Priya Naik

CEO & Founder

Samhita Social Ventures evolved from Priya’s work with the Nadathur family’s social initiatives in the areas of nature conservation, art, education for differently-abled children, and livelihood generation through microenterprise. Prior to working with Nadathur’s family office, Priya co-founded The Spark Group, an education company that delivered affordable education to low income communities. At Spark, Priya helped define strategy, created the business plan and was also instrumental in raising funds from IFMR Trust. Priya’s interest in social entrepreneurship began when she worked as a Researcher at the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA. At MIT, Priya was part of two student-led start-ups – Aerovax, a company that created safe, inhalable aerosol vaccines that could be delivered without the use of needles and Kalpataru, a company that delivered innovative, low-cost technology to increase the efficiency of microfinance institutions. Kalpataru’s pilot was tested with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and was presented to Nobel laureate, Dr Muhammad Yunus. Both social enterprises won several awards at MIT. Priya has worked as a consultant with the International Finance Corporation in Africa. She started her career in Accounting at Arthur Andersen in Mumbai. Her career is an interesting fusion of on-the-ground grassroots solutions through enterprise and strategic consulting experience with established companies, a perfect combination for understanding and implementing CSR projects across the board. Priya has a Masters in Economics from Yale University, USA, a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and a Masters in Commerce from Mumbai University where she stood first in the entire graduating class.

Madhu Bahl

Executive Director

Madhu Bahl has totally more than 30 + years of experience in the education space which includes teaching, designing, training, content creation and building profitable models and interventions that are both scalable and sustainable. She has worked independently as a design and training consultant with well-known funding agencies and social organizations. She also has 15 years of corporate experience at senior management level where she was responsible for profitability along with a deep focus on product development and business delivery. Her corporate responsibilities include experience in working with both the private and the government sector. She has built and worked extensively with large teams, both across physical geography and social demography.

Vikram Rao

Executive Director – Strategic Partnerships

Vikram is a senior and versatile professional with over 25 years of both consulting and operational experience in the areas of business transformation, business development, Go-to-Market, rural marketing, digital marketing, business process re-engineering and use of technology in business. He worked with the leading FMCG company Colgate-Palmolive for 18 years where he was at the forefront of leading change in various senior roles both in India and abroad including driving commercial effectiveness in thirteen countries of the Greater Asia Division. Later he turned entrepreneurial to conceptualize and execute a hyperlocal asset-light platform (Jiffeez), with many firsts to its credit, focused on helping shoppers across socio-economic strata discover and buy daily needs from unorganized retailers.On the capability development front, he is passionate about Leadership and Team-building based on his personal belief system of the need to strive for a balance between the head, heart and hands. He was in the 7th cohort of the ILSS Leadership program, an immersive and intensive experience providing an insider view to the challenges and opportunities in the sector.In his free time, he is a keen student of ancient Indian history and heritage. He loves experiential travel and the outdoors. In the course of work and leisure, he has traversed India including the deep interiors. His life experiences make him deeply interested in the development sector with advocacy for the learning disabled in particular being a passion.Vikram is an Electronics Engineer with a post-graduate degree in management from IIM Calcutta

Sudhir Naik

Advisor – Finance

A qualified finance professional (ACA, AICWA, ACS), Sudhir has served articles with A F Ferguson & Co and served MNCs – Shell, Siemens, Ferodo, Colgate Palmolive and Heinz (as CFO and Finance Director) as well as Owner Managed groups – Mittals, Bahwans and Mustafa Sultan as Group CFO. He has worked briefly in Australia, Mexico and for 22 years in the Middle East before joining Samhita.

Sanjay Joshi

Senior Director – Strategic Partnerships

Sanjay comes with over three decades of experience in management consulting. He is also a Trustee at Pratham – Ahmedabad Chapter (a leading Indian NGO in the field of Education). Sanjay has been instrumental in creating Samhita’s CSR footprint in Ahmedabad with corporates like Arvind Ltd. to develop, execute, and expand a unique women empowerment model for the all-round growth of their female factory workers, who are between the age-group of 18-23 years.

