Presenting YourStory's 100 Digital Influencers of 2020

YourStory’s 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 is a list of thought leaders, whose thoughts and opinions mattered to our readers in 2020, and who, we believe, will continue to influence and inspire the next generation of changemakers in 2021 and beyond.

Wednesday December 30, 2020 , 39 min Read

The year 2020 will forever be known for digital disruption and the accelerated demand for voices that break through the incessant clamour online to command real influence that matters.

That's why, we are proud to present YourStory’s 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 that features a powerful group of thought leaders who -- through the conversations they steered online -- informed, inspired, and influenced our readers in 2020.

As we all know, digital influence lies at the intersection of two powerful narratives that have shaped human progress: information and technology. And as evidenced, digital media connects people in ways never before possible and facilitates interaction across social, economic, cultural, political, religious, and ideological boundaries, allowing for enhanced understanding and democratised dissemination.

In 2020, in particular, the power of digital narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic was more than evident. Never before in human history has it been possible to communicate so quickly and reach such a large global audience as during a pandemic, and digital storytelling platforms such as YourStory have been a key enabler of this phenomenon.

Through their writings on our platform, YourStory’s 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 inspired hope and strength in a pandemic-hit year. Their words resonated with our readers and gave them strength, even as the world at large grappled with the changes brought about by the pandemic-induced crisis.

Criteria for YourStory's 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 list

1. Deep engagement

To compile the list of YourStory’s 100 Digital Influencers of 2020, we scoured through thousands of articles contributed by specialists, thought leaders, and industry experts in various fields, carefully selecting those that garnered the highest engagement from our readers, using measures such as the number of page views, time spent per user, likes, comments, and shares.

2. Insightful, relevant, meaningful content

YourStory's 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 spotlight the insights and opinions of expert voices from various fields. Their voices and sphere of influence extend beyond the startup and business worlds, with their content delving into and spotlighting lifestyle, healthcare, social, gender, and environmental trends.

We’ve published in-depth articles and opinions by experts and influencers on YourStory, as well as on our different properties, including HerStory, SocialStory, SMBStory, and YourStory Weekender.

3. Deliver significant learnings

Influencers who drew a powerful following were alike in the way their content and conversations were resourceful and provided value to our readers. Many of them included learnings and insights that the audience could take away to apply in their everyday life and at work.

Our list of YourStory’s 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 includes entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, activists, healthcare workers, journalists, authors, and bloggers from across India and the world. These are individuals who have contributed high-quality, insightful, and engaging content for our readers, drawing from their own authentic experiences and sharing these learnings.

A peek at the YourStory's 100 Digital Influencers of 2020 list

Notables on the list include Hans Tung of GGV Capital, who has been featured on the Forbes Midas List every year since 2013, as well as venture capitalists like Amit Somani of Prime Venture Partners and Anand Daniel of Accel India.

Another prominent voices on the list are Apurva Purohit of Jagran Group, Zarina Screwvala of Swades Foundation, Malini Agarwal, who is better known as MissMalini, and Kunal Sood, the internationally renowned social impact strategist, investor, and entrepreneur. We’re also happy to have some well-recognised influencers in the Indian tech and startup ecosystem such as TN Hari, Geetika Dayal, Sameer Dhanrajani, Saahil Goel, ElsaMarie D'Silva, Taslimarif Saiyed, and Nisha Holla, among others.

The list also features several prominent women leaders, nodding to a healthy mix of gender perspectives in today’s digital narratives. We have Puja Marwaha, CEO of CRY, who champions social issues surrounding children including child labour, child marriage, trafficking, education, and menstrual awareness on the list. We’re also happy to have Sheenam Ohrie of Dell Technologies. A leader in the tech industry, Sheenam is vocal about women empowerment across workplaces, tech, and entrepreneurship. Mansa Rajan of Eat.Fit, who played a prominent role in championing mindful eating and a healthy lifestyle to keep our immunity intact during the pandemic, is a notable voice and fitting on the list, as are Ratna Mehta of the Wadhwani Catalyst Foundation and Noopur Chaturvedi.

Without further ado, here’s YourStory’s 100 Digital Influencers of 2020, our recommendation of experts whose voices will influence and inspire the next generation of changemakers in the year 2021, and whose writings, we believe, you should watch out for on YourStory to stay inspired.

Here's the full list of YourStory's top 100 Digital Influencers of 2020

1. Sheenam Ohrie

A leader in the tech industry, Sheenam Ohrie is vocal about women empowerment across workplaces and in entrepreneurship. She leads as the Vice President of Dell Digital and APJ CIO Leader at Dell Technologies. At a time when the global economy has fallen to a state comparable to the great recession of 2008, Sheenam has been vocal about how women went ahead with social entrepreneurship, despite being more vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic.

