Dr Krishna Tanuku

Dr Krishna Tanuku took charge as the Executive Director of the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED) in July 2008. As Executive Director of the WCED, Dr. Tanuku’s current focus is to help create an effective and holistic ecosystem for broad based entrepreneurial development in India. His mission is to promote purposeful entrepreneurship that fosters equitable socio-economic growth in the country.

Dr Tanuku has an illustrious career that spans over 25 years of global experience covering the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. His expertise covers from R&D to product management to marketing and also includes new markets expansion and management including JVs in Europe, S. Korea, Japan and India.

Dr. Tanuku started his career at AT&T Bell Labs in 1978. In 1986, he assumed a new role as General Manager at AT&T International and played an active role in AT&T’s global expansion efforts. In 1989 he set up AT&T in India and played a key role in shaping both the telecom industry as well as offshore software development in India. During his tenure as the CEO of AT&T in India, Dr Tanuku also helped found the American Chamber of Commerce in India and was elected as its co-Chairman for 5 years.

In 1994, Dr Tanuku was recognized with an international award as “MAN of the YEAR 1994 – Management and Business Vision” for “business acumen, innovative ideas, services and leadership in the field of Telecommunication and Informatics”. This Award was conferred for his efforts in globalization of technologies. After his successful tenure as the head of AT&T India, he returned to the US and was responsible for marketing strategies for AT&T on-line services, In 1997, Dr Tanuku once again took on the challenge to enhance the Bell Labs R&D footprint across the globe and set up the India R&D Programme for Lucent and was responsible for R&D centers in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Egypt, as well as satellite centers in Ireland, UK and Germany.

Dr Tanuku has received an MS in Computer Science and PhD in Electrical Engineering Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He also has an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago. He also received advanced executive management training from INSEAD, France. Prior to going to UC Berkeley, he received his M.Tech from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and B.E from Andhra University in India.

His current passion is to help build next generation global enterprises based on innovative business and customer models of partnerships. Dr. Tanuku has received an MS in Computer Science and PhD in Electrical Engineering Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He also has an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago. He also received advanced executive management training from INSEAD, France.

Aruna Reddy

Aruna Reddy is a Co-Founder of Pearl Group of companies which has interests into restaurants, product development and real estate. She played a pivotal role in operations management with focus on processes, systems and client requirements through ideation and refinement.

Aruna has an extensive cross-continent education, business and entrepreneurial experience. She has over 15 years of experience in strategic planning, development, new business start up, and project management with demonstrated initiative, creativity and success. She was with Oracle Corporation USA, managing and implementing ERP solutions.

At ISB, she is responsible for strategic planning-new initiatives, incubation and development activities of the Entrepreneurship centre and to enhance the entrepreneurial culture within and outside ISB by giving students & entrepreneurs the opportunity to explore innovative ideas and develop practical entrepreneurial skills. She is also leading the initiative of establishing Enterprise Development Fund (PPP) to help lead a way to create a very substantial early stage financial eco-system supporting pervasive entrepreneurship development at ISB and network of Funds across the country.

Dr KamaRaju Chitrapu

Kama Raju Chitrapu is Fellow from National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law, Hyderabad with a Masters of Law and Ph.D., in International Intellectual Property Law. Currently associated with Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development as a Senior Researcher-IPR. He has over ten years of Cross functional experience in leading Intellectual property capacity building initiatives, public private partnerships in technology management, national and state level policy and government affairs.

Prior to joining WCED, he worked as a Head & IP Attorney of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Karnataka MSME-IPR Facilitation Cell as a IP Policy facilitator and trainer for national IP training and awareness initiatives of MSME’s facilitating IPR Information, advisory services, filings, prosecution and capacity building of MSME’s in IPR. He has undergone advanced IP training by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Thames Valley University, Slough, U.K. Completed Training Courses on “Evaluation of Training” “Direct Trainer Skills” and “Design of Training” by the Government of India, Department of Personnel and Training 2009 and enrolled as an Advocate in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in 2000.

In his free time, he enjoys Community Service through Rama Krishna Mission, traveling and reading.

Santosh Srinivas

Santosh Srinivas works as an Associate Director at the Wadhwani Centre. An MBA from ISB and a Citi-Scholar, he has a professional experience of over 8 years, with entrepreneurial experience in for-profit, hybrid and not-for-profit sectors. He co-founded a Bangalore based non-profit organization which worked towards streamlining volunteerism. Continuing his pursuits in the development sector, as an elected President of the Net Impact chapter, he worked towards sensitizing chapter members in using business to positively impact the society.

