Diversity and Inclusion in the Start-Up Ecosystem

Dr.Kakoli Sen is Professor of OB & HRM and Dean - School of Business at Woxsen University, Hyderabad. She is also the co-chair of the Centre of Excellence – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion where she has worked on several Inclusion Projects. A Ph.D in Management with 10 years in the Corporate and 17 years in Academics, her professional skills include Academic Leadership, Institutional Advancement, International Collaborations, New Program development and Corporate Communications. She has worked as Regional Training Manager for Intel® national project and has done international consultancies in Education sector. She is regularly invited as a Panelist and speaker to various prestigious forums / conferences. Her research interests are women leadership, social entrepreneurship, and diversity & inclusion. She has published research papers and cases in ABDC journals, Richard Ivey and Harvard Business Publishing. Her book “Creating a Culture of Diversity and Inclusiveness in India Inc. - Practitioners Speak” was published by Springer. She also writes articles for ET HR. She teaches and trains in the areas of Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management and Leadership.

Surekha Routray is a Certified Sustainability Assessor (From UBB, Europe), Certified Valuator (IBBI), and an MBA in Finance and Marketing. She has worked and has expertise in designing and implementing programs with 4 main sectors of the startup ecosystem namely -- agriculture & allied services, animal husbandry, climate & environment, livelihood and diversity & inclusion -- and has worked with more than 100 start-ups. She has an interesting amalgamation of 10+ years of corporate exposure (from India & US), 5+ years academic interfacing and 6+ years of startup ecosystem. She has extensively worked on many national and international projects (US and EU) for promoting social entrepreneurship and diversity & inclusion. She is an ardent promoter of technology that can create large scale societal impact. She is also closely working with FPO’s and self-help groups in several programs for creating inclusive growth and a sustainable circular economy. She runs the Founder Start School for Women Entrepreneurs and is one of the session experts for the Sustainability Course for Professional being conducted by All India Management Association (AIMA).

Nayan Mitra works and contributes in the space of Sustainability, CSR and Responsible Leadership. She is the series editor of Responsible Business and Sustainable Management by Springer, is the editor of the books 'Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Cases and Development after the Legal Mandate' in India (2017), ‘Mandated Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from India’ (2019), ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Rising Economies: Fundamentals, Approaches and Case Studies’ (2020) with co-editor, Dr. Rene Schmidpeter (Germany) that has been published by Springer International (Switzerland); is Academic Council member and Science Board member in International Academic forums. Dr. Mitra is the recipient of the prestigious Author Award at the Indian CSR Leadership Summit three years in a row: 2017, 2018 and 2019; adjudged as one of the 25 most impactful CSR Leaders in India 2019 and many other international awards for her contribution to CSR and recognised as an Exceptional Woman of Excellence at the Women Economic Forum, 2019 & 2022 (New Delhi, India); the Global Excellence Awards as the Top 40 Female Leaders of the Year, 2020-2021; The Restore Awards, 2021; Womennovator Award 2021; Most Impactful Sustainability Leader Award 2023. She feels deeply for women’s issues and is the National President of the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI) Sustainable Businesses Council; G-100 for Circular Economy; – where she continuously strives to bring in innovative programmes to contribute to the impact of SDG 5. She is also a pro-bono member of the Advisory Council and Board of some of the eminent NGOs in India, whose work with women and children has received global recognition.

Gordana Coric is senior lecturer of several courses (including dynamic entrepreneurship, business ethics, social entrepreneurship and social innovation, innovativeness, managing growing companies, design thinking, start-up management, etc.) at the VERN University (Zagreb, Croatia). She is also the owner-manager of consultancy and training company Festina lente (business services, counseling, consulting, training programs), where she acts as a trainer, mentor, researcher and program designer. She is a member of various networks of advisors, trainers, and consultants (including crowdfunding academy, business angel’s academy, franchising, social impact measurement, lean start-up, beyond (un)employment, social innovation and social entrepreneurship networks, corporate social responsibility, start-up mentors, etc.). Her previous work experience includes work for the European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER, Amsterdam, NL) and World Learning in projects of education of entrepreneurs and economic empowerment of women in Croatia and neighboring countries. She has published over 30 professional, scientific and review papers. She is a PhD candidate at the University Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Faculty of Economics (Osijek, Croatia), and her interest includes the specifics of mentorship of various types of entrepreneurs, in all phases of their development. 

Yanire Braña is Guest Lecturer at Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA. She is President and Founder of MET Community, a non-profit organization that supports and promotes women entrepreneurship around the globe through mentoring, training, and networking activities. MET Community started back in 2008, with a few volunteers, and now has grown to over 60-people strong organization calling ten different countries their home. Most of the work is focused on the Americas region. Yanire has extensive experience - over 20 years - in change management, training, mentoring and innovation. Her former employers include the Work Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank, Banco Popular, Accenture, and Booz Allen. Yanire holds a Law degree from University of Deusto, Spain; Master's degree in International Relations from University of the Basque Country, and an MBA with concentration in eBusiness from IE Business School. She studied Business Sustainability in the University of Cambridge. In addition, she holds certifications in Strategy from London Business School; Innovation Strategies from Harvard Business School; and Organizational Consulting & Change Leadership from Georgetown University. Yanire has been recognized by United Nations, Forbes, and has been recently nominated as one of the TOP 60 Women in the legal industry in Iberia and also one of the Top 100 members and Global Chairs for the G100 Club founded by Dr Harbeen Arora.