Together for Youth, Together for Change
Antarang Foundation is a team of passionate changemakers—visionary leaders, dedicated staff, and empowered youth—working toward a future where every young person can access an equitable future. From our Board and Advisory to the Youth Advisory Board and our dynamic team, we bring together expertise, lived experience, and a shared commitment to transform lives and communities.
What Fuels Our Purpose?
Antarang’s vision is to have every young adult productively, passionately and positively engaged in a career of their choice, enabling them to uplift their families and communities from intergenerational poverty.
Our Purpose in Action
In-School Career Facilitators
Our Story
Our Journey: Milestones of Impact
From our inception in 2013, Antarang Foundation has enabled thousands of youth, achieving significant milestones in bridging the gap between education and employability.
5 States
3,45,000+ Youth
10 years
1,60,000+ youth
INR 87 Lakhs
94,000+ youth
40+ Partnerships
35,500+ youth
Reached through our CareerAware and CareeReady Program, empowering futures and shaping career success.
6x jump
17,000+ youth
2 Programs
4,500+ youth
3 cities
1,700+ youth
8 night schools
300+ youth
That’s how many students we commenced our career awareness journey with.
Meet the People Shaping Our Impact.
Meet the competent individuals leading our mission to bridge the gap between education and employability.
Board & Advisory
Priya Agrawal
Priya has over 2 decades of experience in the development sector, spent largely leading organisations that work with adolescents on helping them develop skills and competencies that are valued in the workplace. Priya founded Antarang Foundation in 2013, to focus on providing career awareness and career readiness and bridging the gap between education and employability. Priya holds a post-graduation in Management from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and a Bachelor’ in Biological Sciences. She is an Ashoka Fellow and an ASPiRE Fellow.
Rita Pani
Rita Pani is an ESG consultant and leads the ESG practice at Institutional Investors Advisory Services (IiAS), a SEBI-accredited ESG Rating Provider. IiAS, a signatory of the UNPRI, is an advisory firm that offers independent opinions, research, and data on corporate governance and ESG issues, helping Indian capital market participants assess ESG performance and integrate sustainability into investment strategies. Rita also mentors startups with a focus on their sustainability strategies.
With a career spanning two decades in investment banking across New York and Mumbai, Rita has also served as an Adjunct Faculty at SPJIMR, where she taught finance and structured finance programs for the industry. Additionally, she initiated research on global ESG frameworks at SPJIMR’s Centre for Financial Studies.
Rita is the Co-Founder and Senior Advisor at Antarang Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the school-to-work transition for underprivileged youth. Over the past 11 years, Antarang has impacted over 300,000 students across five states in India. She is a SEBI-certified Social Auditor and a member of the Task Force for the Social Stock Exchange.
Rita holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from SPJIMR and NYU’s Stern School of Business. She has also served as an independent director on various boards.
Vinay Hebbar
Vinay Hebbar is the Executive Vice-President, Head of Corporate Learning and International Markets and a member of the Executive Committee at Harvard Business Publishing. In this role, Vinay leads the Corporate Learning Division, working with clients and talented colleagues across the world. In addition, Vinay is responsible for the International business strategy and growth for all 3 HBP divisions, viz. Higher Education, Corporate Learning and Harvard Business Review.
He serves on the Managing Committee of Harvard Business School India Research Center, and on the Board of Harvard Global Services India, in addition to the Boards for Harvard Business Publishing’s subsidiaries in Europe, India, and Asia Pacific. Vinay has served in several leadership roles since joining Harvard in 2007. Prior to that, Vinay was in leadership roles with Wolters Kluwer in Asia, and with Arthur D. Little’s strategy consulting team based in Singapore. Vinay began his career with Arthur Andersen in India. He has lived and worked extensively in markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and North America.
Vinay’s areas of expertise include global strategy & business, leadership development, partnerships, and digital media. Vinay co-authored an article published in the Harvard Business Review titled “Lessons from Chinese Companies’ Response to Covid-19”.
Vinay is a rank-holding Chartered Accountant and an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, and Univ. of Southern California. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School where he completed the General Management Program.
Nohid Nooreyezdan
With over 28 years of experience, Nohid Nooreyezdan advises on Employment, Compliance & Investigation / White-Collar Crime and Real Estate matters. Nohid has assisted clients on various aspects of complex employment law issues pertaining to workforce structuring, contentious senior managerial exits, reductions in force, closures, employee transfers, integrations pursuant to corporate transactions and cross-border employee benefits, including employee stock option plans. A significant portion of her practice is focussed on assisting employers mitigate risks of litigation and ensuring compliance with Indian law.
In addition to the law, Nohid is also bolstered by a degree in social services and has developed a strong understanding of the laws relating to workplace harassment on which she regularly advises clients. She has led several FCPA and Indian anti-corruption-related investigations, worked with independent counsel and forensic advisors and has conducted document reviews and interviews of custodians on allegations of commercial bribery and bribery of public servants. Her real estate experience includes assisting with acquisitions, disposals, development and planning, leasing and financing matters.
