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Founding Philosophy

India is a vast country with a huge number of children in state run schools. By the time OBLF was founded in 2010, the Government of India had done an excellent job of starting schools in almost every remote/rural area. So the first crucial step in reaching the target of One Billion Literates had been taken. Unfortunately, massive learning deficits were being reported throughout the country year on year by NGO Pratham. Even though only a tiny percentage of children were not in schools, children were dropping out of the school system before high school.

One Billion Literates is an aspirational effort to break an enormous problem into smaller/manageable parts. The vision leverages the existing physical infrastructure of public elementary schools and outlines a customized curriculum to support students beyond classroom learning. 

From one school, one rural district of Anekal outside Bangalore, we expanded to 100+ schools. We believe, the program can be replicated in other parts of the country and has the potential to educate all ages from childhood to adulthood. OBLF leverages the “multiplier effect” of literacy to empower people, enabling them to participate fully in society and contributing to improving livelihoods.

We are dedicated to creating equitable platforms to bridge the urban rural divide in rural India.

Board of Trustees (India)

ANAMIKA MAJUMDER

FOUNDER, OBLF & MANAGING TRUSTEE
TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL

ANAMIKA MAJUMDER

Anamika, the Founder of OBLF is a Software Professional, based out of Boston, MA. She has worked for companies like Sun Microsystems, Thomson Reuters/DTCC, The MathWorks, Optum/UnitedHealthGroup in the USA for 2 decades. With an undergrad degree in Architecture from MNIT Jaipur and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Anamika also has a demonstrated history of working in non-profit management. When she moved back to India in 2010, Anamika spent her time traveling to government schools in Bangalore and interacting with the children.  Her experiences at these state-run schools cemented her beliefs about improving the quality of education and enhance learning experiences for children in rural India. Anamika’s mission to instill a love of learning in underprivileged children became the founding philosophy for OBLF and in July 2010, the organization was set up to meet those ends. Anamika has run full marathons for OBLF in Berlin, Mumbai, Chicago and Cape Town. She aspires to also run marathons in the remaining 3 continents for this cause that is very close to her heart. 

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ARVIND MALHAN

SR ADVISOR, PVT EQUITY
FORMER PARTNER, NEW SILK ROUTES

ARVIND MALHAN

Arvind is a Senior Advisor to Private Equity firms and was formerly a Partner at New Silk Route. Prior to joining NSR in 2010, Arvind served as the Executive Director at JP Morgan Private Capital Asia, the Asian private equity arm of JP Morgan, where he was part of the founding team. He previously served as Director of TVG Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on telecom, media and information technology investments across Asia, where he started the firm’s India office. Arvind began his career at McKinsey and Company, where he developed strategic initiatives for leading global companies in the information technology and financial services industries, and has also worked at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and Pequot Capital Management. Arvind has an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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AASHU CALAPA

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
FORMERLY CEO, LIVE LAUGH LOVE FOUNDATION

AASHU CALAPA

Aashu was heading ‘The Live Love Laugh’ Foundation where he spent 18 months working on building mental health awareness. Prior to his social ventures, Aashu worked extensively in Human Resources (HR) sector. He began his career in Wipro where he spent 11 years, followed by another 11 years in Firstsource Solutions Limited. During his time in HR, Aashu was also associated with Red Bus. He has a Masters in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Aashu has done his masters from Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations.

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ANISH RAMACHANDRAN

CEO (HON.), OBLF
FORMERLY VP ASIA-PAC, INTEL CORP.

ANISH RAMACHANDRAN

Anish is our passionate and driven CEO – a man of many talents who has spent more than twenty-five years as a business leader at the helm of corporate leadership. Prior to his retirement from the corporate sector, Anish served as the Vice-President and Director of Intel’s Greater Asia Region operations, and has worked at Intel across various leadership positions for over eighteen years. An alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur, Anish brings with him extensive leadership chops, a passion to work with marginalized under-privileged communities, and a thirst to bridge educational learning gaps enabling every child to reach their potential. When Anish is not busy working on OBLF’s funding, pedagogy, marketing, impact assessment strategies, you can find him penning down his thoughts most-eloquently or jamming to Simon n Garfunkel.