2. Zarina Screwvala

Entrepreneur, philanthropist, Zarina Screwvala is the Co-founder of the Swades Foundation, an organisation dedicated to uplift rural India. She founded the organisation along with her husband Ronnie Screwvala. Evident from the foundation’s goal, Zarina brings stories from rural India and how Swades is empowering people in these places. She shares anecdotes from their journey through the villages in Maharashtra, and how they have enabled communities to get access to water, healthcare, education, sanitation, and livelihood.

3. Hans Tung

Featuring on the Forbes Midas List every year since 2013, Hans Tung’s portfolio spans three continents and includes breakouts like Airbnb, Coinbase, and Musical.ly (that became TikTok). He is recognised as one of the world’s top 100 venture capitalists. He focuses on early-stage investments in ecommerce, social tech, and sharing economy, among others. Hans derives a lot of insights from his conversations with founders and investors on the Evolving for the Next Billion podcast.

4. Amit Somani

Amit Somani’s two-decade long experience in tech and product design across India and international markets makes him a thought leader on the subject. His writing focuses on establishing the need for founders and product managers to build agile, intuitive, customer-friendly, and long-lasting products and services that may be inspired from the world but have to be customised locally. Somani regularly shares tips on how fledgling startups can set up processes that will help them arrive at the right product-market fit.

5. Apurva Purohit

Apurva Purohit is one of India’s most powerful women in media and business. A staunch supporter of gender diversity in the workplace, she has authored national bestsellers on the subject such as 'Lady You’re Not a Man!' and 'Lady, You’re the Boss!' She has stressed upon the need for men to become allies in the fight for gender equality, and also highlighted the need for organisations to have more women in the boardroom. She has even cited research to establish that if women work at their full potential, it could add up to $28 trillion to the global GDP by 2025.

6. Anand Daniel

One of the leading early-stage investors in India’s consumer tech space, Anand Daniel has backed category-defining successes like Swiggy, Bounce, and TaxiForSure.com, among others. Much of Anand’s writing is based on Accel’s ‘Insights Podcast’ (now ‘Seed to Scale’) series that covers the inspiring journeys of India’s top startup founders. Through it, he’s brought a variety of stories — Swiggy’s first 500 days, Freshworks’ global expansion, Flipkart’s engineering scaling up, starting up in college, looking beyond Silicon Valley for global innovation, and much more — to our readers. Anand equips seed-stage startups with practical lessons from those who got their hands dirty.

7. Malini Agarwal

Malini Agarwal, better known as MissMalini, is one of the most well-recognised faces on the Indian internet. She founded an eponymous lifestyle blogging platform 12 years ago when digital media was still in its infancy. Malini’s writing focuses on the power of social media and how it can be leveraged to build an online presence or to scale a business or simply to find like-minded people in private groups (like Malini’s Girl Tribe where ‘women uplift women’ by sharing inspirational stories and talking uninhibitedly about subjects that concern them). Through her writing, she’s brought to focus pressing modern-day issues like toxic masculinity, societal conditioning, and gender inequality, and even suggested ways to drive change.

8. Sameer Dhanrajani

Sameer Dhanrajani has been known in the ecosystem for his knowledge and passion for understanding artificial intelligence and analytics. The AI advisor and former Fractal Analytics CSO launched his startup AIQRATE in 2019 to provide strategic AI advisory services and consulting across multiple business segments to help businesses with their AI-powered transformation and innovation journey. Sameer’s blogs, columns, articles focus on informing tech entrepreneurs from various industries on how they can leverage artificial intelligence to further their business. He has written extensively on how AI can shape the future of several industries such as pharmaceuticals, lifesciences, insurance, travel & hospitality, and construction among others.

9. Geetika Dayal

A fierce promoter of the Indian startup ecosystem, Geetika Dayal is vocal about policies affecting startups and guides women entrepreneurs on their journey to success. The leader has also spoken of how women face a greater social and financial barrier in pursuit of entrepreneurship or any professional goals, and is quick to come up with names of women doing exceptional work. Not one to shy away from digging into the bigger picture, Geetika has written about the growth challenges that Indian startups face in entering a successful IPO.

10. TN Hari

A veteran of the startup ecosystem, TN Hari lends his voice to critical issues like mental health and throws long-overdue light on women of past and present. TN Hari has juggled both the corporate and the startup world, and dons several hats as an advisor to angel investors and venture capital firms, and mentor to startup accelerators and entrepreneurs in a career spanning over three decades. In his writings, he delves into a wide range of topics, and has his hands on the pulse of the startup ecosystem. He has written on ways startups can navigate the pandemic period, managing budget and salary cuts, and COVID-19 outbreak being an opportune time to turn around businesses.

11. Noopur Chaturvedi

An expert in digital payments and SME markets, Noopur Chaturvedi is recognised as an Emerging Voice for her insightful views on taking SMBs digital. Noopur writes about how businesses of all sizes should build a digital presence and become future-ready. As an expert in payments, she says over 87 percent of 63 million SMBs in India have no access to credit and believes that the sector’s credit needs must be serviced more adequately. She maintains that digital lending is the key to achieving this.

