About

Dr Ganesh Natarajan

Introduction

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman and Founder of 5F World, a platform for Digital Start-ups, Skills and Social Ventures in the country. He is also Co-Founder of Lighthouse Communities Foundation, Global Talent Track and Skills Alpha. Ganesh has a Masters’ in Industrial Engineering from NITIE Mumbai, PhD from IIT Bombay and Advanced Management from Harvard Business School. He has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Bombay and NITIE and has been recognized by EY and the Asia Pacific HR Forum for excellence in technology entrepreneurship and people-centric leadership. He has completed two successful CEO tenures over twenty-five years at APTECH and Zensar Technologies. Harvard Business School has written and teaches two case studies on Dr. Ganesh Natarajan and his success through Vision Communities and Innovation. He commenced his career after completing his Masters in 1981 at Manufacturing firm Crompton Greaves Ltd, did a three-year entrepreneurial stint and then headed Mumbai Region and Corporate Consulting and Training in IT Education and Consulting firm NIIT. He became CEO of APTECH in 1991 and grew the company to be a global market leader with over 1200 computer training centres in forty-two countries. In twenty-four of these countries including China, APTECH became the market leader. He left in 2001 after listing the company on the London Stock Exchange and took over as CEO of Software Start-up Zensar Technologies Ltd. Between 2001 and 2016, Zensar was Ganesh’s most successful corporate stint. He grew the company’s revenues over fifteen times and made it a leader in providing digital transformation solutions for manufacturing, retail and financial services firms. Most of the work was for Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organisations in the USA and Europe. During the last five years of Ganesh’s tenure as CEO, Zensar recorded a market value of forty-four percent CAGR, a record in the stock markets for the technology industry. During his tenure, Ganesh lived and worked in India, UK and the USA. After 2016, Ganesh has been a successful entrepreneur and investor, building companies with a successful track record of digital deployment and serving on chosen industry and social boards. He is Chairman of the Board of Honeywell Automation India Limited and Lighthouse Communities. He also serves on the Boards of Hinduja Global Solutions, SBI Payments Ltd, Systech Inc USA, Educate Girls and the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Singapore. Since 2016, Ganesh has served on the Central Board of the State Bank of India, Principal Asset Management Limited, Fino Payments Bank and LHI Digital. He has been Digital Adviser to McKinsey & Co and Bajaj FinServ and the President of the HBS Club of India and IIIE Pune. He was also Chairman of the SBI Board Committee on Information Technology Strategy and oversaw the digital and strategic technology initiatives of India’s largest bank which serves over 400 million customers in India and all over the world. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan has been Chairman of Industry association NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation, has served on the National Councils of CII and AIMA and been President of the HBS Club of India. He served for three years as Chair of Social Venture Partners India and was also a member of the Global Board of SVP International. He is a Charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and a Fellow of the Computer Society of India. Ganesh is the author of thirteen books and a regular writer and speaker at national and international forums. His last three books on Digital Success, Facing up to the China Challenge and India’s Pathways to Success have been best sellers and recipient of business book awards.


Event & Program Schedule

4:00 PM - 4:50 PM - 13 JANUARY 2024

ANTARANG: BLF Presentation: From Ashoka to Chandragupta II: Archeological remains at Vidisha: Dr Meera Dass in conversation with Dr Rima Hooja

ABHIRANG: Rani Durgawati :The Forgotten Life of a Warrior Queen, Nandini Sen Gupta in conversation with Dr Neha Jain and Jyoti Pande

VAGARTH: Pathways to a Dominant and Inclusive India, Dr Ganesh Natarajan in conversation with Rajat Kathuria and Seema Verma

The Society for Culture & Environment will hold the fourth edition of 'Heartland Stories — Bhopal Literature and Art Festival 2022 as a physical cum virtual event, between 25-27th March 2022.

Registration

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