Sanjay joined the IL&FS Group in the year 1999 as Regional Head of IL&FS Education & Technology Services Ltd. Subsequently was given the charge of overseeing the Education and Training related activities across the country in the capacity of the National Head. He has been responsible for conceptualizing and implementing large-scale, long term & scalable training and capacity building mandates (Soft skills, ICT, English language skills, technical skills, management skills, etc) which have been translated into a sustainable revenue generating stream for the organization.

Anushree Parekh

Director – Research & Knowledge

Anushree Parekh comes with extensive research experience with private and third sector organizations in the UK. She is a social researcher with a track record of producing evidence-based analyses and reports.

Prior to Samhita, she worked as a researcher with New Policy Institute, a progressive think-tank based in London, where she designed and implemented customized research solutions for a range of clients from corporates to governments on a variety of socio-economic topics. She has also worked with Age UK, a charity aiming to support and improve the lives of those over 50 in England and FairPensions, a charity campaigning for ‘responsible investment’ based on inclusion of environmental, social and governance principles in investment decisions among the pension fund and asset management industry in the UK.  Her research in the UK has given her many opportunities to explore the possibility of synergizing commercial value and social value, so as to harness core business activities to make a social impact.

Anushree is an Economics graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and has pursued her Master’s degree in Development Studies from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.

Apart from work, Anushree enjoys gardening, reading, listening to music and travelling.

Suyash Apte

Director – Technology

Suyash has been associated with Mastek since 1996 and was the Senior Technical Architect before joining Samhita. He has over 21 years of experience in software development, with expertise that included mentoring individuals & teams in their journey of Agile Consulting and engineering excellence. He was responsible for providing thought leadership and strategizing delivery.

Mikhail Dsouza

Associate Director – Marketing & Communications

Mikhail D’souza has 10 years of varied experience in journalism, marketing and communications, brand video content strategy and so on. He started his career in the news media, first as a freelance video journalist and then as a news producer in CNBC-TV18, India’s leading business channel. For Madness Picture Company, a video content and music experiences startup, he helped develop original and brand video content and event properties, and built business relationships with companies such as Hotstar, Pernod Ricard and WeWork. At Samhita, he plans and executes marketing and communications strategies across media including online, email and social media, and traditional media, for the organisation, its services and properties.

Vaibhav Gupta

Associate Director – Strategic Partnerships

Vaibhav has 7 years of experience in governance and public policy working across NGOs, State Governments, Union Government and Governance Consulting organizations. As part of his responsibilities, Vaibhav was working with Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to drive private sector engagement in Tuberculosis, wherein he collaborated with multiple governmental and non-governmental partners to manage end-to-end execution of strategic projects. Prior to that, he was a Consultant with Samagra, working closely as a member of the Skills & Employment Cell of the Chief Minister of Haryana wherein he enabled Government & Private recruitments of over 50,000 people in the State. He has also worked as a Consultant to the Union Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in Govt. of India, wherein he was primarily entrusted with policy research and strategy. Vaibhav was a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament (LAMP) fellow 2014-15, assisting the MP in parliamentary business. A PGP graduate from ISB and an engineer from DCE, Vaibhav has keen interest in Public Policy research,discussions and implementation. His research and case studies on public health (TB), low cost Jugaad strategies, CSR for skill development, and social enterprising organizations have been published and presented at various international journals and forums. Vaibhav likes travelling and is an avid follower of Indian politics. He deeply enjoys Bollywood, Cricket and long conversations over a cup of tea 😊

Sandip Kumar Katna

Associate Director – Implementation

Sandip brings more than two decades of rich multi-faceted experience as a senior professional in functions as diverse as Business Operations, Strategy Planning & Development, P&L Management, M&E, Quality Management Systems, Business Management, Process Improvement and Hybrid Training Delivery Model with leading Training & Development and Skill Development industry. He has been associated with leading companies like Jetking, NIIT, IndiaCan (A Pearson Company), Times Group and LabourNet in his past engagements. Sandip has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration – Operations Management from Symbiosis – Pune. He loves to meet new people and learn new things.

Rohini Kaul

Associate Director – Strategic Partnerships 

Rohini strongly believes that collaboration is the way forward. She is adept at understanding and gaining insights into complex situations. She thinks strategically and excogitates business plans to accelerate growth and performance. An avid traveller & adventure lover, Rohini enjoys exploring & learning new things, meeting & connecting with people to understand more about our diversity.