12. ElsaMarie D'Silva

With management expertise to operationalise startups and establish key processes within the organisation, ElsaMarie D'Silva is also focussed on women and youth empowerment in the area of gender-based violence. She is a former aviation professional and social entrepreneur, with about 20 years of experience in the aviation industry. ElsaMarie writes about women's safety, gender violence, and safety in public spaces. She has penned several articles that have appeared in CNN, Huffington Post and the WIP, and her work has been featured by the BBC, Guardian, Swedish TV, and many more.

13. Nisha Holla

Nisha Holla is a writer, scientist, researcher, and a force to be reckoned with. A computational physicist and researcher, she presently works as the co-editor and author of New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation. Nisha writes on how Indian startups can rewrite India’s economic roadmap and lead the country’s march towards $5 trillion GDP. She notes that startups have already re-engineered how Indians earn, save, spend, and transact online.

14. Taslimarif Saiyed

A biotech expert supporting path-breaking innovation in deep science, Taslimarif Saiyed started his journey with neurosciences, receiving a PhD from Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany. He went on to study courses in management for biotech and innovation and consulted for several biotech firms. Taslimarif is a strong believer in India’s potential as an innovation powerhouse. He writes how establishing frameworks around three vital ingredients and implementing them systematically can drive India’s growth for decades.

15. Archana Sinha

Writer, influencer, global voice and expert on nutrition and food safety, Archana manages global partnerships at Ashoka South Asia. She also leads Nourishing Schools, an Ashoka initiative that aims to develop young changemakers who can take charge of improving their own nutrition and that of their communities. Archana writes on nutrition and sustainability, whether it is for the environment or providing employment for marginalised communities. She believes that for any project to succeed, stakeholders and beneficiaries have to be equally involved in the policy-making process. Archana has also written about how the solutions to challenges such as climate change and natural resource usage, and how we can use resources more sustainably, will be found in our villages and at the micro-level.

16. Puja Marwaha

Wanting to put her HR skills to good use, Puja Marwaha joined the NGO CRY (Child Rights and You) in 1994. She has been the CEO of the organization for 10 years now. Puja specialises in talking about social issues surrounding children including child labour, child marriage, trafficking, education, menstrual awareness, etc. Most of her writing is children-centric. She often highlights the dire situation of underprivileged children in her writing. This year, owing to the pandemic, she also highlighted the growing issues of child labour and child marriage after children have lost their safe space in schools.

17. Saahil Goel

The Co-founder and CEO of Shiprocket, Saahil Goel’s audacious goal is to become India’s largest D2C ecommerce logistics company in India using data. Already shipping more than three million packages a month, Saahil is an imminent thought leader in the Indian logistics industry. He has been lauded for the way Shiprocket handled deliveries during the lockdown months of the pandemic. Saahil’s wrting has mainly revolved around the many ways in which the coronavirus pandemic has affected the logistics industry, and how the delivery market can weather that storm.

18. Deepa Kannan

Deepa Kannan is a functional nutritionist and yoga teacher, who believes in the interconnection of all body systems. Her brand Phytothrive Functional Nutrition Redefine is pioneering a movement in functional nutrition. Deepa has been sharing her expertise on food, nutrition, and health. In fact, she has been instrumental in providing readers with various tips and ideas on how to cope with the coronavirus pandemic — from immunity-boosting foods and drinks, staying healthy during the lockdown, to dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression.

19. Ratna Mehta

With over 18 years of experience across investing, consulting, and banking, Ratna Mehta heads the Wadhwani Catalyst Foundation which invests in entrepreneurs building high-quality scalable business models across emerging markets with a focus on India. Ratna writes mostly about business investment and women empowerment. She explains the importance of women in every business decision through her stories. Ratna mentions in one of her YourStory’s article that accelerating women entrepreneurship from the current 20 percent to 30 percent can create over 30 million women-owned enterprises by 2030.

20. Indrojit D Choudhuri

A creative, passionate, and entrepreneurial individual with a penchant for unique stories. Indrojit writes on startups and entrepreneurs on YourStory. Amidst the pandemic, with people spending more time than ever in their houses, Indrojit found the best way to get their unique stories across to the YS Weekender readers.

21. Asheesh Chanda

A trustworthy portfolio manager and a true entrepreneur operating in the digital wealth management industry, Asheesh Chanda has been active in the financial services industry since 2002. Being a fintech enthusiast, the articles and opinions shared by Asheesh are usually focused on financial services, wealth management, and related areas. He also takes a keen interest in expressing his thoughts on topics such as motivation entrepreneurship, and team building.

22. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma

One of the most influential figures in the Indian startup funding space, Dr Apoorva Ranjan has been instrumental in developing the startup ecosystem since the early 2000s. A pioneer in developing incubators in India, he has established over a dozen incubators and accelerators, incubation funds, and family office funds. Having been associated with the Indian startup industry since its inception, Apoorva has gained vital insights and practical, in-depth understanding of the ecosystem, and mostly writes on startup ecosystems and VC investments on YourStory.

