Board Of Directors

Independent Director

N. Srinivasan is a development professional specialising in rural livelihoods and development finance. He was a development banker for more than twenty five years out of a forty year involvement in agricultural finance and rural development. His areas of interest are development banking, Microfinance and Rural Finance, livelihoods, micro enterprises, financial inclusion and CSR. He advises policy institutions including governments, banks and projects in India and abroad on broad policy, strategy aspects as well as development projects design and implementation. He has authored several books and Country Reports on microfinance, livelihoods, Corporate Social Responsibility and Rural finance. He currently serves as an Independent Director in Equitas Small Finance Bank and is part of governance in a few other organisations. As an international expert on development finance and livelihoods, he continues to work with World Bank, IFAD, GIZ, KFW, Microsave and other institutions as a consultant and advisor.

Independent Director

Mr. Krishnan is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant and has over 40 years of multi-industry experience spanning strategy and operations in organizations like Airtel, RPG Group, Murugappa Group etc., and brings financial acumen with a keen sense of entrepreneurship to business. He has built wide experience and knowledge enabling identification of business scenarios, finding turnaround solutions, nurturing and growing businesses and has handled many startups and helped them scale into multimillion businesses.

Independent Director

Ms. Padma Chandrasekaran has over 30 years of experience as an Executive, Entrepreneur, Board Member in the for-profit and philanthropic sectors in India and globally. She has been on the advisory Board and Investment Committees of several Venture Capital Companies. She is associated as a Director/Advisor with Adani Capital Private Limited, PNB Metlife India Insurance Company Limited, Health Sensei India Private Limited and SKYFI Education Labs Private Limited. Ms. Padma has also authored several highly cited peer reviewed publications in academic journals such as The Lancet and the British Medical Journal.

Nominee Director – Elevar

Jyotsna Krishnan is a Managing Partner at Elevar . She leads the firm’s investing strategy and priorities in India, and the investing team that is based in Bangalore. She has over 16 years of experience spanning banking, retail financial services, strategy, and building businesses as an early stage investor. She has tremendous admiration for low-income communities and her favorite time is spent in the field, gathering customer insights and figuring out connections with capital markets. In nearly 10 years at Elevar, she has had a leadership role in making investments that have demonstrated a clear link between financial markets and sectors such as agriculture, affordable education and mobility for low income communities. Jyotsna also works closely with many of Elevar’s portfolio companies, particularly when it comes to strategy, customer focus and financing.

Nominee Director – Accel

Mahendran Balachandran has been venture investing since 2005 and brings with him two decades worth of experience of business leadership in technology companies, including Apple. He holds a management degree from IIM Bangalore and a B.Tech degree from NIT Warangal. He is a lead investor and serves on the board of various companies engaged in the Healthcare and Technology sector. Prior to venture investing, he was the Country General Manager of Apple, India; Chief Operating Officer of CoSystems (Telecom & Datacom Company); and the General Manager of Tektronix India.

Nominee Director – responsAbility

With over 15 years of experience in private equity and investment banking, Akshay leads responsAbility’s efforts in Asia Pacific for private equity investments in consumer (food) and agriculture in the mid-market range. Prior to responsAbility, he worked for three years at a mid-market, sector-agnostic private equity fund, and made four growth equity investments at IFCI Venture Capital Funds Ltd. He also has three years of experience in investment banking (equity capital markets), doing public market transactions while working for leading domestic investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Akshay has earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Pune. He serves as the Director and Head of Private Equity for Asia Pacific in Sustainable Food.

Nominee Director – TIAA

Stephen Lee is currently Senior Director and Head of Asia in the Impact Investing group at Nuveen. His responsibilities include overseeing Nuveen’s Impact Investing private equity program across Asia, particularly in India and Southeast Asia. Lee is involved with the originating and underwriting of investment opportunities, as well as overall portfolio management for Asia. Lee has led or co-led investments in India, Malaysia, the United States, the UK, Mexico, and Peru for Nuveen and its clients. Lee is currently on the Board of Directors of Aviom India Housing Finance, Aavishkaar Group, Arohan Financial Services, and Kinara Capital.

Prior to joining Nuveen in 2014, Lee worked as Director of Access to Finance for Building Markets, a social enterprise based in New York that supports local businesses in post-conflict and developing countries. He has also worked in investment banking at J.P. Morgan and management consulting at Accenture, among other roles.

Lee holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a M.S. in Foreign Service with a concentration in international development from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He is also a former Fulbright Scholar in Egypt.

Founder, Director & CEO

Anil Kumar SG is the Founder, Director and CEO of Samunnati. His passion to bring resounding impact in the agri ecosystem led to the establishment of India’s largest agri-tech enterprise, Samunnati. His vision was translated to Samunnati’s mission, which is to create an open agri-network to unlock the Trillion dollar plus potential of Indian agriculture with smallholder farmers at the center of it.

Anil has received awards/recognitions from several forums, including the Best Social Entrepreneur in the Global Social Entrepreneurship Programme 2018; the TiE Impact Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2013; Real Leaders Impact Award 2020 (ranked 83 in top 100) and the ET Social Enterprise Start-up award in 2020. Anil is also on the task force for CII on Agri Start-ups and FICCI on Minimizing Food loss and Wastage.

Anil has close to three decades of experience in the areas of Rural, Retail and Agri Banking. Anil’s professional journey has lent him an understanding of Indian smallholder farmers. Prior to Samunnati, Anil was the Co-Founder & Trustee of IFMR Trust and the CEO of IFMR Rural Channels. Anil holds a Masters in Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Symbiosis Institute of Management, Pune and a graduate degree in Humanities from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Executive Director

Gurunath N is the executive director of Samunnati, India’s largest agri-tech enterprise. With over 30 years of experience in the banking and financial services space, Gurunath has also worked at Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank and ICICI Bank. He is responsible for all operational aspects of Samunnati as well as some of the key support functions like Business Performance of Samunnati Financial (Lending). He is also on the Board of Samunnati. As the Executive Director, he engages and builds long-term relationships while ensuring the culture and values of Samunnati are in place.