Rohini is a Telecommunication engineer & MBA from Mumbai University & is extremely passionate to work with projects that focus on building lasting impacts & a sustainable future. She feels the only way to survive & build a sustainable ecosystem is to be more compassionate & inclusive!

Deepa Gopalakrishnan

Associate Director – Implementation

Deepa Gopalakrishnan is a development sector professional passionate about causes for women, children and informal sector workers. She is part of the Impact Achievement team at Samhita Social Ventures and leads the implementation of the REVIVE program. She is also a member of the senior leadership team at St. Jude India ChildCare Centres, an NGO working with children undergoing treatment for cancer.

Prior to crossing over to the development sector, Deepa has spent 12 years in technology delivery management roles in leading corporates such as Dell, Morgan Stanley and ICICI Bank.

She is a graduate in Information Systems from BITS Pilani and an MBA from SPJIMR Mumbai.

Rinky Siddharthan

Head HR and Admin

Rinky comes with over 14 years of experience in driving organization’s talent strategies and HR solutions across various industries. Prior to joining Samhita and CGF, she was the HR for Wadhwani Foundation where she was instrumental in implementation of the HR function globally for the organisation. Rinky holds a PG in HR from Symbiosis, Pune and is also a Thomas Profile analysis certified. Outside of work, her life revolves around her two little munchkins..☺ She is a vivid reader, nature enthusiast with interest in cultural and historical places.

Smita Kothari

Senior Manager – Implementation

Smita Pranav Kothari holds an MBA from Nirma University and a Master’s in Liberal Arts (ALM) in Journalism from Harvard University. She has written feature stories for Forbes, Conde Nast, Caravan, Reader’s Digest, Mint etc. Smita has worked in the space of communications wherein she strategized and executed branding across mediums. She enjoys creative wordsmithery and is a fan of the concept of workcation in the midst of nature!

Prashant Chavan

Sr. Manager – Marketing & Communications

Prashant comes with a seasoned experience of 15+ years in Design and Art and has worked for some prominent advertising agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Advertising, Quadrant Communications and MCW Medianomics Pvt. Ltd. His career growth has been steady with a humble start as an illustrator to Creative Director. He firmly believes that this journey was possible because of his innate strengths, sincerity & perseverance. Prashant has graduated from L. S. Raheja School of Arts, Mumbai. Prashant feels lucky to have his passion and work go inline through design and associated technology and he loves to keep himself updated with current trends in the space. He feels satisfied when he spreads and shares his thoughts in some random forms & colours.

Dhatri Kotak

Senior Manager – Finance

Dhatri is rank holder of the Gujarat Board and a qualified Chartered Accountant with a Bachelors in Commerce. She has worked for more than 7 years in the Accounts & Finance sector. She has 3 years of experience as an article assistant and more than 4 years of post qualifications experience. Prior to Samhita, she was part of the Accounts and Finance team of Backbone Construction Private Limited and Jain Wealth Managers Private Limited where she looked after the finalisation of accounts, auditing and taxation work. She is fond of travelling to places of natural beauty and loves dancing.

Saumya Jain

Senior Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Saumya has 10 years of experience in consulting with PwC and Deloitte. He has worked with a diverse set of clients including International Donor Agencies like the World Bank, FCDO and ADB, MNCs across multiple industry verticals, and National and Sub-national governments in over 15 countries. He brings in understanding of policy support, public financial management, regulatory reforms, e-Governance, strategy and due diligence. He completed his Masters from the LSE in Public Policy and Administration, and Bachelors in Economics from SRCC, Delhi University. Saumya enjoys creative writing, poetry, sports, travel and cooking.

Sarva Damani

Senior Manager, Implementation 

Sarva has been working in the development sector from the past 4.5 years. Before Samhita, she was working with the Government of Andhra Pradesh as a Consultant in the Women and Child Welfare Department. Prior to that, she completed her MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Indian School of Business. She has also done the Teach For India Fellowship and worked as a Program Manager in CSR with Avenue Supermarts. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Exeter in the UK. Apart from work, Sarva enjoys dancing, travelling and loves theme parks!

Nitish Dorle

Sr. Manager, Marketing & Communications

Nitish is a digital marketing consultant with a masters degree in International Business. Prior to joining Samhita, he worked with an early education startup, where he worked on products and apps for preschool children.