23. Amith Agarwal

Amith Agarwal, Co-founder & CEO, AgriBazaar, calls himself a startup marathoner. Amith believes that technology and the right understanding of the issue can bridge gaps in the agricultural sector across India by creating transparency between the consumer and the original farmer. He writes about how technology-driven solutions can safeguard the interest of the farmers to provide modern scientific methods, enabling them in implementing better farm practices to improve farm productivity and avoiding distress selling of their produce.

24. Monica Jasuja

A fintech fanatic who’s also passionate about policy, Monica Jasuja has over 20 years of experience in building innovative digital products for the financial services industry. Creating solutions in the digital payments space is her passion, and when she’s not busy shaping the future of the fintech industry, she likes to help businesses grow and disrupt. Monica writes about opportunities and challenges in the fintech space — whether it’s digital payments or insuretech.

25. Shilpa Sinha Harsh

Shilpa is one of the few women leaders in the BPM sector in India, bringing over 20 years of experience in corporate communications, corporate marketing, sales enablement, and talent acquisition branding, with core strengths in driving integrated marketing campaigns across geographies. Shilpa Sinha Harsh writes about why diversity and inclusion should be the driving force if organisations are to proceed with a forward-thinking approach. She believes that diversity and inclusion programmes across organisations can have a positive impact on productivity, ROI, and revenues. She says that to be truly inclusive and humane, we must pay attention to all communities – LGBTQ+ communities, PwDs, veterans or gender groups.

26. Salonie Ganju

Salonie Ganju drives content, partnerships, and events at Matrix Partners India, and is tasked with amplifying its “foundersfirst!” investment philosophy. Through the ‘Matrix Moments’ column based on the company’s flagship podcast series, Salonie has tracked key trends across India’s e-grocery, agritech, fintech, automotive, logistics, and other emerging sectors based on conversations with founders and VCs. She’s also written on the startup-VC dynamic, shared tips on building teams and offering employee incentives through ESOPs and arriving at Business Continuity Plans.

27. Sonia Huria

The ultimate boss in the media and advertising industry, Sonia Huria plays a key role in shaping attitude towards gender roles in India. She is a name to be reckoned with in the media and communication world. As the Head of Corporate Marketing, Communications and Sustainability at Viacom18, she leads the media conglomerate’s communications, network marketing, and social impact agendas. Sonia firmly believes in the soft power of media and that its portrayal of women goes a long way in shaping the country’s discourse on feminism. She highlights that women characters are often presented as submissive and home-bound and not in the light of leadership, professionals, and breadwinners.

28. Sangita Srinivasa

Sangita Srinivasa leads communications and compiles stories for Head Held High Foundation, with interesting anecdotes and success stories of the beneficiaries. Recently, she has been involved in content strategy and creation for various companies and non-profits. Sangita’s stories are centred around the efforts of the Head Held High Foundation and how they have helped families survive the pandemic.

29. Dr Pradeep Mahajan

An award Winning Stem Cell Researcher and Transplant Expert, Dr Pradeep Mahajan is an acclaimed professional of Regenerative Medicine and Cell-based Therapy who firmly believes in the philosophy that we carry our own healing in our body. He has written and spoken extensively about cellular therapy. Dr Mahajan believes that we need parallel thinking where conventional sciences have failed.

30. Srikripa Srinivasan

One of India’s influential voices in the field of artificial intelligence/machine learning and deep learning, Srikripa Srinivasan firmly believes that data should be democratised and decentralised. As Vice President of Dell Technologies’ Performance Analytics Group, she leads several advanced analytics projects in the company, always trying to integrate new technologies into her workflow.

31. Ankit Gupta

Ankit helps you to find the best places to explore in India. Ankit Gupta has been working with Oyo since last year. While he started off as the COO and SVP, Frontier Businesses - Operated brands, Homes, Life, Student housing, Workspaces at OYO, today he is the CEO of the same.

32. Haruto Iwata

Haruto Iwata envisions scaling Fujifilm India Business to new heights with double-digit growth every year in the coming three years. With Fujifilm now betting heavily in medical imaging and being one of the leading makers of image processing in the healthcare industry, Haruto wants to achieve double digit growth in India in the medical field.

33. Sandeep Prasad

Investor and entrepreneur Sandeep Prasad was a venture capitalist in Florida before he returned to his hometown Pune in 2017 to start Wink & Nod — a “sleep-focused” company — that makes and sells memory foam mattresses and pillows. He currently helps understand the nuances of corporate finance, business operations, strategic and technology planning.

34. Ankit Satsangi

Ankit Satsangi is a Chief Risk Officer at Capital Float, with over 15 years of retail risk experience across the NBFC segment. Ankit contributes towards shaping best-in-class lending startup, encompassing MSMEs and consumer segments, enabling and nurturing data-driven decision making while ensuring optimal risk and compliance boundaries.

