellness.

Despite the rapid strides made by India in almost all walks of life, there is negligible support when it comes to creating a conducive environment for women to talk about important personal matters related to their sexual health and life. Such discussions are considered taboo and usually not held even among couples or women themselves. The Pleasure Playbook by Domina is aiming to address this gap.

Speaking about this, Vikas Bagaria, Founder & CEO, Pee Safe said, “It is quite surprising to see the lack of awareness and information on a fundamental topic like sex in India. We live in the land of Kamasutra, but even a free discussion on these things is considered a taboo. There is undoubtedly enough curiosity and desire for discussion as evident by the fact that India is the second most populated country in the world. This suppression of information and tagging any talk about the topic of pleasure, intimate hygiene and health has caused significant damage to the physical and mental wellness of many. Through The Pleasure Playbook by Domina, we aim to build an empathetic environment to discuss, understand and encourage all genders, especially women, to come forward and own their sexuality with complete freedom.”

The platform has been launched at a very crucial time since censorship is prevalent to such an extent that sexual health is not even included in the medical curriculum for clinical medicine in India. There is also no structured or dedicated educational curriculum for sex education in schools and colleges.

In such a scenario, 17% of all births in the country are attributed to the below 20 mothers, and nearly 14% of all pregnancies in the country are unplanned. The suppression of information also causes severe mental and physical challenges for Indian women. To grow as a fair, unbiased and global society, it is important for India to shun this censorship and encourage free dialogues on this basic human desire.

Adding to this, Srijana Bagaria, Co-Founder & Director, Pee Safe said, “Everyone, especially women, should no longer be prevented from having access to the right information related to sexuality and intimacy. Avoiding a discussion doesn’t curb the need. All human beings crave for it and it is time we understand that it is absolutely normal to discuss the subject without any shame, fear or social judgment. The Pleasure Playbook by Domina will be the beginning towards changing the narrative. Pee Safe has successfully tackled other such taboos related to important subjects such as menstrual and intimate hygiene in the past and now we are going to boldly break the shackles confining discussion of sexual health and wellness among women.”

Pee Safe’s Domina range includes Female Condoms as well as other products such as Handheld Full Body Massager. The idea behind introducing the Domina range is to enable women to embrace their sexual preferences and feel confident about them.

Pee Safe is the leading hygiene and wellness brand in India that constantly endeavours to enhance public health through bold, topical, and pan-India digital initiatives on menstrual hygiene methods as well as the role of intimate and personal hygiene. Pee Safe’s online business has seen a 40% jump in the current quarter and the brand has achieved over 70% growth annually (FY20-21).

Apart from raising $10 million in series B funding, Pee Safe is looking at expanding its retail presence from the current 10,000 stores to having a few franchise-owned brand exclusive stores (FOFO) to enhance the customer experience across India. They have already expanded overseas and are building local production of toilet seat sanitizers in Europe.

Business, Education, News

International Education Pioneer Karan Khemka joins Leverage Edu’s Advisory Board

Aug 6, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Akshay Chaturvedi, #Founder & CEO, #Karan Khemka, #Leverage Edu

New Delhi: Leverage Edu today announced the appointment of Karan Khemka as an independent member on the company’s Advisory Board. Karan Khemka, a veteran education pioneer and former Partner at EY Parthenon, the world’s biggest education consulting firm, invested in the company earlier this year, leading an angel consortium of 5 Partners of LEK Consulting. Now, Karan will be extending his relationship with the company by joining its Advisory Board. As part of this, he will provide guidance to the Founder, Akshay Chaturvedi, and the rest of the board. Karan also currently serves at the Advisory board of India-based Tata ClassEdge and at the boards of US-based Prometric, China-based Elitek12 amongst others. After its $8.5 Mn fundraise earlier this year, University Admission Platform Leverage Edu has been on an intense growth trajectory, with the company reporting over 10x growth in the last 6 months. The platform has over 3 Mn students using its self-serve products, does over 40,000 counsellings, and is helping over 2000 students with their study abroad dreams every month at the moment. It is also helping students from over 700+ cities & towns in India, with over 60 percent of its business coming from non-metro parts.

“Akshay and Leverage Edu are assisting thousands of young Indians with their aspirations for a global education and life; it is imperative these students make the best choice for themselves and Leverage Edu is here to help,” Karan Khemka remarked, excited at the prospect of this new appointment.

“I have had Karan as a mentor to me from the early days of the business. His support through the last few years has helped me build great fundamentals in the business, which poise us to world-winning aspirations now. I and the rest of the management and board, are very excited to have Karan onboard! He brings tremendous operating insights that will help us continue delivering on our mission to help millions of middle-income students get access to high quality career advice to study at their dream colleges”, said Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder & CEO, Leverage Edu.

Health, News

Hindustan Wellness sets up 6 COVID-Vaccination Centre across Delhi-NCR

Jul 28, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Founder & CEO, #Hindustan Wellness, #Siddharth Sangwan

Hindustan Wellness logo

Mumbai: Hindustan Wellness, one of India’s most innovative preventive and managed healthcare company, today announced the launch of six COVID-vaccination centres in Delhi. The company plans to scale up its operations to more than 15 covid vaccination centres across Delhi NCR very soon. The response from people has been very encouraging and on day one itself, the first centre witnessed a footfall of over 200 people.

Hindustan Wellness COVID-vaccination centres are integrated to the government portal, so that individuals who are above 18 years of age and are looking at getting their jabs can book theirs through the Co-Win app. They can choose the Hindustan Wellness vaccination centre closest to their home to book a Covishield shot at their preferred time slot and at government approved rates. The company is also in talks with Covaxin and Sputnik and plans to introduce these vaccines for customers from August onwards.