Arjun Prasad

Senior Manager – Implementation 

Shagorika Ghosh

Senior Manager – Implementation 

Raveena Joseph

Communication Specialist

Raveena Joseph is passionate and curious, and loves to deconstruct social complexities through thoughtful dialogue. She has written features for The Hindu, impact journalism stories for The Lede and has delved into policy research for UNESCO’s Social Sciences Unit. She has a Communication degree from St. Xavier’s Mumbai and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford. With specialised training in State Capacity Building, Policy Design and Design Thinking, she is keen to contribute meaningfully to solution building efforts in India’s policy and development landscape. Raveena believes in the power of words and strongly resonates with Margaret Mead’s words: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”When she isn’t being idealistic about social change, Raveena likes meeting interesting people, having new experiences and discovering different types of tea.

Mona Patel

Manager, Strategic Partnerships

Neerajha

Manager – Research & Knowledge

Neerajha has an undergraduate degree in engineering, and has done her postgraduate education in Development Leadership. She has nearly 4 years of experience working at Tata Consultancy Services. Apart from her professional career, Neerajha co-founded ‘Vizhudhugal’, a voluntary youth organization that supports students in various sports and extracurricular programmes. The exposure she gained through this experience furthered her interest to work for societal development and well-being. She would like to imagine a world where no one is deprived of basic needs, and believes we can get there through the participation of all stakeholders in the development process.

Anisha Panigrahi

Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Anisha has total 6+ years of experience in the Automotive and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Consulting, Skill Development, Ed-Tech solutions, Govt. & Private Sector Advisory, Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Space in designing outcome-based scalable solutions and managing PAN India level projects. Previously she worked with IL&FS Skills Development Corporation Ltd (a leading TVET provider in India) as a Strategy & Business Development Manager in the Corporate Skill Development Vertical handling B2B, B2G and CSR partnerships and solutions. She has also been associated with reputed organizations like Eicher Motors Limited, Teach for India and AIESEC. Being passionate about empowering the under-served population, she has worked extensively on the ground in designing and managing multi-stakeholder and multi-locational projects involving diverse skill sets in rural and semi-urban geographies. She has also worked on several bilateral/ multilateral projects funded by USAID, World Bank, ADB, DFID, UNDP, ILO, IFC etc. focusing on projects aimed at socio-economic development. She has worked on various Cluster Development initiatives in the African continent and GCC countries; with Central Ministries & State Govts on various Govt. Schemes and has designed CSR projects for aspirational districts as prescribed by NITI Aayog (GoI). Anisha is an avid reader and loves travelling, listening to music, playing squash, painting & being an active member of global networking clubs.

Vanya Kaushik

Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Apart from pursuing her B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering from Mohali, Vanya remained an active member of AIESEC. She co-founded an online magazine- EP!C, where she managed a team of more than 40 writers. Always seeking new adventures; she joined a startup after college managing their web sales and MIS. But her heart was set out for more meaningful experiences notably in the development sector. She joined Gandhi Fellowship to step out of her comfort zone and work at the grassroots. Two years in rural Rajasthan gave her an unparalleled experience and made her more empathetic and passionate for social change. When not working, one can find her reading and planning for her travels.

Richa Arora

Manager – Implementation

Hailing from the beautiful land of Jammu, Richa has done her Masters in Psychology from the University of Jammu. She started her career in a de-addiction centre after which she also served as a school counsellor and thereafter joining Kaivalya Education Foundation as a Program Leader. With a certification in human resource and management, Richa has been a part of Samhita since 2018. She is an outward friendly and a pleasant personality with extreme fondness towards food and dogs. Her outgoing and free nature is what makes her unique. She truly believes in ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’,

Rishika Jaiswal

Manager – Implementation

Rishika is a development sector professional with around 9 years of experience. Addressing social issues attracted her since childhood, hence she chose a career in the sector. She is an MSW from University of Delhi. She has worked on pressing issues like WASH, road accidents, child hunger and poverty. She specialises in research & documentation, monitoring & evaluation, and managing project life cycle .She is a mother of one. f time permits, she travels to mountains and loves to trek. Other than travelling she likes to party, cook for loved ones and play with her little one.