35. Siddhartha Gupta

Building and scaling up teams for years now, Siddhartha Gupta is helping businesses effectively leverage remote working culture. Siddhartha has a proven track record of successfully growing IT behemoths like HP and SAP in India. Currently, at Mettl, he is working towards making businesses and educational institutions become remote with their services and operations.

36. Ashish Sikka

Ashish Sikka is on a mission to increase technology adoption among small and medium businesses, and even enterprises. At present, he is the Director – Channel & SMB, Lenovo India, where he has spent over one-and-half-decade. Today, his mission is to increase technology adoption within this community.

37. Dr Anshu Sharma

A disaster recovery expert, Anshu Sharma works with various communities on how to build a safer and more sustainable Earth. He has trained as an urban planner, and over the last 26 years, he has extensively worked on disaster risk and climate emergency issues. He has been engaged with various kinds of community projects besides being a consultant for numerous governments, non-profit bodies, the United Nations, and other funding agencies.

38. Sonam Chandwani

A multi-faceted author and lawyer, Sonam Chandwani keeps it simple on the complex matters of legal and finance. She is a legal professional and the managing partner at Mumbai-based firm KS Legal & Associates. A specialist in the corporate world for the areas of commercial structures, commercial litigation, and mergers and acquisitions, she is all about managing complex tasks.

39. Chaitra Bharadwaj

A chartered accountant by profession, numbers have always fascinated Chaitra Bharadwaj. Today, she helps businesses and individuals understand the complexities of numbers and the law. She is a chartered accountant by qualification, and in the course of her work, she has helped businesses and individuals to get a simple understanding of the complex world of numbers and law.

40. Suhas Rajkumar

A designer at heart, Suhas RK is building a scooter with the longest battery range in India. Specialising in Architecture, he has used his knowledge in design to take on the onerous task of building an EV scooter with a range of 280 kilometers. His startup, Simple Energy, aims to make the world a greener and a better place to live in.

41. Lokendra Singh Ranawat

Lokendra Singh Ranawat has pushed the Make-in-India initiative in favour of the small artisans whose handcrafted furniture needs to find its place in the global market. He founded Wooden Street to commercialise customised furniture through ecommerce. Focussed on design, the startup is bringing back life to a difficult category — truly a voice of the unchampioned.

42. Evonne Eadie

Evonne Eadie is the Reserve Brand Ambassador of multinational beverage alcohol company Diageo. Evonne specialises in single malt whisky, and claims to be a master of converting non-whisky drinkers into whisky lovers through unique food and drink experiences. She also writes about cocktails with a twist and history of whisky, as well as shares easy whisky cocktail recipes with her readers.

43. Narendra Singh Dahiya

Narendra Singh Dahiya uses tech to make every home chef an entrepreneur. A mechanical engineer with an MBA Degree from FMS, Delhi, he has over two decades of experience in retail channel management. Narendra founded Homefoodi, a mobile application for home food made by home chefs that empowers and connects society. With his understanding of distribution and sales, he has eased the pain of every home chef — finding the right market.

44. Sneha Priya

A woman entrepreneur helping the younger generation make the right career choices with tech education, Sneha Priya started her entrepreneurial journey with SP Robotic Works in 2012. She was one of the youngest women to be awarded as "Iconic Women" by the Women Economic Forum and has been awarded six times for her contribution as an entrepreneur to the robotics space by organisations such as Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, etc.

45. Saloni Khosla

A spatial design expert, Saloni helps create calm spaces in these pandemic times. As the Head of Spatial Design at Pepperfry, she and her team have designed and worked on close to 70 Pepperfry studios across India, integrating the brand with offline design elements. Saloni has also won various awards like the ‘Best Concept Store’ by Femina, and ‘Top 11 Design Stores’ by Vogue, for her work on Studio Pepperfry.

46. Pavan Soni

Dr Pavan Soni is the founder of Inflexion Point, a strategy and innovation consulting firm. Apart from being an Adjunct Faculty at ISB Hyderabad and IIM-Bangalore, Pavan has consulted with many Fortune 500 companies. A TEDx speaker, Dr Pavan is praised for his skills in areas such as management consulting, customer relationship management, leadership, and innovation consulting.

47. Harsh Agrawal

An entrepreneur, author, and a digital marketing enthusiast with a passion for SEO, WordPress, and business blogging, Harsh Agrawal runs an award-winning blog, ShoutMeLoud, which aims to help people be their own boss. He also started CoinSutra to help people learn about blockchain technologies.

48. Ankit Goel

A true visionary, quick at problem-solving and decision making, and a passionate entrepreneur with profound knowledge about real estate, Ankit Goel has launched two startups in the real estate sector, including Letship, the logistics firm, and Himalaya Harvest, an organisation that deals in hydroponics. Ankit is known for his strong professional skills in negotiation, management, customer service, sales, and real estate development.

49. Robin Sukhia

Robin Sukhia has been an essential bridge between India and Sweden since 1996. He helps Swedish corporates and government institutions understand and navigate India when the need arises. Recently, Robin and his agency facilitated a collaboration between India’s Serum Institute and British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca for the COVID-19 vaccine.

