Our Writers

An interview with Kamesh Gupta, Senior Vice President, Strategic Collaborations & Programs, Group Technology & Innovation Office (GTIO), Tata Sons Limited

John Hoffmire: Kamesh, you are a man who wears lots of hats. Tell me about your many responsibilities at Tata.

Kamesh: As a Senior Vice President, Strategic Collaborations and Programs in the Group Technology and Innovation Office of Tata Sons, my job is to create and deliver strategic collaborations and new technology programs for global impact.

2022-07-05T09:44:28-05:00Tags: , , , , , |

An interview with Dr. Mohita Gangwar Sharma, Professor of Quantitative Techniques and Operations Management, FORE School of Management, New Delhi

John Hoffmire: I hope you don’t mind my starting out on a somewhat personal note by saying I remember you as one of the nicest people I have ever met. I’ve often wondered how you balance your kindness and positive attitude against the sometimes hard edge that is expected in the business management world.

Mohita: In

2021-04-21T08:03:22-05:00Tags: , , , , |

An interview with Suphiya Khan, Associate Professor, Banasthali University, India, and Founding Director at Drumlins Water Technologies Pvt LTD

 John Hoffmire: When I met you in Oxford two years ago, if I remember right, you were working on providing safer drinking water throughout India. Is that still one of your priorities?

Suphiya: You remember right. In India, as in many other parts of the world, water scarcity is considered a major crisis in the 21st

2022-07-05T09:44:28-05:00Tags: , , , , |

An interview with Ananth Aravamudan, Energy Sector Lead, Villgro Innovations Foundation and an alum of the Chevening Research Science and Innovation Leadership Programme (CRISP)

John Hoffmire: You’ve had an interesting journey from electrical engineer to being the energy sector lead for Villgro Innovations Foundation, India’s oldest and one of the world’s largest social enterprise incubators. Please tell me about that journey?

Ananth: I started out as an electronics engineer by training. I spent 14 years in the IT/Tech sector at

2021-04-18T17:10:54-05:00Tags: , , , , , |

An interview with Dr. Beena Rai, Head – Physical Sciences at TCS Research, Tata Consultancy Services

John Hoffmire: I love your Twitter tag: “A scientist who makes serious research fun.” Tell me about your recent research and what is fun about it?

Beena: First, to me what makes research fun is that one gets to follow one’s curiosity. As a scientist, I’ll take on a challenge and then use my curiosity and

2021-04-18T16:37:21-05:00Tags: , , , , |

An interview with Dr. Manisha Acharya, CEO of Indigram Labs Foundation and member of the Expert Advisory Committee of i-STED, Programme of Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India

John Hoffmire: Let me ask you a fun question first. You have a PhD in Palaeobotany. How did you end up in the innovation, incubation and start-up management field?

Manisha: It has been a long and interesting journey. The short answer is that early on in my career, I moved a lot to various parts of

2021-04-18T16:44:36-05:00Tags: , , , , , |

Poverty Alleviation Resource List

Center on Business and Poverty List of Recommended Articles and Books:

What the Poor Think of the Rich

Proceedings from the Oxford Business Poverty Conference

Why Do the Poor Remain Poor?

Inclusive Growth: Profitable Strategies for Tackling

2021-04-18T17:13:53-05:00Tags: , , , |

An interview with Dr. Abha Rishi, Chairperson for the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (CIED) and CEO of the Atal Incubation Centre at Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH)

John Hoffmire: Please tell me about the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (CIED) at Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH).

Abha Rishi: John, the central mission of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (CIED) is to prepare men and women to lead, innovate, and think entrepreneurially in business, as well as in public and

2021-04-18T16:50:58-05:00Tags: , , , , , |

An interview with Anthony Vipin Das, FRCS, Consultant Ophthalmologist and Associate Director at the L V Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India, and creator of eyeSmart EMR, an award winning Electronic Medical Record and Hospital Management System which is currently operational across the LVPEI network in India and globally

John Hoffmire: MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) named you among the Top 35 Innovators under 35 years of age in the world on the TR35 2012 list. Please tell us more about that?

Vipin: As an ophthalmologist, I was keenly aware of how difficult it was for a doctor to access past information about

2021-04-21T09:26:54-05:00Tags: , , , , |

An interview with Anjali Kaushik, Professor and Chair, Information Management, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India and Chief Investigator for creation and deployment of Cyber Security Framework for e-Governance services of the Government of India

John Hoffmire: As a professor of Information Management, how would you define your field?