Miral Gosalia

Manager – Implementation

Post graduate in Sociology (Honors), Miral has been in the development sector since 8+ years with diverse experience raging from program implementation, monitoring and evaluation, liaising with government, fundraising, networking and reporting with relevant stakeholders. She has worked with organisations such as CHILDLINE India Foundation, Cuddles Foundation who has pan India presence. Dance being her passion she is trained in Bharatnatyam and folk dance. She also enjoys reading, music and travelling.

Siddhanta Banerjee

Manager – Implementation

Siddhanta has done Masters in Mass Communication and possesses 5 years of work experience while managing teams. His work with his organisation could successfully impact and bring about changes in the Nutritional aspects and Natural Resource Management of 36 Villages in Purulia District. He had read a few articles and thus CSR interested him and so Samhita. He is keen to learn about the various dynamics of CSR in the upcoming years, Siddhanta’s hobbies are Photography and Film Making. One of his movies was shown in Banaras Film Festival. He also loves sports. He has represented his department and schools in various athletic meets.

Ojas

Manager – Research & Knowledge

An alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce and the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University, Ojas started her career in the development sector as an Associate in Samhita’s Research Team where she had the opportunity of travelling across India to collect the most basic foundation of policy and program design. She moved on to Swasth Foundation, a grassroots organisation aiming to institutionalize patient-centric healthcare. Here she used her research capabilities to establish several organisation wide systems to drive accountability within a network of 200+ staff members.

She believes in the irreplaceable need for evidence-based, empathetic and justice driven decision making within the public domain and social impact space and sees research as an indispensable tool to drive the same. An active reader and music enthusiast, she lives by the words of Zadie Smith, Haruki Murakami and Bob Dylan.

Jigna Joshi

Assistant Manager – Finance

Malcolm Vaz

Assistant Manager – Technology

Malcolm is a full-stack developer with experience in the telecom sector and a Bachelors Degree in IT. He also has a keen interest in studying the psychology of human-computer interaction and cybersecurity.

Asha Ashish Wellorkar

Assistant Manager – Finance

Asha has a good amount of knowledge of the account and finance department. Prior to joining Samhita and CGF, she was working with Population First as an Account Officer. She has completed her post graduation in Commerce from Mumbai University and certified in Advance Account and Taxation from ICA Institute. God has blessed her with a small family, which includes her husband, son and herself. She enjoys listening to soft music and spending quality time with family.

Ujwala Parab

Assistant Manager – HR & Admin

Srikanth Chakraborty

Assistant Manager – Strategic Partnerships

Srikanth has been in the development sector for 4 years and has extensively worked with farmers and Adivasis in rural India. Prior to joining Samhita, he was part of multidisciplinary environments and has led teams to implement programs at scale. He enjoys travelling, trying new cuisines, listening to folk music and learning about different cultures.

Phuhaar Goel

Assistant Manager – Implementation

Phuhaar completed her Masters in Social Entrepreneurship from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, where she went for an Exchange Program to the University of Birmingham on Quantitative Finance and Time Series Analysis. Prior to this, she pursued Chartered Accountancy (Semi Qualified) with a work experience of three years with CA Firms, mostly doing Statutory Audit as well as bits of Consulting. While appearing for CA Finals Phuhaar was associated with NGOs which brought about a change in her career path. Her interest areas in the development sector are elderly care, environmental protection, women empowerment, amongst others. Her Primary Belief System is ‘To Live and Let Live’. In an alternate universe would like to be the proud owner of a Café somewhere in the hills. In her spare time, her interests are Creative Writing, Travelling, Photography, Spirituality.

Divya Agarwal

Assistant Manager – Research & Knowledge

Divya is a law graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune with prior work experience in policy research, primarily in education. Her quest to expand the scope of her work to include other areas of development has led her to Samhita. Having led field research in policy-centric projects, she now aims to focus on impact in order to understand the mechanics of positive change and enact the same in ever-expanding areas of need. She has been working as an independent consultant since a while now and some of her past organisations that she worked with were Centre for Civil Society and Tata AIG. In her leisure time, she likes to explore new places, experiences and ideas.

Anjali Shivananda

Assistant Manager – Research & Knowledge

Anjali has completed her Master in Public Policy (MPP) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) for which she received the Li Ka-shing scholarship. She has co-created an educational toolkit called SafeJoy that aims to build the capacity, awareness and willingness among children on safe and unsafe touch. SafeJoy was adjudged the ‘Best Project’ at the Global Public Policy Network’s conference and her team has received a seed funding from NUS to pilot the project in India and Pakistan.