50. Pradeep Kumar

Pradeep Kumar is currently the CEO of Neil Patel Digital India, the Indian counterpart of the global digital marketing agency Neil Patel Digital. Pradeep, who has over 10 years of experience, also owns and operates Stan Ventures, an Indo-American white label SEO service provider that claims to bring together the best skills from India and the US to help clients achieve business goals.

51. Aditya Saxena

Aditya Saxena has led several global, multimillion-dollar strategic programmes for Fortune 100 organisations. In his present role, Aditya leads business growth and oversees global engagement teams. He specialises in data analytics and media attribution, audience insights and targeting solutions, and plays an instrumental role in crafting a solution strategy for iQuanti’s clients.

52. Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues

Coming from a commercial marine background, Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues started his career at 19 as a cadet and was immediately deployed on international waters. Over the years, Lincoln wanted to create luxury experiences and an enterprise that would become a hallmark of luxury and opulence, and so ventured into real estate in 2013.Lincoln sets the path for business expansion, looking at end-to-end operations of property acquisitions, type of building, architectural thoughts, R&D, green effects, etc.

53. Rahul Bhargava

Rahul Bhargava has built multibillion-dollar product lines and managed large product/engineering teams across Amazon, PayPal Ventures, and American Express. The builder of digital products and businesses for 20+ years, he is also a seed-stage investor/advisor to technology-based startups and founders. He was most recently at Amazon where he was responsible for building their global publisher network and managing their affiliate marketing platform across the world.

54. Vinita Gera

Vinita Gera began her career as a developer with DSS Software, a services outfit company making software for UK media companies. She then moved to Veritas Software and then spent almost a decade at BMC software. Vinita joined Dell Technologies India in 2017 as the GM for the Pune Centre of Excellence. Vinita writes about innovation and scale using technology.

55. Yogita Tulsiani

Yogita Tulsiani has more than a decade of experience in technology and business consulting. Her expertise is across diverse industries, including retail, information technology, telecom, and financial services. She founded iXceed Solutions in 2018 to bring innovation and change in the talent and HR space.

56. Kaushal Thakkar

Kaushal Thakkar has more than 18 years of experience in the world of digital marketing, and leads a team of 55+ digital marketing experts. He is the founder of Infidigit, a startup that builds SEO for enterprise websites and ecommerce players. A speaker at forums and several Google events, he is a pro bono guest lecturer on organic search, digital marketing, analytics, and ecommerce.

57. Pankaj Raina

Pankaj Raina leads investments and research at Zephyr Peacock Funds. Pankaj focuses on deal sourcing, portfolio operations, execution, value creation, and exits. He was also a part of Intellecap (part of the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group) where he was responsible for identifying and executing investments in SMEs in the financial services, agri, food, and social infrastructure sectors.

58. Kunal Malik

Kunal Malik, the Founder of edtech startup PlanetSpark, has designed and deployed several learning platforms. He has also been a part of leadership roles in sales and supply chain, and has led HR for HUL’s regional office. Kunal believes that the world today needs new-age life and career skills, which translates into a need to change the K-8 segment of learning.

59. Dr Bharat Damani

Dr Bharat Damani is an Associate Professor and Chair of Entrepreneurship at FLAME University, Pune. He has over 30 years of experience in Indian and Japanese manufacturing startups. He has also written doctoral research where he created ‘The CESS Framework’ to help startups and enterprises become cash-flow positive and sustainable.

60. Rupal Dalal

Rupal Dalal serves as the Executive Director of JD Institute of Fashion Technology. Rupal also lays out contingency plans for businesses and large establishments on how to handle the global pandemic. She says companies can minimise the business risk/employment problem by effective communication, strong business contingency plans, and preparing for an emergency situation.

61. Sonica Aron

Sonica Aron is an experienced HR professional, passionate about diversity and inclusion. An alum of XLRI Jamshedpur, she was part of the Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs of 2020 by Forbes India. Before starting her HR consulting firm Marching Sheep, Sonica has worked in leadership roles at the corporate and operational level.

62. Amol Roy

A digital marketing guru designing new-age marketing strategies, Amol Roy is the founder of The ShutterCast, a digital marketing agency. He believes AI and ML are playing a crucial role in identifying marketing trends, and brands and marketers are incorporating these new-age technologies to save time and resources.

63. Vanshika Goenka

An entrepreneur and community builder, Vanshika lends her voice to issues of gender equality and education. She is the Founder and CEO of Kool Kanya, a social networking community that supports women in their professional journey. Vanshika also believes every woman should be financially independent, the reason why Kool Kanya encourages discussions around financial literacy.

64. Padma Duddu

Padma has an overall experience of over 18 years in human capital, and has been with Optum Global Solutions (OGS) for over four years. She is an ardent advocate of inclusion and diversity, and is a part of the core team of OGS I&D Council.

65. Shravani Prakash

Shravani Prakash is an Economist with over 10 years’ experience in policy research with organisations like ICRIER and World Bank in New Delhi. She founded elleNomics, a think-tank and research-to-action alliance focussing on building an enabling environment for women to advance and thrive.

