Dr Sandesh Kirkire Ph.D

After a brief stint of 3 years on the shop floor after Engineering and a Masters in Management I began my long and interesting journey of about 25 year in financial services. In these 25 years I worked in different areas of financial services viz Corporate Finance , Investment Banking , Treasury and Funds Management. The last 15 years in financial services were spent in Asset Management first as a Fund Manager and from 2005 till 2014 as the CEO of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management. After scaling up the Asset management business from about US$1 bn to over US$ 7 bn I decided to build a portfolio of startups , spend time in the Impact Investment space as also do a bit in Academics. I now have a startup portfolio with an exposure to Telecom, Big Data , E commerce , Wearable Healthcare devices and Education. Each of the company is headed by competent professionals. I bring to the table my experience , connects and capital . The idea is to assist the promoters in building a sustainable enterprise focusing on creating value to all the business stakeholders viz the customers , employees and the shareholders. As the IMC Chair Professor at JBIMS exposed me to the world of academics. Over the last five years I have been regularly taking academic courses for the Masters students in financial services, investment management , financial management , structured finance and enjoy the teaching process. I have also started a foundation to assist deserving NGOs working in the areas of education and livelihood. The experience of almost the last decade of being part of the Managing Committee of Shraddhanand Mahilashram , an institution of repute started in 1927, did give an exposure to the issues of women and child welfare and also helped me begin my journey in philanthropy.