As a graduate student at NUS, she received the Dean’s Leadership Award in recognition of her contribution to student group initiatives and volunteer activities. Prior to MPP, Anjali worked as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Child and the Law in National Law School of India University, Bangalore; wherein she was primarily engaged in donor-related projects under Tata Trusts, Child Rights and You and UNICEF. She has conceptualized, designed and published reports on food security and conducted a quantitative analysis of over 400 judgments under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Anjali is a law graduate from Bangalore University.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading, travelling and dancing.

Iti Bhargava

Senior Associate – Research & Knowledge

Iti is academically trained as an economist with a fond interest in improving decision-making through behavioural nudging. She holds a master’s degree in economics from Yale University, and a bachelor’s from Christ University, Bangalore. Prior to graduate school, she worked on three randomized evaluations at J-PAL South Asia. She also worked at a nascent startup in NYC focusing on improving the financial of the BIPOC community in the US by designing nudges.

Iti loves her south Indian filter, square-grid notebook, and making terrible puns.

Bhavesh Sakhrani

Senior Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Bhavesh has completed his Bachelor’s in Commerce specialising in Financial Markets from H.R. College of Commerce & Economics. He has a demonstrated history of working in multiple organisations. His experiences range from Entrepreneurship, Communication, Management, Marketing and Client service. He has worked with 2 startups focused on education and financial literacy along with stints at 2 social enterprises focused on digital learning and solar energy. Bhavesh has also been the ISB Campus Ambassador at his campus for the prestigious YLP post-grad program. At H.R. College he was part of multiple committees including the Placement Cell of institute and ENACTUS (an international non-profit organisation). Having led ENACTUS for 3 years motivated him to venture into the CSR and Social impact space.

Bhavesh also holds a Master’s in Commerce focused in Business Management from University of Mumbai.

Jhilmil Garg

Senior Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Prior to joining Samhita, Jhilmil was a Teach For India fellow whose deep interest in understanding schools as an institution of change led her to join as an Academic Coordinator. Post that, she closely continued working with a government school in Pune for 4 years. She has completed her graduation in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has also successfully completed her study on Development Management from Indian School of Development Management (ISDM).

Jhilmil believes that systemic change can be brought about through collective efforts and empathy!

Meera Bazaz

Senior Associate – Implementation

Meera has recently completed her MSc Public Health degree from the University of Bristol. Prior to that, she pursued BA (Hons) in Social Work with Specialisation in Rural Development from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which allowed her to engage with rural communities at the grassroots level, and furthered her reflective capacity, critical thinking power, and understanding of community-based interventions. She has conducted research on adolescent mental health needs in urban educational settings, and the association between childhood trauma, cognitive styles and depression as part of her higher studies. She has previously worked with organisations such as CARE India, Comprehensive Rural Health Project, and Light Up (Emotions Matter Foundation) in a research and/or social work capacity. Her aim is to improve access to need-based healthcare services for marginalised social groups.In her free time, she loves to practice music, read and devote time to her physical and mental health.

Yashvardhan Dalmia

Senior Associate – Implementation

A management graduate, Yashvardhan has been working on environment conservation projects at Samhita. Post his stint with Tata Capital in corporate finance, he worked with Sanctuary Asia and in the wildlife travel space during which he had the opportunity to spread the message of biodiversity conservation among students and adults during their journeys across national parks of India. He is an avid photographer and has also been a regular volunteer for Cancer Patients Aid Association, an organization working towards cancer awareness and patient welfare. He enjoys travelling, watching sports and reading.

Hrishikesh Bhatt

Senior Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Hrishikesh has an MBA in Finance from SPJIMR and an undergraduate degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. A desire to participate in doing good brought him to Samhita.

At Samhita, he has been associated with initiatives such as the multi-stakeholder WASH Platform, The Swachh Maharashtra Grand Challenge and Consulting assignments. He has also worked on building organisation strategy and internal process improvement for Samhita.

Outside of work he can be found running, reading, swimming or listening to his favourite podcasts.

