Network Capital

In this podcast, we cover -

1. ⁠Role of serendipity in building meaningful careers

2.⁠ ⁠Ethical principles toward shaping more inclusive technologies

3.⁠ ⁠Feminist and anti-racist approach to AI

Eleanor started her career in financial technology before co-founding an e-commerce company. Now a Senior Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, she maintains her strong interest in commercial concerns and opportunities in AI by working to bridge the gap between industry in academia in AI Ethics. She runs a team that is building the world's first free auditing online tool that allows companies to meet the EU AI act's obligations - which have been enriched with feminist and antiracist principles. She previously explored what AI ethics currently means to AI engineers at a major tech multinational the size of Meta. Her advisory work in the AI Ethics space also includes the UN Data Science & Ethics Group's 'Applied Ethics Toolkit'. On this site you can learn more about her past and present projects, media appearances, and publications.

She has an international dual degree PhD from the University of Bologna and the University of Granada, where she was an Early Stage Researcher for the EU Horizon 2020 ETN-ITN-Marie Curie Project “GRACE” (Gender and Cultures of Equality in Europe). She has made two short films about science fiction utopias and dystopias, and co-created a feminist quotation-generating App called 'Quotidian'.  

TN Hari is an advisor and sounding board to numerous young entrepreneurs and startups. He is also a Strategic Advisor at ‘Fundamentum’, which is a homegrown growth phase VC fund set up by Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal. Hari was the former HR at BigBasket.

In this podcast, we discuss

1.⁠ ⁠Why reading matters and how it shapes our world view

2.⁠ ⁠How to read when one is flooded with content from all sides

3.⁠ ⁠What learning across disciplines looks like

Professor Anamika teaches literatures in English at the University of Delhi Her doctoral thesis is on the reception of John Donne across the ages. She has published extensively also in the areas of Translating Studies and Gender Justice. Besides 8 volumes of cricitism, she has published 7 well received novels in Hindi. Three of her novels, Dus Dware ka Peenjara, Aienasaz and Trin Dhari Oat have won national awards and have been staged as major stage productions.

In 2020 she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her poetry collection” Tokri Mein Digant”Poems from her other poetry collections “ Anushtup”, “ Khurduri Hatheliyan”,” Doob - Dhan”, “ Pani Ko Sab Yaad Tha”, “ Band Raston Ka Safar” etc are prescribed at different Universities and have been rendered into languages such as Malayalam, Marathi, Bangla, Punjabi, Oriya, Kannad, Korean, Russian and English. She herself is an avid translator and also the founder editor of a bilingual journal called Pashyantee.

Her essays on womanist discourse in Hindi too have been translated into many languages and she herself has translated the works of Rilke, Neruda, Doris Lessing, Octavio Paz, and fellow women poets extensively. Her major English publications include Transplanting British Poetry in Indian Classrooms, Donne Criticism Down the Ages, Post-War Women Poets: Treatment of Love and Death, Feminist Poetics: Where Kingfishers Catch Fire, Translating Racial Memory, Weaving a Nation: Proto-Feminist Writing in Hindi and Urdu .

This is her recent book - https://www.amazon.com/Trin-Dhari-Ot-Anamika/dp/9355183917

In this podcast, we cover -

1. Frameworks for combining impact with profitability to build a mission driven business

2. The early days of building ReNew: the journey of finding early believers and operating in a ‘blue ocean’

3. Nuances of nurturing talent and championing gender and diversity

Vaishali Nigam Sinha is the Chair for ReNew Foundation and Chief Sustainability Officer for ReNew Power, which is India’s largest renewable energy IPP (Independent Power Producer). A strong advocate of equal participation of women in economic activities, Vaishali is also passionate about Climate Change, Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership. She has been a speaker at international forums like the California Governor’s Global Climate Action Summit, Clinton Global Initiative and United Nations Global Compact Network.  
Vaishali is deeply engaged with industry bodies, think tanks and educational institutions. She is a member of the Governing Council of the UN Global Compact Network, India (GCNI) and Chairperson of their Gender Committee; Chairperson – South Asian Women In Energy (SAWIE); Co – Chair of CII Indian Women Network and Woman Empowerment Committee. Vaishali is on the Advisory Board for Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai and is a member of the Governing Council of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air (CERCA) at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Vaishali was felicitated for her outstanding contribution towards woman empowerment by CSR Journal in July 2019, and also recognized as being amongst India’s Top 25 Impactful CSR Leaders by the India CSR Network in April 2019. CEO Today magazine has conferred the Business Woman of the Year Award 2019 on her for her achievements and leadership of women in business. Vaishali has completed the Owners and Presidents Management Program from Harvard Business School and has a Masters in Public Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she was an American Association of University Women (AAUW) scholar. 

In this podcast, we cover -

1. Frameworks for effective leadership in an uncertain and volatile world

2. Personal insights on the idea of ‘success’ and ‘feeling successful'

3. The art of identifying and navigating important points of ‘inflection'

Sharath is the Globally Recognised Authority on Leadership at Inflection Moments. He is an acclaimed Advisor, Facilitator & Author supporting Leaders and Organisations to Futureproof Success.  He supports a wide range of organisations to safely navigate their Inflection Moments & futureproof success, through an innovative Guided Journey process. These include pre-eminent global corporations (e.g. L'Oreal, Shopify, Adecco), public sector organisations (e.g. the UK's NHS & Parliament), non-profits (e.g. Teach for All, Ashoka), growth businesses (e.g. JKS Restaurants) and venture funds (e.g. within the Omidyar Group).  Sharath teaches Leadership at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.  Sharath's groundbreaking first book "Intrinsic" received widespread acclaim from fellow authors Dan Heath and Nir Eyal, to former Prime Ministers.