After graduating from BITS, Pilani with an Engineering degree in Computer Science, he joined Intel Technologies where he led cross-functional teams, including a virtual team gathered for fostering innovation amongst the employees. Post MBA, he took up entrepreneurial roles at a social enterprise Hole-in-the-wall Education Pvt Ltd and later at the ILID, a Bangalore based NGO, where he managed incubation initiatives. In his current role at the ISB, he is working on research and outreach initiatives that particularly focus on entrepreneurship as means to address socioeconomic challenges. Aside from work, out of passion for arts, he along with his wife Priya Raman, runs an eZine called “The Kalaparva”.

Aarti Dhand

Aarti Dhand holds a post graduate degree in fashion technology from Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology in Bangalore and Bachelors degree in commerce from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She has for over 6 years of work experience with some of India’s top nosh garment industries like Gokaldas exports (GAP, O’Neill, Benetton) , Li & Fung (Tommy Hilfiger) & Suryakiran International (Levis).

At WCED Aarti works as a research associate. Currently she is working upon innovation and entrepreneurship in the Textile sector in Andhra Pradesh. Her study will examine Textile & apparel industry in Andhra Pradesh in terms of its structural anomalies and other key factors inhibiting the growth of the industry, competitive strengths and weakness of the industry, government programs designed to help improve the competitiveness of the industry and product sector that offer opportunities for growth & investment.

Aside of work she likes collage making , travelling and practicing yoga.

Kumar Ashish

Kumar Ashish has an Integrated Masters degree in Economics from the University of Hyderabad. He has been an active participant in academic conferences and training programs organized by bodies like National Board of Higher Mathematics (Dept. of Atomic Energy, GoI), Dept. of Science & Technology (GoI) and UNESCO to name a few.

He is actively involved with SPIC MACAY (a student participatory and apolitical NGO working for creating awareness about Indian classical art forms, culture and values amongst youth and thereby enriching education) and is one of the central facilitators for the Andhra Pradesh state. Throughout his studentship, Ashish has been part of various students’ bodies in different capacities. During his stay at the UoH, he has assisted the university event management team in organizing various events. He has also volunteered for NCPRI (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information) and many other organizations.

At WCED, Ashish works as a Research Associate. His research interests include entrepreneurship, regional development etc. Currently, he is working upon developing a framework for Social Impact Assessment for the Non-profits in Indian context.

Monika Battala

Monika is an engineer with a master’s degree from University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. She started her career as a Software engineer with R&D team at Salesforce.com. She has a significant experience as a software engineer. Her experience also includes working as a research assistant and teaching assistant during her graduate days.

She is a manager at Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship development. She manages the Incubation activities and SME growth initiatives.

Her other interests include traveling, adventure sports (few of them) and music.

Muzzafar Hussain

Muzzafar Hussain is part of the Research Team at the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED) at the Indian School of Business. He is currently working on the Effectiveness of Credit Guarantee Schemes in supporting Start-ups and SMEs in India. His areas of research include consumer markets, flight pricing, microfinance and the correlation between the outcome of cricket matches and the behavior of stocks and the banking scenario in India as a whole.

Muzzafar has earlier worked with NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) where he analyzed the opportunities that exist for co-operative banks even in this new age of banking.

Muzzafar holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Hyderabad. He is passionate about cricket and follows the game very closely. He has worked as a senior cricket commentator in University of Hyderabad’s annual day-night cricketing extravaganza. He is an avid quizzer and has also taken up the role of a quiz master in the past. He was associated with “Bol Hyd 90.4 Fm”, Hyderabad’s first campus Fm radio channel-an initiative of the Department of Communication, Sarojini Naidu School, University of Hyderabad. In his leisure time, he likes exploring International Cinema and is a keen follower of Iranian cinema. To his credit, Muzzafar has also won several quiz and paper presentation competitions.

Piya Bahadur

Piya has a Bachelors degree in Planning from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, and a Masters in Urban Planning from the State University of New York at Buffalo, USA. Her work across two continents has provided her with a diverse set of experiences and interpersonal skills, in a broad range of organizations, ranging from small enterprises, startups, government, NGO to academia. Her work on corporate participation in rural development won her the JN Tata Endowment.

At WCED she is currently working on the role of education in entrepreneurship development in an effort to structure a framework that will collate, assess, refine, and disseminate ideas in entrepreneurship education. The framework will attempt to create a set of recommendations to primarily help design educational programs that will engender greater successful participation in entrepreneurship.

Peketi Varalakshmi

Peketi Varalakshmi has a Bacherlor’s degree in Commerce from Osmania University. She has rich 20 years of experience in the areas of Administration and Secretarial works.

Prior to joining the ISB, Lakshmi has worked with M/s. Avanti Business Machines Ltd., Apollo Health Street Limited and Maytas Infra Limited, where she handled the secretarial works and corporate services.

At WCED, she is working as Centre Administrator. Supports Executive Director and provides support to WCED team in overall administration activities. Handles Budget – processing, updating and tracking of expenses. Handles project related administration works of TUI, EDI and Research Teams.

Her hobbies & interests include Music & Reading.