Philanthropy Innovation Summit 2025 | March 6 Philanthropy in Asia

Sarika Kulkarni is a philanthropist, serial entrepreneur and academician. She is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive of Raah Foundation, a Non- Profit working to create prosperity for People in harmony with Environment & Biodiversity. Her foundation works in the biodiversity hotspots of western India with indigenous people. She is also the founder of Raah Creations, a social business providing market linkages to artisans and farmers. She holds a doctorate in management and is an alum of prestigious institutions like AIT (Bangkok), UPenn and Saïd Business School. She has published three books and is a sought-after speaker. She also sits on several national and international councils and think tanks.

Dr Abhishek Lakhtakia has a Doctorate in Public Administration and comes  with rich development sector experience of 25 years. His experience in the CSR  domain includes CSR compliance, designing and implementing innovative  programs in alignment with CSR strategies, setting up effective systems and  processes for program management, organization development, and strengthening partnerships.  

Dr Abhishek has worked in key positions with various organizations such as  JSW Foundation, E&Y, Reliance Foundation, ICICI Foundation, CRY, and CHILDLINE  India Foundation.

During his more than two and a half decade of journey, Dr Abhishek has: 

• Provided strategic leadership for the smooth execution of development  programs across various domains,  
• Conceptualized and initiated innovative programs  
• Strengthened systems and processes for effective compliance management  and impact 
• Led Operations team with a large corporate group having diverse footprints  and domains 
• Led Visioning, Goal setting, and organization restructuring of the  organization  
• Implemented Monitoring and evaluation systems for development programs  • Managed senior members of the board and Advisory committee with  different corporates • Led all external partnerships e.g. Government, International organizations,  development organizations, and corporates

Neera Nundy is the Co-founder and Partner at Dasra, a leading non-profit systems orchestrator driving collaborative action for social change in India. Since co-founding Dasra in 1999, she has played a key leadership role in its transformation from a venture philanthropy fund to foundation for non-profits, mobilizing $330M+, supporting 1,500+ NGOs, advising 750+ funders, and impacting 170M+ lives. Neera drives Dasra’s strategic vision and its commitment to equity, proximate leadership, systems thinking, and collaborative platforms through programs like GivingPi, Dasra Social Impact, ClimateRISE and the Adolescent Girls Collaborative. She has experiences in gender, climate, WSH, family philanthropy and NGO capacity building. Currently she also pursuing a PhD in Philanthropy at Indiana University and is on the global boards of The Hunger Project, LGT Venture Philanthropy and The John Hopkins University India. Prior to Dasra she worked at Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg; holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a BSc in Statistical Sciences from University of Western Ontario and is an India Fellow of the Global Aspen Institute. She is Canadian but based in Mumbai for the last 23 years.