In this podcast, we cover -

1. Lessons in grit: balancing personal responsibilities with professional goals through a difficult medical diagnosis

2. Frameworks for understanding risk and regret: how to know you’re making the ‘right’ decision

3. Zero involuntary churn: building teams that work

Pascal Uffer is the co-founder of Boostbar alongside some of the industry's brightest minds. In 2020 he started his entrepreneurial journey that transformed his startup into one of the fastest-growing enterprises, amassing a remarkable CHF 15 million in revenue and fostering a team of over 100 professionals.
In an extraordinary turn of events, Pascal's entrepreneurial success faced an unexpected challenge 15 months into the venture when he received a terminal cancer diagnosis (NSCLC stage 4b). Miraculously overcoming this formidable obstacle, Pascal attributes his survival to the advances of modern medicine and an extraordinary stroke of luck.
Before his foray into the startup landscape, Pascal Uffer's career spanned four continents. He brought his expertise as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, delved into private equity with KKR, and assumed the role of Group COO at the multinational corporation Selecta. Pascal holds academic credentials, including an engineering degree and an MBA from INSEAD.
Outside the professional arena, Pascal is deeply passionate about skiing and the outdoors. As a proud husband and father, he finds fulfillment in his family life, sharing joyous moments with his seven-year-old daughter, Adele, and his six-year-old son, Leon.

In this podcast, we cover -

1. The art and science of forming multi-dimensional careers: nuances of achievement

2. Frameworks for understanding change as a philosopher

3. Frameworks for analysing achievement in the automated workspace

Sven Nyholm is a Professor of the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at LMU Munich and the Principal Investigator for AI Ethics at the Munich Center for Machine Learning. Much of his recent work has been about the impact of emerging technologies on our opportunities to live meaningful lives, have meaningful relationships, and do meaningful work. He is particularly interested in how life in the contemporary world – with technologies like robots and artificial intelligence – affects traditional ideas about ethics and our human self-understanding. Nyholm’s publications include Revisiting Kant’s Universal Law and Humanity Formulas (De Gruyter, 2015), Humans and Robots: Ethics, Agency, and Anthropomorphism (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2020) and This is Technology Ethics: An Introduction (Wiley-Blackwell, 2023).

In this podcast we cover -

1. The increasing importance of liberal arts in a world with rising automation

2. The role of mentors and building an ‘entrepreneurial mindset'

3. The ‘Personal Journey Map’ and the importance of the ‘startup of you'

Priyank Narayan

Founding Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Ashoka University, a leading liberal arts university. He started his career with IBM. He has been an entrepreneur for many years before joining Ashoka University. Priyank teaches courses on Design Thinking, Innovation Management, and Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset. He is a guest faculty member at IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad, HEC Paris, and Naropa Fellowship, Leh. An MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Priyank has also studied at IIM Ahmedabad. He has completed executive education programmes at Harvard Business School and Singularity University, California. He holds a PhD from the Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi.

Mukesh Sud

An engineer from IIT Delhi, he founded several small-scale industries involved in abrasive blasting and thermal sprayed coatings. Mukesh began his academic career in the US at Augustana College (2006-09), after which he was a tenured faculty member at the Dolan School of Business, Fairfield University (2009-15). Mukesh is a visiting faculty at Ashoka University, Delhi NCR, and the Naropa Fellowship at Leh. At IIM Ahmedabad he conducts executive education programmes on 'Design Thinking' and 'Creating Entrepreneurial Organizations'. He is on FICCI's Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Committee.

In this podcast, we discuss -

1. Frameworks for overcoming the cold start problem in early stage startups

2. Content and product strategies to empower small and medium sized businesses

3. Insights on startup acquisitions

Amita holds the position of Co-founder and CEO at Playback, a pioneering interactive video platform designed to assist businesses in fostering customer engagement and enriching their brand storytelling. She spent over a decade on Wall Street and in management consulting. She also has a notable presence in the tech sector, with a focus on strategy, operations, and IPO.​

Amita's compelling global narrative unfolds across five countries. She was born in India, raised in Jersey City, pursued studies abroad in London, earned her MBA in France and Singapore, and contributed to digital innovation in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia/UAE. Her exploration has taken her to 65 countries and counting.​

Passionate about making a significant impact, Amita is dedicated to building and scaling businesses that touch millions of lives. She channels her energy into transforming impact-focused ideas into tangible and actionable business initiatives. Additionally, she is committed to mentoring women and underrepresented founders.​Amita has developed a set of strengths, including being a creative problem solver, a strategic visionary, possessing insatiable curiosity, being a thoughtful communicator, and maintaining a growth mindset.​

Outside the professional realm, Amita finds joy in various activities. She embraces an active lifestyle through strength training, hiking, yoga, and meditation. Her reading interests span business books, biographies, and historical fiction. Furthermore, she immerses herself in the vibrant art scene of New York City.