Industry & Academic Mentors

Specialises in Cluster Development, Business Development Services Market Development, Value Chain and Rural Marketing. Presently managing activities pertaining to Sustainable Development of MSMEs in the country. He is also engaged in providing strategic and technical services to the cluster development organisations within and outside India. Conducted a series of cluster development executive programmes, capacity-building programmes for Business Membership Organisations (BMOs) and Business Development Service Providers. Managing establishment of Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs) overseas. Carried out research on rural marketing, cluster, value chain, BDS market and presented papers in national and international conferences. Authored a book titled ‘Supply Chain Management-Strategies & Evaluation’.

Possesses 31 years of experience in industry and academics. He has been a visiting faculty at California State University, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, USA and Birkbeck University, London, UK. His rich academic experience includes working as Chief Academic Officer at Narsee Monjee University, Mumbai and establishing 2 biggest on-Line universities in India -Symbiosis Center for Distance Learning (SCDL) having 100,000 students and NGASCE having more than 15000 students in less than 3 years. He was also instrumental in launching India’s first Skill based University of Symbiosis Group, Pune. He closely works with Government Agencies and Corporates for developing and expanding Academic/Executive Programmes and E- Learning Courses.

Has over 15 years of teaching and research experience. Currently, he is a National Team Member of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) India Consortium and has co-authored four GEM reports. He is associated with reputed national and international journals as a reviewer, editor and editorial board member. Dr. Dwivedi has authored research papers, book reviews, and a textbook. Dr. Dwivedi has presented his research at national and international conferences in India and abroad. He participated in a Training of Trainers’ programme for teaching ‘Business Simulation’, organized by ILS, held at the University of Tennessee, Texas, USA.

Has 25 years of experience in various branches of economics – International Trade, International Business, International Marketing, Economic Development and Growth Models, Micro and Macro Economics, Business and Social Accounting, Managerial Economics, Business Environment and Indian Economy. Recipient of the Best Teachers Award for the year 2007-08 at IBS, Ahmedabad. Featured in Ahmedabad Times as the “coolest mentor” of Shanti Business School, Ahmedabad. He has published two books, edited by him, four research papers and 14 articles. He has presented papers at many national and international conferences.

A business management professional with more than 2 decades of work experience in industry and development sector. Has worked extensively in the areas of creative co-creation in livelihoods, has promoted rural micro-enterprises in various sectors and worked in various handloom and handicraft clusters. Currently he is involved in promoting nano-enterprises in rural areas spread across 61 blocks in 14 states across the country under Ministry of Rural Development’s Start up Village Entrepreneurship (SVEP) program. He is also involved in providing technical support to various handicraft clusters. His thematic areas of interest include development studies, sub-sector analysis, livelihoods, institutional innovations in informal sector, value chain, new product & design development and social entrepreneurship

An educator in the area of Business Communication and Organisational Communication for Entrepreneurs, with over 17 years of experience in academia. With specialization in Entrepreneurial Communication, Business Communication for Entrepreneurial Success, Effective Persuasion and Negotiation skills in Entrepreneurship, Dr. Mitra holds expertise in training post-graduate students, and grooming budding entrepreneurs. Presently, she is engaged in research in the areas of women entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. She has presented research papers in various conferences and her papers are published in National and International journals. Her research in mobile enabled language learning under the UGC Grant has helped students in anytime, anywhere learning. She is also well-recognised as a corporate trainer and conducts MDP for PSU and corporates.

Possesses experience of over 11 years as a researcher at IIMA and later as a faculty at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India and National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) Pune. Has been visiting faculty to IIM Shillong and IIM Indore. His research and publications span various topics including institutional design and behaviour in water management, food & agriculture policy, biotechnology in agriculture, rural banking, agricultural and social entrepreneurship, and the impact of development programmes. His areas of specialization include Rural Finance, Banking, Agricultural Entrepreneurship, and other development areas.

A teacher in the areas of Accounting, Costing, Management Accounting, Taxation and Finance, she possesses over 17 years of experience in academia and industry. Currently pursuing Ph.D. on the topic ‘To Study the Acceptance level of Technology in Personal Finance with reference to different Demographics and Social – economic factors of Investors in Selected Cities of Gujarat’. At EDII, she is involved in teaching Post Graduate students and in coordinating key National level programmes & mentoring research work of PGDM-BE students, also coordinated TOT Mizoram ED Programme.

Over three decades of experience in the areas of business opportunity identification, project formulation, project appraisal, counselling and guiding entrepreneurs. Conducted more than 10 international programmes and worked as an expert in a number of developing countries in the above-mentioned fields. He is also the Local Representative for the Netherlands Senior Experts Organisation.

Prof Bala Bhaskaran is a management professional with active interest in teaching and institution building. Prior to his engagement with EDII, he was Provost of Swarnim Startup & Innovation University, Gandhinagar.

An Alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore, he possesses rich experience in industry and academia. His areas of interest are finance, strategy, entrepreneurship, knowledge management etc. He has published numerous papers and cases in national and international journals. He is a reviewer for cases for few international journals. He has been conducting workshops on case method of teaching and case writing. He has founded two journals – Oakbrook Business Review for Oakbrook Business School and The Fountainhead for Shanti Business School. Widely travelled, Prof. Bhaskaran is on the board of prominent corporates and educational institutions.