The Aavishkaar Investment team is employed by Aavishkaar Venture Management Services Private Limited and is guided by Investment Committee members.
Vineet has over 15 years of experience in leading innovative interventions in Social Development, Venture Capital, Micro Enterprises and Microfinance Investments. Founder of Aavishkaar (and related companies), Vineet is the Co-founder and Director -Intellecap, a pioneer and leader in the multiple bottom line investment advisory industry. He is also the Co-founder and Director - Rural Innovations Network, a Chennai-based Non Profit company that creates networks for rural innovations. In several of his advisory functions, Vineet is on the advisory board of Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Program at IIT Chennai.
Vineet has been awarded Ashoka Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to the field of Social Entrepreneurship and Life Membership of XLRI Alumni Association He holds a Post-Graduate diploma in Forestry Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.
Pradeep has been associated with Aavishkaar since its inception in early 2002 and brings with him over 12 years of operational and investment experience in sectors including farming and allied activities, agro processing, renewable energy, manure and fertilizers, Information and Communications Technology. Earlier, Pradeep worked for a period of 6 years with Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals Ltd, an integrated sugar complex engaged in the production of sugar, molasses, alcohol, manure and cogeneration of power.
There he had been closely involved in the financial structuring for two new Greenfield sugar projects, valuation and takeover procedures of co-operative sugar factories as well as played the role of point person in discussions with overseas venture capitalists for a USD 30 million refined sugar project in Vietnam. Pradeep started his career at Apple Credit Corp Ltd, focused on hire-purchase and leasing of automobiles. He holds a MBA (Finance) from TAPMI, Manipal and is a Bachelor in Applied Sciences (Engineering) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
Wim van der Beek (1960), founding partner The Netherlands
Wim is a social venturer with two decades of experience in financial structuring, investment funds and cross border direct investments. In 2005 he decided to "walk his talk" and founded Goodwell Investments, a social investment firm focused on high impact high return investment solutions.
Before launching Goodwell, Wim co-founded and managed an institutional fund
advisory company. Prior to that, he was a partner in the financial services
international tax practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Amsterdam. Wim is
advisor at
Intellecap (External Website) 
and
Aavishkaar (External Website)
in India and advisory board member of
Social Fusion (External Website)
in San Francisco.”
Megha joined Aavishkaar in January’08 and is based at our Mumbai office.Prior to Aavishkaar, she was working in the Corporate Advisory Services division at IL&FS Financial Services Ltd. for nearly two years as Senior Associate responsible for private equity syndication. Earlier, she was working as Research Analyst at McKinsey & Co. for over two years focusing on financial services domain. Megha holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Finance) from SCMHRD, Pune and has completed her Bachelors in Business Studies from College of Business Studies, Delhi University.
Madhukar Sinha recently joined the team as Investment Manager. Madhukar has four years of prior experience in the social and agribusiness sector. He has worked with PRADAN, a leading Indian NGO for a World Bank sponsored program and also has experience in consulting domain while working with Weather Risk Management Services, an agribusiness management consulting firm. Madhukar is a post graduate from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. Within the team, Madhukar's role will be to conduct and coordinate the end-to-end investment process including investment analysis, company/sector research, due diligence, deal closure, and monitor post-investment performance
Hrishikesh has joined the team in our Mumbai office in November'07. Previously, he was an Analyst with Tata Strategic Management Group for nearly 3 years where he has gained experience in conducting financial and strategic analyses for clients from diverse sectors such as Healthcare, Telecom, Infrastructure, Power cables and the Government and other major corporations of India. Hrishikesh holds a CFA Level 2 certification and has earned his Masters degree in Commerce specializing in Banking and Finance (MCom.) from Sydenham College, Mumbai and his Bachelors degree in Management Studies (BMS) from Jai Hind College, Mumbai.
Chandini Hundalani joined the Aavishkaar investment team in May 2009 as an Associate. Prior to joining Aavishkaar, Chandini was briefly engaged with real estate leasing in her family venture. She also has 3 years experience in credit research with JPMorgan Chase, focusing on consumer and retail companies. She holds a Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS) and a Bachelor of Laws (General) degree from the Mumbai University and has completed Level I of the CFA certificate. Within Aavishkaar, Chandini supports the investment team in its due diligence, company/sector research and post-investment monitoring.
Priyank has been with Aavishkaar since June 2005 and is investment manager. He is based at Aavishkaar’s Mumbai office.Prior to his association with Aavishkaar, he has done projects with IMRB International, Mayur spinning and weaving mills, Ritspin Synthetics, Pithampura, Indore. Priyank holds an MBA (Finance & Marketing) qualification from Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst of India, Hyderabad and a B.Tech. in Textiles from MLVTI, University of Rajasthan.