Adya Makkar

Senior Associate – Implementation

A Young India fellow, Adya pursued her undergraduation in Economics and Political Science from St Stephens College, Delhi University. Her internships with TFI, Gramin Healthcare, YLAC and MD junior drove her to further engage and find her niche within the development sector. Adya believes, that her college gave her loads of exposure to extracurriculars like dancing and football which helped her to be more confident of who she is today. If one were to ask her, who is she apart from her qualification, she would find it difficult to categorize what she identifies most with; a curious soul, a passionate dancer, a knowledge seeker, a minor of experiences, a footballer, a national shooter, a social worker at heart and a trekking enthusiast (pretty much a recent fascination).

Above all, she is an ardent advocate of humanity and detests gruesome humanitarian right violations.

Sagar Dube

Sr. Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Kamsin Shahani

Sr. Associate – Implementation

Kamsin is a chartered accountant with over 2 years of post-qualification work experience. She believes that her spreadsheets and presentations should make a difference in this world and hence, moved to the sector. She enjoys reading, swimming and dancing in her free time!

Bhavya Kharoo

Associate – Research & Knowledge

Bhavya Kharoo is about to graduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai with a Master’s in Development Studies. She was formerly a Young India Fellow at Ashoka University, Delhi and has completed her undergraduate education in Economics Honours from the University of Delhi. She was previously interned with Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Centre for Policy Research and with Asmat, a student-run NGO. She was initially just interested in the development arena, but with time and experience, she has come to love researching and writing in the social sciences. As an ardent feminist and a lover of research, she has worked on a study of her own along with some of her friends; the objective was to study the implications of gender and space in Indian Metropolises and is based on a mapping exercise which looks at people’s perceptions of how women occupy public space. She is currently working on another paper, on the lives of migrant women and she is working towards including more creativity in her research work. She someday hopes to be able to make research work more accessible and interesting for those within and outside of academia. If at any time you will not find her working, She will probably be watching a cooking video or whipping up a meal, since cooking and exploring new cultures through food is my favourite leisure activity.

Jyoti Shukla

Associate – Implementation

Jyoti comes from an Army background and has lived in different places in India. She has completed her bachelor’s in history from the University of Delhi and master’s in heritage management from Ahmedabad University. She has worked at Caritas, Germany with refugees as part of a yearlong international program in the area of education. She has also worked with Pravah in the area of youth development. She has engaged with several organizations including Khamir, Sahapedia, and Hum Kisan Sangathan, in the areas of heritage, handicrafts & handloom, and craft education. She enjoys working with craft communities and has led numerous thematic heritage walks in Ahmedabad. She has published her work on Indian crafts in UNESCO’s ICHCAP. In her leisure time, she likes to indulge in new conversations and watch documentaries.

Smriti Sangam

Associate – Implementation

Smriti is a Psychology graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai with a post-graduate degree in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Her exposure to social sciences during undergraduation sparked the drive in her to pursue a career in the development sector. Being an inquisitive learner with varied interests, her work experience ranges from Arts Management, Urban Governance and Development to CSR and Public Policy, with her key interests being in the domains of Education, Livelihoods, and Informal Labour. She has previously worked with Praja Foundation, Social Lens Consulting, and Reliance Foundation on projects related to urban governance, Informal settlements, and Education. She has also contributed to a policy research paper on the adoption and effectiveness of Ed-Tech in India submitted to the office of Mr. Ninong Ering (MLA, Arunachal Pradesh). She is passionate about optimally combining her diverse experiences to augment sustainable human development through social policy. On a personal front, Smriti finds great joy in balancing her work life with some of her other passions such as solo travel, dancing, cinema and theatre, and doing a range of courses to satisfy her appetite for learning!

Sanika More

Associate – Implementation

Sanika graduated in Mass Media with a major in journalism and a Masters in Public Policy from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai. She worked as a Public Relations professional after graduation. Post her masters, she grew passionate about conservation, with a vision of a sustainable and inclusive future. She worked on political campaigns and party’s and politician’s social media. She carried out various PR projects for FMCG and sports brands with a team and a few PR campaigns by herself. She believes in social equality, opportunity and work towards the greater good. She is a moviegoer who enjoys cooking, reading historical fiction/non-fiction, sketching and travelling!