Nohid holds a Bachelor of Arts (Law) from the University of London, United Kingdom.
Deepak Jayaraman
Deepak Jayaraman’s mission is to help people with a growth mindset play to their full potential. He does this in three ways. He works with a few growth-minded leaders and teams and helps them play to their full potential by immersing himself in the full context of their organizations and lives, building trust, and being a sounding board on their long journey of transformation and choices.
He likes to create content that can provoke reflection and get people to play to their full potential. This includes the Play to Potential Podcast, P2P Fireside chat series, Blogs, Articles, and an upcoming book (to be published in Nov 2024). He occasionally conducts short tailored sessions with leadership teams on different elements of Playing to Potential where he distils some of the insights he has gleaned from the podcast, his coaching journey, and his life.
Deepak Jayaraman is an alumnus of IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad and London Business School. In his work with clients, Deepak tries to weave in his understanding of business and first principles problem solving from McKinsey, appreciation of the link between business and leadership from Egon Zehnder and a nuanced understanding of human behaviour, motivations and change from his work in Coaching and Leadership Development. Deepak is a certified CEO Coach.
Amita Chauhan
Amita has more than 25 years of experience working with non-profit organisations, including 8 years at GiveIndia, with an emphasis on communications. Apart from serving on Antarang’s Advisory Council, she is also the Communications Team Leader at St Jude India Childcare Centres, and she is a member of Social Venture Partners. Currently, she works on helping individuals plan their philanthropic giving in a way that is enriching, rewarding and fulfilling to them.
Alka Nalavadi
Alka is a corporate lawyer and specialises in mergers & acquisitions. In her 29-year career, Alka has worked on several complex cross-border M&A transactions. Today she is a partner at AZB & Partners – a prominent law firm in India. Alka completed her Bachelor of Law from the University of Delhi in 1995. She also holds a master’s in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Bachelor in Economics from Hindu College, University of Delhi.
Kavita Nair
An award-winning and dynamic Business leader, Marketeer and Strategist with 25+ years of diversity of experience across domains, Kavita is a Board Member and serves as an Independent Director on the Board of two public companies – Blue Dart Express Limited & Savita Oil Technologies Limited. She runs her Strategic Advisory practice where she advices early-age start-ups & participates actively in the gig economy.
Apart from this, she is an Advisor to couple of large Impact organisations and mentors young individuals esp women to unleash their power in the world of business.
A telecom industry veteran, Kavita spent over 22 years in what is now Vodafone Idea and held leadership roles in diverse functions across Consumer and Enterprise, Retail, Digital, Data and Customer Experience & Operations. Her last assignment was as the Cheif Digital Transformation & Brand Officer for Vodafone Idea.
She was the driving force behind Vi – a brand that emerged with the integration of two of the iconic brands – Vodafone and Idea. She has a strong track record of building some of the most admired telecom brands of the country and Vodafone’s iconic Zoozoos were born during her tenure as the Brand Head at Vodafone India. Her areas of expertise include marketing, digital, retail, pricing, product management, channel and customer operations.
Her talent and success have been acknowledged at several prestigious forums – Economic Times included her in its 25 Rising Women Leaders of India Inc. in 2015; Business Today voted her as one of the Hottest Young Executives to watch out for in 2011 and Brand Equity named her amongst the 8 Marketing Premier League Icons in 2009.
Kavita is an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), M S University, Baroda where she did her MBA in Marketing and has also completed Senior Leadership Programs from London Business School and IIM Ahmedabad.
Anant Bhagwati
Anant Bhagwati is a Partner at The Bridgespan Group, working in the Mumbai office. He has an abiding interest in enabling Indian NGOs and domestic philanthropy to achieve their full potential. Anant collaborates closely with multi-generational families, technology entrepreneurs, corporates, and global foundations, helping them to dream bolder and with greater equity. He works with over 30 leading nonprofits in India, both scale actors and high potentials, guiding them on their journeys of transformative scale. Anant is a prolific writer and speaker, frequently contributing to forums and co-authoring the India Philanthropy Report for over five years.Prior to this, Anant served as Director for Capacity Building and Expertise at Dasra, focusing on strategic philanthropy and field building. His career began with advising for-profit companies, culminating in his role as Partner at Bain India, where he led Digital Transformation in India. Throughout his nearly 20-year consulting career, several common elements have consistently excited him, particularly his passion for applying corporate-learned skills to support philanthropists and NGOs with strategy formulation, implementation, and scaling impact.