66. Priya Varadarajan

Priya Varadarajan is an activist and advocate for women’s rights. She is vocal about a number of women’s issues, especially domestic violence and equality. She has been running an NGO called Durga for the last 10 years.

67. Poonam Muttreja

Poonam Muttreja co-conceived the popular Indian television serial, ‘Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon - I, A Woman, Can Achieve Anything,’ launched by PFI in 2014. She has founded several NGOs focused on women's health, leadership, rights, and livelihood.

68. Shailesh Gupta

Shailesh Gupta aims to revolutionise the startup ecosystem by working with young entrepreneurs. An IIT Kharagpur alumnus and a serial entrepreneur, Shailesh is known for his unique S3 Startup Index. Shailesh also made it to Forbes 30 under 30 Asia.

69. Sujit Jain

Sujit Jain runs Netsurf, a $100 million group of companies. A serial entrepreneur, he has successful ventures in nutraceuticals, FMCG and technology. He is also involved in social work, serving on the advisory board of Niramay Foundation, an NGO that organises medical camps in the slum areas of Pune.

70. Sanjay Kothari

Sanjay Kothari is the Vice Chairman of the centuries-old KGK Group, and has over 30 years of experience in diamond manufacturing. With the jewellery industry suffering huge losses in the pandemic, Sanjay shares his thoughts on the impact, and the big shift it will create in the jewellery business.

71. Dr Deb Mukherji

A PhD in Economics, Dr Deb Mukherji has worked with the likes of Suzuki and Honda. He has been instrumental in setting up greenfield plants across India, Mexico, and Thailand. He believes that with a data-driven approach, any industrial challenge can be resolved.

72. Ajay K Khurana

Ajay K Khurana is the Executive Director of Syndicate Bank. He has rich experience in audit, NPA recovery, international banking, operations, information technology, and corporate credit. He writes extensively about Indian MSMEs, and the role they play in the Indian economy.

73. Sunando Bhattacharya

Sunando Bhattacharya has embarked on a mission to take cloud computing to every corner of the world. Sunando’s article on YourStory on ‘How registered MSMEs can get their customers to pay up’ talks about the predicaments entrepreneurs face when their customers don’t pay and how they can overcome it.

74. Navin Saini

Navin Saini heads the MSME lending vertical at Arka Fincap Limited. In 23 years of experience in banking and financial services, Navin holds special expertise in the corporate and SME finance space. Navin writes at length on small and medium businesses, and how artificial intelligence, HR software, payment gateways, and accounting solutions are the need of the hour for MSMEs.

75. Sathya Raghu V Mokkapati

Sathya Raghu is a CA-turned-farmer and entrepreneur who is working to improve the lives of farmers across India. His writing centres around the agricultural sector and farmers, and suggests solutions that can make a difference. He launched agritech startups Cosmos Green in 2011 and Kheyti in 2016.

76. Mallikarjun Gupta

Mallikarjun Gupta is a cost and management accountant by profession, and a GST expert. He writes on India’s GST business strategy, transaction analysis, and has previously written four books on the subject. He believes GST holds a big promise for taxpayers to streamline their business and accounting processes.

77. Vivek Bindra

A monk-turned-entrepreneur, Vivek Bindra is also a motivational speaker and business coach. He is also a three-time Guinness World Records holder, and a trusted advisor to over 1,500 corporates. He writes about the revival strategies that Indian MSMEs and small businesses can adopt to succeed, and many other topics related to entrepreneurship.

78. Ravi Saxena

Ravi Saxena is the founder of kitchenware and cookware brand Wonderchef. An IIM Ahmedabad alumni, his writing focuses on the need for value-added manufacturing in electronics, e-vehicles, consumer durables, and household goods.

79. Chaitanya Chinchlikar

Chaitanya Chinchlikar has over two decades of experience in the film & creative arts industry, education, event management, and chartered accountancy. He is currently part of the leadership team at Whistling Woods International, and is working towards making Film & Creative Arts education mainstream in India. Chaitanya mostly writes about the current trends and opportunities in the entertainment and creative arts industry.

80. Sandip Chettri

Sandip Chhettri is the COO at TradeIndia, and is an MSME expert. He has been writing about how SMEs can recommence operations and succeed by taking their businesses online in the post-COVID world.

81. Mansa Rajan

Health and wellness coach Manasa Rajan serves as the Food Design Expert at Eat.Fit. Manasa emphasises on the importance of plant-based whole foods, mindful eating, and a holistic approach to keeping fit and healthy. A former-entrepreneur, she founded healthy snack startup Cure Bar in 2012.

82. Preetha Wali

Preetha Wali is a financial educator and Co-founder of financial services startup, Pay It Forward. She believes financial literacy is an essential life-skill, and conducts financial awareness programmes through her startup. She writes about personal finance, money management, and financial independence.

