Ajaita Shah is a visionary entrepreneur, philanthropist, and impact investor with over 22 years of experience driving systemic change across rural India. As Founder and CEO of Frontier Markets, she has pioneered a model that empowers over 40,000 rural women entrepreneurs (Sahelis) through AI-enabled mobile technology, delivering essential goods and services to 4.3 million people across 5,000+ villages.

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A global leader in gender inclusion and impact investing, Ajaita’s “She Leads Bharat” initiative transforms women into digital agents of change—unlocking economic opportunity, climate resilience, and rural prosperity.

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Her leadership has earned global recognition, including Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business (2025), Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2024), and CNBC Women Entrepreneur of the Year, among others. She also serves as the first South Asia Advocate for UNCTAD’s eTrade for Women and speaks regularly at global platforms such as the World Economic Forum and the UN SDG Summit.

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Ajaita’s vision is to empower 1 million women entrepreneurs by 2030, impacting 50 million households and unlocking $1 billion in rural commerce. Recently honored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her transformative work, she continues to redefine legacy—building prosperity with dignity through innovation, technology, and purpose-driven enterprise.

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Ajit Rangnekar is the Director General of the Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) – a pioneering initiative he co-founded with the support of the Government of Telangana to accelerate research, innovation, and technology-driven impact. He is also a Partner at Social Venture Partners (SVP) India, where he works towards strengthening social impact initiatives through collaborative philanthropy.

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Previously, Mr. Rangnekar served as the Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), leading the institution to global prominence and securing a place among the world’s top 20 business schools. He was also the co-founder and founding Director of T-Hub, India’s leading start-up incubator.

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Before returning to India, he had a distinguished international career with Pricewaterhouse Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. (Hong Kong), where he held key leadership roles including Country Head, Asia Head of Telecommunications, and Asia Head of Training.

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An alumnus of IIT Bombay (B.Tech. Hons. in Chemical Engineering) and IIM Ahmedabad, Mr. Rangnekar combines deep expertise in management and innovation with a lifelong commitment to nurturing talent and advancing India’s knowledge economy.

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Dr. Alaa Murabit is a medical doctor, global strategist, and leader in health, sustainable development, and inclusive security. At 21, during Libya’s civil war, she founded the Voice of Libyan Women, launching the Noor Campaign to engage faith leaders in advancing women’s rights. Her advocacy helped shape UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, contributing to the formation of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 16 on peace and justice.

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By 25, Alaa was influencing policy at a global scale. She has served as UN High-Level Commissioner on Health, Employment, and Economic Growth, CEO of IMPACT2030, co-founder of Phase Minus 1, and Director at the Gates Foundation, where she oversaw a $350M portfolio on maternal health, climate, and innovation. Currently, she leads Sustainable Growth investments as a Managing Partner at 500 Global.

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Alaa is also Board Chair of Girls Not Brides, championing efforts to end child marriage, and serves on the board of Women for Women International. Her work has been featured in TIME, CNN, NPR, BBC, and Forbes, and she has spoken at TED, the UN, WEF, and Harvard. Honors include TIME100, Forbes 30 Under 30, MIT Media Lab Fellow, and WEF Young Global Leader.

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She has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and received the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross. Alaa holds an MD from Zawia University and an MSc from the London School of Economics. A Harvard Radcliffe Fellow and middle child of 11 siblings, she attributes her skills in diplomacy and strategy to her family—skills she now puts to use as snack negotiator and bedtime peace broker with her two toddlers.

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Ms. Alka Upadhyaya is an IAS officer of the 1990 batch, currently serving National Commission for Minorities, under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. She was previously serving as Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India. Over her distinguished career, she has held several key leadership roles including Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development, Director General of the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, CEO of the National Rural Livelihood Mission, and Director General of the Council for Advancement of People’s Action & Rural Technology.

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She has played a pivotal role in shaping and implementing flagship rural development programmes, including the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, where she spearheaded the use of IT platforms, geospatial planning, and remote sensing technologies for effective monitoring and execution. With more than three decades in public service, Ms. Upadhyaya continues to contribute to strengthening rural infrastructure, livelihoods, and animal husbandry development across India.

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Alok Kumar is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1998 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He currently serves as Principal Secretary in the Department of Planning and Programme Implementation, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

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Born on April 16, 1974, he holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering. Throughout his administrative career, he has been involved in planning, infrastructure development, and governance initiatives aimed at strengthening policy implementation and state development. Alok Kumar is proficient in English and Hindi.

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Alok Talekar is the Sustainability and Agriculture lead at Google DeepMind. His team focuses on digitizing the agricultural sector  using remote sensing and machine learning to solve urgent problems in India and the rest of the global south, by enabling targeted data driven allocation of resources and services. He was a founding member of the Climate Trace initiative, where He worked pro bono as a Google.org Fellow with WattTime. He has been with Google in various teams for a decade and worked in the tech industry for over 15 years.

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In his spare time he co-leads a fairly large grassroots climate solutions group at Google, who are collectively pooling 20% time at work to build climate solutions in a variety of sectors. He enjoys understanding the creation of ideas and business models, evolution of governance, technology and empathy, and the resulting impact on society and collective behavior.

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Aloka Majumdar is Managing Director, Global Head of Philanthropy & Head of Sustainability, India at HSBC.

In her capacity as Global Head of Philanthropy Aloka focusses on overseeing the execution of HSBC’s global philanthropy strategy working closely with multiple stakeholders. 

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Aloka heads Sustainability for HSBC Group in India, which comprises the Bank and other HSBC companies and lead the fulfillment of the growing sustainability priorities and initiatives for the Group in India.

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She is a member of the HSBC India Operating Committee (OpCo).Her expertise lies in the fields of Financial Inclusion, Skills development and Climate Change. She has worked extensively with a wide range of stakeholders that include community based organisations, multilateral agencies, the academia and central and state governments. She was awarded the Parivartan Sustainability Leadership Award in 2016 and recognized by Social Venture Partners (SVP) with Grant Thornton (knowledge partner) as a women exemplar in 2019.Graduating with Honours in Political Science from University of Calcutta, Aloka started her career as a financial journalist, specializing in covering Banking and Finance.

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Shri Amarjeet Sinha, a 1983-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, served in the Indian Administrative Service for nearly four decades before retiring in 2019 as Secretary, Department of Rural Development. He was subsequently appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister, a position he held until July 2021. With extensive experience in the rural and social sectors, he was instrumental in designing landmark national programmes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). He also coordinated the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in 2018, which delivered key pro-poor welfare interventions to nearly 64,000 villages.

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In parallel with his government service, Mr. Sinha has contributed significantly to public policy research and writing. He has authored seven books, including The Last Mile – Turning Public Policy Upside Down, and has been associated with several leading universities and policy institutions. He currently serves as an advisor to Sampark Foundation, the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, and Women’s World Bank, and chairs the Gender Expert Committee of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. A graduate of St. Stephen’s College, where he was President of the Students’ Union, he has been the recipient of multiple national and international scholarships.