Manish Kotwala
Business Transformation Expert
Manish has over 25 years’ international consulting and management experience. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Transform Management Consulting LLC. Manish was instrumental is setting up and managing the strategy and performance management and project management unit for a UAE Government entity.
His areas of expertise include formulation and implementation of business strategies, Balanced Scorecard, competitive assessment, operational efficiency improvement, project management, stakeholders’ management and investment & acquisition opportunities. Manish has worked across various industries including diversified business groups, government, manufacturing, oil & gas, financial services, retail, pharmaceutical & medical consumables and others. Manish has managed various consulting assignments across GCC, India, South East Asia, CIS countries, UK and other countries.
Manish is a postgraduate in Management from NMIMS, Mumbai and engineer from MIT, Manipal.
ADVAIT KURLEKAR
Business Transformation Expert
Advait Kurlekar has over 25 years of valuable experience in industry and management consulting, having worked in leading organizations He is the Founder and CEO of Upohan Management Consultants Pvt Ltd.
Advait has expertise in the areas of Business Strategy, Balanced Scorecard and HR consulting. He has directed over 350 BSC strategy implementation projects for a variety of clients in the region. Advait has led consulting projects across a range of sectors including BFSI, engineering, automotive, retail, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, hospitality, media and advertising, etc. He has handled assignments in Singapore, Hong Kong, Middle East, West Asia, South Africa, North Africa, UK, France and Germany. He is regularly invited to speak at national and international conferences on corporate strategy.
Advait is a visiting faculty at SP Jain Global Center of Management and Great Lakes, Chennai. He is also a charter member of TiE’s Pune chapter and has done an Advanced Management Program from the Wharton Business School.
Advait is a certified independent director and is on the board of Resonance Eduventures and is also on the Board of Advisors of MIT School Of Management, Pune.
PRASHANT KUMAR
SMEs Transformation Expert
Prashant has over 16 years of experience in research, consulting, public policy and strategy development. He is the principal founder of Empact Consulting, a boutique strategy consulting firm specializing in public policy engagements. Prashant is involved in providing mentorship, guidance and leadership for all mandates undertaken by Empact in Dubai and across the region. In addition, he also serves as a Strategy Expert to the Department of Economic Development, Government of Dubai and is engaged in various strategic support initiatives related to competitiveness, productivity and innovation.
In his previous role, Prashant served as ‘Executive Director – Strategy and Policy’ with the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority, Government of Dubai. At the Authority, Prashant’s role encompassed leading the annual strategy development/review process and developing policy initiatives related to cluster development, SME development, entrepreneurship and innovation. Prashant also led and managed all research work streams related to economic publications and policy formulation.
Prior to his stint with the DCCA, Prashant was the Director and Business head of Dun & Bradstreet SAME’s (D&B) Research & Advisory unit. Whilst at D&B, Prashant managed/directed and executed over 70 consulting mandates during his stint of 8 years.
Prior to Dun & Bradstreet, Prashant has worked in research and consulting roles at leading firms in India including – Evalueserve, Pipal Research, GE Capital and Fidelity Investments.
Prashant holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from University of Lincoln in UK and an MBA from IMI Belgium with a parallel Diploma in Entrepreneurship from the Indian Institute of Planning & Management (New Delhi). He is pursuing a Doctorate in the area of SME financing policy impact on economic value addition.
YOGESH PATGAONKAR
Leadership Transformation Expert
Yogesh holds Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from University of Mumbai and accredited by International Coach Federation (ICF) as MCC (Master Certified Coach). He is also a certified assessor for Emotional Quotient (EQ)
Yogesh currently works as Partner at “Harmony Consultants” and “Global HR Lead Partners” with focus on Executive Coaching, HR advisory and Leadership Development. He has over 2500 Hours of coaching experience including coaching assignment for leadership teams of various organization across Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Retail, Banking & Financial Services and Technology.
During his career with the industry Yogesh held positions of CHRO and Business Head with reputed orgainzations as a part of diversified conglomerates like RPG Group and Larsen & Toubro
He serves on advisory boards of leading management institutions and has been a speaker at International and National events for Gartner, Nasscom, NHRDN and Linked-in. Apart from his professional pursuits Yogesh is a poet and has published his poetry collection as mobile App. He is an avid traveler and has successfully completed driving expeditions across India from Ladakh to Kanyakumari.
PRASANTH EDASSARI
Human Capital Transformation Expert
A keen observer of human nature, Prasanth possess over 20 years of experience in people management at senior levels.
He is currently the CEO of GRAVITY – The Holding Force, a boutique HR Consulting firm in Dubai. His expertise runs across various industries in the UK and ME geographies. His most recent corporate assignment was as the HR Director of Panasonic MEA.
Prasanth has an MBA in HR from Oxford Brookes University, UK interested in turning around organizations bottom line using PEOPLE POWER.