Month: May 2022

Mr. Devendra Agrawal is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dexter Capital and Dexter Angels, and Co-founder of InstaOffice. He obtained his B. Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 2005. He has also cleared all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) examination from the CFA Institute, USA, AIMR.nnMr. Agrawal founded Dexter Capital in 2013 with a mission to advise entrepreneurs to scale up smoothly by simplifying investor search, term sheet negotiation, and the overall fund-raising process. Before starting Dexter Capital, he served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Resonance, a leading education company and raised private equity funding of Rs. 100 crores from a choice of marquee investor groups. Prior to that, he worked with a global private equity firm, Olympus Capital, which manages more than $2.0 billion of capital.nnRecalling his time spent at IIT Bombay Mr. Agrawal said, “Recently I was Conference Chair for a Fintech Live event that happened on 20th March, 2020 (https://www.fintechindia. live/). I actively contributed along with Devesh, Sudhir, IITBAA team and a bunch of committed volunteers to successfully host the event. I think we got sponsorships worth over Rs. 15 lakhs and even made a neat profit. One of my personal contacts, Mr. Shailendra Singh, MD, Sequoia Capital also contributed substantially towards the hostel (H5) renovation program which was my home when I studied at the Institute. Besides, I and Mr. Rajan Sanghi had attended the GBF in Goa in 2014 which was hosted by (Late) Manohar Parrikar and in a moment of enthusiasm, we said to the small gathering of alumni present that the next GBF would be hosted in Jaipur. Maybe we were too excited or overconfident but we did achieve that in November 2019 when we held the event in Jaipur on 16th November 2019. Holding a PAN India-level event is always a challenge but we were confident that we would pull it off. Given my closeness to AU Bank (Mr. Sanjay is MD) and Ankur Tripathi (CIO at AU Bank was my hostel junior), we managed to get AU Bank as the main sponsor for the event and Mr. Sanjay as a keynote speaker. The event was a grand success and was attended by alumni all over the world including the entire IITBAA team, Director of IIT Bombay, Dean (ACR) and other dignitaries and professors from IIT Bombay.nnMr. Agrawal’s hobbies include reading books (both fiction and non-fiction), travelling with family, and friends.

Mr. Mahesh Bhikaji Vaidya is Promoter and Director at Bravitek Solutions Private Limited. He obtained his M. Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1985.nnRecalling his time spent at IIT Bombay, Mr. Vaidya said, “I got my Bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering, Pune, and I was used to closed-book examinations. So, when I faced an open-book examination for Artificial Intelligence, I thought it would be a cake walk. In the end, in spite of my professor allowing free access to library and extra time, I realized how hard an open-book examination can be and why IITs are India’s best educational institutes!”nnHis hobbies include playing tennis, badminton, singing, trekking and photography.

Ms. Zenobia Driver is the Founder-Director of Escape Velocity, an evidence-based boutique Market Strategy and Marketing Consulting firm that she founded in 2009 and has over 21 years of experience across various sectors. After graduating in Chemistry with an Integrated M.Sc. degree from IIT Bombay in 1998, she completed her postgraduate diploma in Business Administration from IIM Bangalore in 2000.nnShe has advised multinational corporations (MNCs), large Indian corporates and midsize firms, on entry strategy, growth strategy, branding and communication, including digital and social media strategy. Her work spans across diverse industries such as Consumer Goods, Health and Wellness, Education, Retail, Chemicals, etc., both in India and abroad. She has also advised reputed not for-profits on communication strategy and plans.nnPrior to founding Escape Velocity, Ms. Zenobia worked with The Monitor Group and Momentum Strategy. She began her career in a line role in Johnson & Johnson, India in Sales and Marketing.nnMs. Zenobia is also one of the founder members of Training Resources for Enabling Enterprises (TREE) Society, an NGO that equips rural microentrepreneurs with appropriate business skills. She is the co-owner of the Sales and Marketing module of these programs, and has trained over 200 microentrepreneurs.nnAs part of the core group of the Healthcare SIG of the IIT Bombay 17 Alumni Association (IITBAA), Ms. Zenobia connected Healthcare and Life Sciences sector to the Institute, with the intent to ensure that research is market-ready and commerciallyviable. She spearheaded several Healthcare SIG events that build a sustainable ecosystem which connects alumni, faculty, current students, industry, start-ups and clinicians, thus cross-pollinating ideas and helping research and start-ups scale.nnDuring the Covid-19 pandemic, she focused on initiatives that helped families of students and alumni affected by Covid. She led the effort to expand the mandate of the Benevolent Fund of IITBAA for medical expenses and initiated a project with the Rukavipa Foundation to assist with education fees of siblings of IIT Bombay students.nnCurrently, Ms. Zenobia is part of the core group of a unique project undertaken by the alumni community – the funding, design and construction of a 1000-1500 room Hostel Complex for students that is built to global standards. She leads the outreach and fundraising team for Hostels 10 and 11. She has been on the Board of Directors of IITBAA since 2016. Between 2018-19, she served as the Treasurer of IITBAA. She is currently the Project Lead for the Benevolent Fund of IITBAA and the Executive Editor of Fundamatics, the alumni magazine.nnMs. Zenobia’s hobbies include reading, travelling, hiking and bird-watching. She manages her time as best as she can to balance work and other interests. She wishes she had multiple lifetimes to fit in everything, but is making do with just the one.nn nnMotivation towards contribution to IIT Bombay nn“I fondly remember my years on campus – the learning, the fun, the friendships. Even now, I have only to step back into campus and start walking from the Main Gate towards H10 and Gulmohar to feel instantly energized and rejuvenated. In fact, the campus vibe and that feeling I get might be one of the reasons that I volunteer – who would not want an excuse to visit such a place and recharge their batteries? On a more serious note, volunteering gives me an opportunity to stay connected to the Institute, the faculty and students, and allows me to give back a little in exchange for so much that I received during my own student years. It is my way of saying thank you to my alma mater.”