Vijay Rajagopal joined the team as Investment Manager in 2009. He has more than 4 years of experience in management consulting and investment banking. He has worked as a Senior Manager with ICICI Bank’s Global Investment Banking Group for 2 years in Singapore and Mumbai.
Prior to that, he was an Associate Consultant with the Tata Strategic Management Group in Mumbai for a couple of years. He completed his Bachelors in Chemical Engineering as a batch topper from BITS, Pilani. Subsequently, he graduated with an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. He is also pursuing his Chartered Financial Analyst (US) charter and is a Level-3 candidate.
Rajeswari Gopinath joined the team in 2009 as Senior Associate. Rajeswari has almost five years of experience in the IT Consulting and Financial Services space and has worked with companies like i-flex Solutions and Headstrong Services prior to joining Aavishkaar. She received her Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian School of Business, and her Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from BITS, Pilani. She is based out of Aavishkaar’s Chennai office
Clare Boland recently rejoined Aavishkaar as an Investment Manager. She is based in Kolkata and focuses on investments in West Bengal and the North-East. Prior to Aavishkaar, Clare spent most of career as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York and Mumbai and, most recently, as a Project Leader in London. Clare spent six months working with Aavishkaar in 2006 and has also interned with the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC and Goldman Sachs in London. Clare received a BA in economics with distinction from Stanford University and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Arun is a Management Consultant working with local and multinational clients in India and abroad. He also volunteers his time to entrepreneurship development through AIMVCF. He is also a director of two private limited companies; one providing HR services to clients in the banking, insurance, telecom and BPO industries, and the other running a franchisee clinic of The Apollo Clinic near Mumbai.
Previously, Arun was leading the Reuters Consulting division in South Asia for a 15 month period. Prior, he had completed a distinguished career with Standard Chartered Bank spanning 28 years in various positions at international locations. Arun holds a Masters in Business Management from Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, India and a degree in Mathematics from the University of Madras.
Mr. Gandhi is a Managing Partner of Infinity Venture Fund, an early stage fund launched in year 1999. He is also a Director in Seed Fund, an early stage fund launched in 2006. With operational & management experience spanning 30 odd years, he was one of the early IT entrepreneurs having promoted Hinditron in 1972 with a successful IPO in 1988.
He has been an angel investor in various IT Companies with several board directorships in listed and unlisted companies including significant shareholding & directorship of Schiller Healthcare. He is currently also the President of TIE, Mumbai. Mr. Gandhi holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Cornell University
Sameer has 14 years of Private Equity and Operating experience in India and South East Asia. He has invested in and worked closely with a number of companies in the Consumer services, Technology and Manufacturing sectors. He has extensive experience in deal origination, due diligence and portfolio management including working with portfolio companies in helping them drive their corporate strategy.
He is currently Director, India at Nomura International. Prior, Sameer has worked as Partner at IL&FS Investment Managers, Mumbai. Before this, he has worked as Investment Manager at Vertex Management, Singapore and Gujarat Venture Finance, Ahmedabad. Sameer also has operational experience from his stints at DGP Windsor and Crompton Greaves, Mumbai. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from US. Sameer is an Electrical Engineer from Pune University.
Els Boerhof joined GIBV as a partner on March 1, 2008. She is an active member of the investment team, focusing on Micro Finance investments. Prior to joining Goodwell, Els worked for 6 years for the Dutch development finance bank FMO. As manager of their Micro and Small Enterprise fund MASSIF, she expanded its size from Euro 200 million per end 2005 to over Euro 300 million per end 2007. She was a non executive board member of Acción Investments in Microfinance (USA) and member of the Credit Committee of the AfricInvest Financial Sector Fund.
Previously she held the positions of Manager Business Development and Investment Officer Asia. Prior to FMO, Els worked for Mees Pierson in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Johannesburg. She holds a masters degree in Economics from Tilburg University, and conducted field research on rural credit for the poor in The Philippines.
Anantha Nageswaran was working as a Senior Analyst, Investment Research at Credit Suisse Private Banking till 1996. Prior to this he was with Economic Research Department, Union Bank of Switzerland. He also served with Madras Refineries Ltd, India as Deputy Manager (Finance). He also served Credit Suisse, Singapore as the head of Investment Consulting. Anantha holds a Masters in Business Administration from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He also holds a PhD (Topic: Empirical Behavior of Exchange Rates) from University of Amherst, USA, MA.
Nousrath is an Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, U.K. She has almost 20 years' experience in company secretarial and administration services as well as in the administration of funds. Prior to joining Abax, she worked for 8 years as Manager in the offshore department of PricewaterhouseCoopers Mauritius. Nousrath is currently in charge of the Business Development unit of Abax and also serves as director on the board of several Global Business companies and funds.