Anjali: Information management is an emerging field that is concerned with the infrastructure used to collect, manage, preserve, protect, store and deliver information. The guiding principle of this infrastructure allows information to be available to the right people at the right time and protects that information from getting

2021-04-21T10:53:01-05:00Tags: , , , , |

Empowering Self-Advocacy Through TrueFootprint and the Covid-19 Care Monitoring Coalition

In a country where the Ebola crisis hit most forcefully, it was found that one half the doctors who were being paid for by donors did not exist. The money that was being donated to pay for these doctors was being siphoned off through corrupt practices by bad leaders.  Here is the story of a

2021-04-29T09:42:17-05:00Tags: , , , |

An interview with Sashane Perera, Manager, Concept Creation, MAS Holdings, and Artistic Director, StageLight&Magic Inc.

John Hoffmire: When I met you in Oxford last year, I recognized that you where someone who followed their passion and worked in two very separate fields. Tell me more about that.
Sashane: I do straddle two different industries. In my day job I work on innovation in the fashion industry as part of a team that seeks

2021-04-21T12:39:17-05:00Tags: , , , |

An interview with Daisy Agarwalla, Co-founder and Senior Manager at Integrated Digital Systems, Delhi, India and a Chevening (CRISP) and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Program for Women Entrepreneurs scholar

John Hoffmire: Tell me about the company you co-founded.
Daisy:  I started my career with the Gauhati Stock Exchange after completing my Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and an MBA. After a short stint I started my entrepreneurial journey when I cofounded Integrated Digital Systems along with my husband in 1992. Our company has been at the

2021-04-21T11:12:37-05:00Tags: , , , , |

The Hackathon COVID Couldn’t Stop: Season 9 of the Yarl Geek Challenge

A staple event of the Sri Lankan tech calendar, Season 9 Finale of the Yarl Geek Challenge (YGC) has come to an end. A competition organized annually by the Yarl IT Hub, the YGC is known to attract the best in entrepreneurship and technology from the Northern part of the country. Over the years, many

2021-04-21T11:01:23-05:00Tags: , , , |

An interview with Dr. Mrinmayee Bhushan, founding Director of the start-up firm, Mindfarm Novatech Private Ltd; consultant for IP and innovation for a DSIR-approved, not-for-profit research organization, APT Research Foundation, and a biosecurity analyst.

John Hoffmire: Tell me about the product you developed.

Mrinmayee: It all started because of the reluctance shown by a relative of mine to face the public after hair grew abnormally on her face during menopause. That prompted me to find a remedy for the problem. As a medical pharmacologist, I was trained to help solve

2021-04-21T11:18:27-05:00Tags: , , , , |

An interview with James TJ, founder & Director at Creativiti Council, and Project Director of Innovation Science Technology Enterprise Development (i-STED Project)

John Hoffmire:  Tell me about Creativiti Council, the organization you founded.

James: We are a non-profit organization addressing the needs of two marginalized sections of the society. Our first mission is to address elderly/bedridden/palliative care. With gradual deterioration of abilities, the aged population faces extreme difficulties to meet their daily needs. It has been noted that

2021-04-21T11:56:56-05:00Tags: , , , |

An Interview With Dr. Mugdha Potnis-Lele Senior Manager – Social Innovations, Venture Center

John Hoffmire: What is the Venture Center?
Mugdha: Venture Center is India’s award-winning, leading technology business incubator for science and technology startups. We offer entrepreneurs and startups the widest suite of incubation programs, services, resources, and facilities. With over 75 resident startups at any given time,

2021-02-12T17:35:16-06:00Tags: , , , |

An interview with Jayant Sitaram Karve, Director and Chief Executive Officer of RCupe Lifesciences Private Limited

John Hoffmire: Tell me about your company, RCupe Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd.
Jayant: RCupe Lifesciences is a biomedical device start-up focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative solutions for unmet clinical needs in emerging and other markets. Currently we are focused on a much needed ‘Ozyn-D™’, an indigenously developed, novel intraosseous (IO) device for pre-hospital and in-hospital

2021-02-12T17:37:02-06:00Tags: , , , , , |

An interview with Karon Shaiva, Chief Impact Officer – IDOBRO & Managing Trustee – RISE Infinity Foundation

John Hoffmire:  You are the founder of the RISE Infinity Foundation. Tell me more about this social enterprise.
Karon: I started the RISE Infinity Foundation in 2014 as an organization committed to serve those in India who are vulnerable, poor, and sick. Our vision is to create a more responsible, inclusive, sustainable, and eco-friendly society that

2021-04-21T12:34:37-05:00Tags: , , , , |

Following Up On The Link Between Poverty And Mental Illness

It almost goes without saying, sometimes a person’s mental health problems can lead to poverty. And sometimes mental health problems don’t correlate with poverty. But, often, one comes with the other. The World Health Organization has made it fairly clear that the two interact closely (and correcting one might lead to impacting the other for

2020-12-07T06:07:27-06:00

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