Entertainment Limited
Dhimant Bakshi
Dhimant Bakshi is CEO of Imagicaaworld Entertainment Limited , an INSEAD Alumnus with 3 decades of experience in Retail and Entertainment Sector across organisations such as Reliance Retail, Shoppers’ Stop, Future Group and Globus
He has developed strong acumen of Business Turnarounds, Change Management, Drive Profitability and Team Building during his career . His functional expertise in Business Development, Brand Management, Project Management E-Commerce and Retailing.
He joined Imagicaa as VP – Retail wherein he successfully conceptualized and Implemented a Green Field Project with Own IP Based Thematic Merchandise to Store Execution in just under a year. He has also been Integral in the IP Based Characters Design, Development and Licensing. He Has successfully achieved breakeven in a very short span for the Retail Business through Lean Planning and Meticulous implementation. Currently, he is leading Business at Imagicaa – Adlabs Entertainment Limited) as the CEO.
An INSEAD (SG) Alumnus and a Post Graduate in Marketing Management, he has a keen interest in retail education and has even co-authored retail education content for RAI. He has keen interest in Social impact, Educational and Sports initiatives. He is a sounding board and Mentor to some of the upcoming Entrepreneurs with their ventures.
Ex-CEO Tata, Ex- IAS
Sanjay Ubale
In his career spanning over thirty-five years, Sanjay has held many key positions. Notable amongst them were: Secretary to Government for Mumbai’s Development; Secretary to the Chief Minister; Joint Secretary, Administrative Reforms; Managing Director of a public-sector undertaking, Maharashtra State Seeds Corporation; Collector and District Magistrate of Sangli district in Maharashtra; and project director of the World Bank and DfID assisted Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Project. He has been the Managing Director of Tata Realty & Infrastructure, a Tata Group company and has served as Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is an independent Director at Interise Investment Managers Ltd and a Board Member of the Noida International Airport.
Sanjay is a distinguished IAS Officer. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Mumbai University, an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Bombay University and a master’s degree in development studies from the University of Bath, U.K. He has also completed his Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.
Governance, infrastructure, rural & urban development, water & sanitation, Agriculture and community-based development are some of his areas of interest.
Aditya Birla Capital Limited
Ajay Srinivasan
Ajay Srinivasan has a long and successful track record in setting up and scaling businesses in India and abroad. Over his career, he has set up and scaled over 20 businesses in India and Asia.
In a career spanning 35 years, he was CEO for 24 years. He was the founding CEO for large businesses like ICICI Prudential AMC, Prudential Fund Management Asia (Now East Spring) and Aditya Birla Capital.
Ajay started his career with ICICI in 1987 after which he moved to ITC’s financial services business to help set up a range of businesses for them, culminating in his taking on the role of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Investment officer of ITC Threadneedle Asset Management Company in 1996.
He was the first CEO of ICICI Pru AMC in India in 1998. Under his leadership that business became the largest private sector AMC in India.
He then moved to Hong Kong to set up and lead Prudential Asia’s asset management business in January 2001. From a small business, largely managing life insurance money of a couple of billion dollars in one market, that business grew both organically and through acquisitions into 10 markets, including Japan, with $70 bn of assets and became the second largest retail fund manager in Asia within 7 years.
He came back to India in 2007 to join the Aditya Birla Group to set up and lead their financial services business. Under his leadership, the Group became a leading financial services conglomerate with a position amongst the top 100 corporates in India with interests in life insurance, health insurance, asset management, mortgages, retail and sme lending, general insurance broking, stock broking and a stressed assets platform.
After leaving the Birla Group in 2022, Ajay is seeking new challenges to reinvent himself. He has entrepreneurial interests, is advisor to some large firms, mentors start-ups and is working with non-profits in education and sports.
Ajay schooled at St Columba’s School, New Delhi, holds a BA with Honours in Economics from St Stephens College, University of Delhi and studied management at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He was on the National Council of CII and also advisor to the City of London.
Anuj Gandhi
Anuj is the Founder of Plug and Play Entertainment P Ltd, a cutting-edge Media Tech Start-up revolutionising the Connected TV experience across various devices, mobile platforms, and the web. With an impressive background in the media industry, he led the content monetisation team at IndiaCast, a joint venture between TV18 and Viacom. He was involved with Reliance Jio, spearheading the acquisition of all Jio video and audio apps. His leadership roles at Den Networks and Set Discovery have further solidified his reputation as a forward-thinking and dynamic professional. Anuj holds a graduate degree from the prestigious SP Jain Institute of Management.
Youth Advisory Board
Abhishek Thakur
Grade 12
Student
Mahima Choudhary
Project Coordinator at Imarticus Learning City tour guide at Nine Tours
Tanisha Agrawal
Grade 12
Student
Pavitra Yadav
2nd Year,
BCom Student
Our Partners
Ready to Make an Impact?
We're always seeking passionate and purpose-driven individuals who want to work with and for youth, helping them become career-ready and guiding them in shaping their careers.