Siddharth Sangwan, Founder & CEO, Hindustan Wellness said, “Given the criticality of the situation, we have been working round-the-clock with various government authorities and business partners to set up these vaccination centers. Over the past one month, we have ensured a hassle-free experience and minimal wait-time for our customers both in testing and vaccination. We want to be at the forefront in the country’s battle against Covid-19 and inoculate maximum people before the third wave strikes. We will continue to help the community in this testing times with our expertise and best-in-class services.”

Besides setting up vaccination centers, the company is also plans to come up with mobile testing and vaccination units for people who are not able to go out for their vaccinations or getting their COVID tests done. Once approved by the government, these mobile units will ply within the city to help people get their tests done as well as get vaccinated at their doorstep.

 

Business, News

The Pant Project brings you All Weather Essentials & The Inca Collection

Jul 19, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Dhruv Toshniwal, #Founder & CEO, #The Pant Project

The Pant Project, your E-tailor for all things men’s bottoms is always on the lookout for new styles & technologies to enhance menswear. This season, the brand has accelerated their processes and introduced two distinct collections for the discerning buyer. Whether it’s rain, snow, sleet or heat, their All-Weather Essentials offer a smart technology of water-repellent fabric: stay cool, stylish & dry in every season. Alongside the AWE collection (also sure to make you feel super AWE-some) is The Inca Collection: an offering of three vibrant colours that take inspiration from Peru’s dramatic landscapes; the Andes, Amazon & the Pacific Ocean.

The All-weather Essentials offer a chic collection of custom-made pants & shorts created from smart-technology water-repellent fabrics to withstand any seasonal chaos. These are water & stain repellent. Quick to dry & cool to touch, these feather-light pants & shorts have a textured feel with added anti-microbial & bi-stretch function. Available in 3 colours – Black, Navy and Grey, they come in 6 different styles – dress pants, cargo pants, drawstring joggers, chino shorts, cargo shorts & drawstring shorts. The shorts come at Rs. 2,990, while the pants, cargos & joggers are at Rs. 3,490.

The Inca Collection represents everything Peru – the ruins, waves, leaves, sand dunes & salsa. The custom-made styles come in fresh colours – Autumn Rust, Forest Green and Tulum Turquoise, which speak of Peru’s Rainbow Mountain, Amazon Jungles and the Pacific Ocean coast respectively. Choose from the Handy 6-Pocket Cargo Pants, Classy & Stylish Dress Pants, ‘Essential to Lounge In’ Drawstring Joggers, Rugged & Stylish Cargo Shorts, Smart-Casual Chino Shorts and Relaxing & Active Drawstring Shorts. Their selling point being the use of premium cotton fabric, with added comfort, style and custom-made tailoring complete with your very own monogram. It is priced at Rs. 2,990 for chinos, cargos & joggers, while the chino, cargo & drawstring shorts are priced at Rs. 2,490.

Speaking about these offerings, Dhruv Toshniwal, Founder-CEO, The Pant Project, mentions, “Our logic is simple. With the all-weather essentials, we want to make sure customers get bespoke pants & shorts that serve the purpose in any season or environment. The Inca Collection will add a certain freshness that also comes with some Peruvian magic. Of course, the brand’s specialised work completes the picture. We are sure the customers will be spoilt for choices.”

The Pant Project is revamping the term style & bespoke with the All-weather Essentials and The Inca Collection. Shop on www.pantproject.com right now!

Business, News, Technology

pTron ropes in the iconic Pooja Hegde as Brand Ambassador…

Jul 16, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Founder & CEO, #Mr. Ameen Khwaja, #pan India star Pooja Hegde, #pTron

India– pTron, the rapidly growing Indian Digital Lifestyle and Audio Accessories brand, has signed a one-year endorsement deal with the celebrated pan India star Pooja Hegde. The popular youth icon will be working closely with the brand to raise awareness for pTron’s attractive portfolio and further expand their customer reach. The talent extraordinaire was chosen for her unique sense of style and her passion for excellence, which reflect the same values espoused by pTron.

Commenting on the new partnership. Mr. Ameen Khwaja, Founder & CEO, pTron said, “An embodiment of inimitable style and energy, Pooja perfectly aligns with the identity of the brand. We are pleased to welcome Pooja into pTron’s family. We are looking forward to this wonderful partnership which adds a modern and youthful chapter to the house.”

The actress will star in pTron’s upcoming creative projects in delivering the message of Power, Passion, and Poise to inspire Gen Z. Known for her on-screen presence both in the North & South, this strategic association with Pooja will assist the brand’s promotions on a national level. With a humongous virtual fan base of over 14 million people on Instagram, the new leading lady of pTron will actively help the brand in all new launches, promotions, and positive brand communication.

A tech-geek with keen interest in latest technologies, Pooja Hegde expressed her excitement on the collaboration. “Being a tech-geek with keen interest in exploring latest technologies, I am elated to be associated with pTron as its Brand Ambassador, a brand that resonates with my music, fashion and fitness story. This is the beginning of a very exciting journey, and I can’t wait to work with pTron’s creative team in bringing out the new collections. I was delighted to try out some of the products from the upcoming collection with the edgiest features and classy designs”, said Pooja Hegde.

The actress has star-studded projects lined up in her 2021 pipeline, including Radhe Shyam, co-starring Prabhas, Bhaijaan co-starring Salman Khan, Cirkus with Ranveer Singh as the leading man and Tamil Film Beast with Vijay Thalapathy.

Following the announcement, the actress is all geared up for the new brand campaign to promote its catalog of products across audio, smart wearables & power banks segments.