83. Radhika Bapat

Radhika is a self-employed psychotherapist. She is committed to advocacy, research, and training initiatives that advance mental health treatments and reduce stigma. She writes about mental health during COVID-19, and gives tips on staying afloat during crises.

84. Nagendranath Chiluvuru

Food scientist and writer Nagendranath Chiluvuru has tremendous experience working in the innovations, research, and quality space of the food industry. His writing ranges from simple and popular listicles on the health benefits of tea, to more academic topics such as stabilising physiochemical properties, and prolonging the shelf life of tea.

85. Durga Madhab Dash

Durga Madhab Dash is the co-founder and COO at Styched, a fast fashion ecommerce brand. His experience and ringside view of the fashion ecommerce space helps him write about challenges and opportunities in the sector, particularly fundamental vulnerabilities in the traditional fashion system, matching supply and demand and others.

86. Shashwat Das

Shashwat Das is a serial entrepreneur. His first startup WOW Design has been the force behind some of the most popular brand revamps in the country. He now heads Almond, a leading strategic brand and design consultancy.

87. Shilpa Vaid

Shilpa Vaid has over 20 years of Human Resources experience across consulting, insurance, retail, and ecommerce industries. Shilpa's experience puts her in a unique position to write authoritatively on human resource, work-life balance in the new normal, culture, leadership, and navigating office politics, among others.

88. Tanvi Bikhchandani

Tanvi Bikhchandani is the co-founder of Tamarind Chutney, a social enterprise that aims to improve artisan livelihoods and reduce textile waste.Tanvi writes about fashion through the lens of sustainability.

89. Dinesh Bbhasin

Dinesh is a seasoned advertising professional who has been helping entrepreneurs build brands for the last 16 years. He writes about how businesses can build their brands and the strategies that need to be implemented.

90. Meghana Pasi

Dr Meghana Pasi works at ArogyaWorld India Trust as a Nutrition Consultant for the MyThali programme. She has worked with government organisations, NGO sectors, universities and other institutions, in areas of health and nutrition, infant and young child feeding, behaviour change communication, nutrition counselling, etc.

100 Digital influencers 2020 - 91 to 100

91. Ajit Saldanha

Ajit Saldanha is the CEO of Eventually, an event management company. He is also a well-known food writer, author, actor, theatre enthusiast and standup comedian. He writes about anything and everything revolving around food. Through his stories, he introduces the readers to new cuisines, recipes, preparations, chefs, and food trends.

92. Kunal Sood

Kunal Sood is the founder of X Fellows and #WeThePlanet. He is a TED Resident, Tribeca Disruptor Fellow, and Ambassador for the Non-Violence Project, Singularity University and OpenEXO. Kunal’s expertise lies in social impact strategies and social entrepreneurship.

93. Divyadarshan Chadrashekar

Divyadarshan Chadrashekar works with the global team of Ashoka Young Changemakers. In his writing, Divyadarshan covers social issues and organisations that work on issues like bullying, transgender rights, migrant labours, oral history, and higher education reform.

94. Romaana Aamir

Romaana Aamir is a psychology graduate who is a social entrepreneur and literary enthusiast. Romaana is Project Head at Enactus Aryabhatta, and writes about the various campaigns that the group undertakes. Among these is Project Palaash, which aims to utilise floral waste to create organic dyes.

95. Aarathi Kumar

Aarathi Kumar works at the World Resources Institute (WRI) India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities in Bengaluru. A writer and development practitioner, she is researching innovation in energy, waste and water management for housing and related services. She writes about how enterprises working in water, energy, and waste management sectors are seeking ways to safely sustain or scale existing operations during the pandemic.

96. Venkat Maroju

Dr. Venkat Maroju is CEO of SourceTrace and an award-winning social entrepreneur, innovator, thought leader, writer, and keynote speaker. Dr Maroju writes about how technology has empowered farmers with access to information and markets, streamlined supply chains, and provided tools for food safety and security.

97. Lindsay Bernard Rodrigues

Lindsay Bernard Rodrigues is the co-founder of Bennet & Bernard Group, a premier luxury homes brand. He writes about how a good CSR programme is a measure of a company’s worth beyond profitability, and brings with it intangibles such as improved employee morale, and increased customer loyalty.

98. Bhrigu Seth

Bhrigu Seth is co-founder of Responsible Whatr. A graduate in Corporate Finance from San Francisco State University, he decided to follow his passion for the environment. Bhrigu writes about eco entrepreneurship and the need to focus on solutions that can save carbon footprints.

99. Rajan Sankar

Dr. Rajan Sankar is Director at The India Nutrition Initiative (TINI) and Senior Advisor for Nutrition at Tata Trusts. He writes about how empowering the youth and people at grassroot level can really foster socio as well as economic growth in India, and public-private partnership models.

100. Niraj Bora

Niraj Bora is the founder of Surmount Business Advisors Private Limited. A chartered accountant turned entrepreneur turned investor, he believes in investing in social impact projects. Through his writings, Niraj busts myths about investing from a social impact angle.

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