Amiya Walia

Associate – Strategic Partnerships

Amiya is a graduate in Psychology and Environmental Science from Ashoka University. Prior to joining Samhita, Amiya carried out in-depth research and implementation projects on the topics of manual scavenging, forest rights, solid and electronic waste segregation in India. She volunteered as an adoption coordinator and recruiter for an animal welfare organization, Paws for a Cause: NCR Adoptions in the past. Amiya is passionate about the field of environmental justice and is working towards adding value to the field of social impact, which is what brought her to Samhita.

Priyanka Nair

Associate – Implementation

Priyanka is an Electrical Engineer from NIT Calicut and after working as a Business Analyst with Reliance Industries she transitioned into the social sector. In her brief stint with the Piramal Foundation as a Program Leader, she got the opportunity to drive systemic change in the Department of Education, Rajasthan using modern Lean Six Sigma principles. She is a stationery hoarder and a design enthusiast who occasionally dabbles in traditional and digital arts.

She is a believer in volunteerism, power of strategic philanthropy and adrak-wali chai!

Akshata Shirodkar

Associate – Research & Knowledge

Akshata has completed Bachelors in Political Science from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Subsequently, she pursued a Masters in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University, Bangalore. She has volunteered with Mumbai Mobile Crèches where she was involved with teaching to the children of construction site workers’, During her post-graduation, she interned with Praja Foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, and Samhita. She presented a research paper on ‘Perception of Street Vendors towards the State Institutions’ at Law and Policy Hub at Azim Premji University.

In her free time, she likes to do Warli Painting, reading books and travelling!

Malavika Rangarajan

Analyst – Implementation

Malavika has completed her specialization in Sociology from Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts. Over the past four years, she has been associated with U&I Pune’s community centres, facilitating weekly classes for children living in local bastis.

While her research interests include the informal economy, gender and education, she is curious to explore the same within the context of CSR projects and the larger narrative of driving impact through public-private collaborations!

Prachi Patni

Analyst – Research

Anirban Saha

Analyst – Implementation

Anirban brings with him a diverse background as a graduate in Electrical Engineering from KiiT University and as a Gandhi fellow! At the Gandhi Fellowship Program, he was extensively involved in Improving Student’s Learning Outcome working in tandem with various school stakeholders in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. Anirban’s interests lay in the convergence of education and sports sector.

His curiosity to learn how to create impact through CSR projects at scale has led him to Samhita!

Mansi Nema

Analyst – Implementation

Mansi is an alumna of University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun and Ashoka University. With the belief, “Be whom you needed when you were younger,” Mansi made her foray into Make A Difference, a non-profit organisation working to enable children at risk to realise outcomes equitable with the middle-class Mansi is a trainer classical dancer and an avid reader.

Debadrita Gupta

Analyst – Implementation

Debadrita is an Economics Hons graduate with a Master’s in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is keen on working in the area of Public Health and WASH. She believes that nuance and empathy should be at the core of development processes. She enjoys dancing and cooking and learning about sustainable fashion. She has a lot of event management experience having also been part of the Election Committee which conducted the Student Elections in 2018 at TISS, Mumbai. She is also very fond of cinema and is currently working on a short film on the Koliwadas of Mumbai as part of the Nagari film Festival organized by the Charles Correa Foundation as part of a 4 member film crew.

Harikrishnan P

Analyst – Research & Knowledge

Harikrishnan belongs to the state of Kerala. He has recently graduated from National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad in Rural Management. He had undertaken internships with Kudumbashree (Trivandrum), Mizoram State Rural Livelihoods Mission (Aizawl) & Tata Institute of social Sciences (Mumbai). He also holds a degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Coimbatore under Anna University, Chennai.

His hobbies include reading and cooking. Loves to explore new languages and culture and also do a bit of photography and backpacking.

Sujoy Desai

Analyst – Marketing & Communications

Sujoy is a recent graduate from Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts. From Peru to the Sundarbans to Vietnam to the Himalayas, He has spent almost every summer of his adult life working around the world to understand (and sometimes solve) complex developmental challenges. He is a self proclaimed history-buff and audiophile who in his free time loves to cook and watch low budget docu-dramas.

He was attracted to Samhita because He believes that better CSR practices are key to building a sustainable future where corporations, government bodies, and civil society work in harmony to build a better world.

Mukesh Kumar Pandey

Network Support – IT