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SANGEETA P MAHENDRAN

FOUNDER, ANTRAPRERNA VENTURES
FORMERLY DIRECTOR, HP INDIA

SANGEETA P MAHENDRAN

Sangeeta has recently made her transition to social entrepreneurship after a bountiful 27-year career across companies like Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Digital, Microland and TVS Electronics. She plans on investing her vast experience from the corporate sector towards enabling aiding social enterprises & foundations in scaling up. Her venture ‘Antraprerna’ seeks to empower enterprises innovating for social impact by leveraging an ecosystem of experts, technology and resources available. Passionate about Women’s empowerment and Leadership, Sangeeta is also a Business mentor at the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and an avid contributor to Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Forums and Councils Globally. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Electronics & Communications) from BMSCE, and an Executive MDP from IIM, Bangalore. Additionally, Sangeeta is an Executive Leadership alum from Harvard Business School. Sangeeta lives in Bangalore with her husband Mahendran Balachandran, who is a VC with Accel Partners.

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SRINIVAS KATTA

FOUNDER, INDUSLAW PARTNERS

SRINIVAS KATTA

Srinivas is a founding and senior partner with IndusLaw with over 15 years of experience and specializes in mergers and acquisition, strategic alliances, private equity investment, joint ventures and corporate governance. Srinivas has been consistently listed in Band 1 for Corporate/ M&A and Band 2 for Private Equity by Chambers & Partners in its Asia guides. He has also been consistently recognized as “one of the leading lawyers of India” by Asia Law Profiles. Furthermore, he has been recognised in ‘The Mint’ for being one of the 40 who ‘matter’ in the start-up ecosystem. Srinivas has also been widely endorsed as one of the most trusted lawyers in India in ICCA’s latest publication “The Vanguards”. Srinivas is a member of the board of several companies and is also a trustee and advisor to charitable foundations and projects.

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DR. TRISTHA RAMAMURTHY

FOUNDER, EKYA SCHOOLS
PROVOST, CMR UNIVERSITY

DR. TRISTHA RAMAMURTHY

Dr. Tristha is the founder of Ekya schools. Established in 2010, Ekya is a chain of progressive K-12 schools offering Kindergarten, Montessori and Grades K-12 . She spearheads K-12 initiatives under the CMR Group, overseeing State Boards, CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and Pre-University Institutes, with an overall strength of 7000 students. She is also the Provost of CMR University and leads the academic development initiatives. She aspires to transform higher education by preparing youth for future work and enabling them to drive meaningful change. Dr. Tristha Ramamurthy has a Bachelors in Business Management and Political Science from the Singapore Management University and a MA in Education from Stanford University. She followed this up with a PhD in Education from Kings College, London. Her past research has focused on topics including educational equity, teacher motivation, education policy and curriculum construction. 

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Education Advisory Board (India)

DR. RAJEEVAN KARAL

ADVISOR - EDUCATION & ACADEMIA (HON.)

DR. RAJEEVAN KARAL

Dr Rajeevan Karal has been an illustrious English teacher and Master trainer for over 45 years. For over two decades he was a member of the Faculty at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. Later he moved into the Publishing industry to set up the Publishing Division for Cambridge University Press, India and retired as the Senior Vice-President of the Press in 2012. Since then he has been an independent English Language Consultant offering consultancy services to different publishers and is actively engaged in training teachers and developing content for teaching-learning purposes. He has authored many course books for teaching English to both the school and university level. His major areas of interest include training, content development, curriculum development and self-directed learning.

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GEETHA RAJEEVAN

EDUCATION ADVISOR (HON.)

GEETHA RAJEEVAN

Geetha Rajeevan has been an English Language teacher and trainer for nearly 40 years. In the latter part of her career, she was the Head of one of the premier International Schools in Hyderabad for 15 years and retired in 2016. During those years, she was actively engaged in introducing innovative practices in teaching and teacher development. Her areas of interest include activity-based learning and classroom innovation.

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Management Team (India)

SUDHA UPADHYAYULA

COO

SUDHA UPADHYAYULA

Sudha Upadhyayula is an accomplished professional with a diverse background in the corporate and social sectors. With an MBA in HR, a PG Diploma in Business Management, and a PG in International Humanitarian Law, Sudha believes in lifelong learning and has acquired a solid educational foundation to complement her extensive experience.

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Women's Studies from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Sudha demonstrates a strong commitment to advancing knowledge in the field and addressing critical social issues. With an accumulated 21 years of experience in both corporate and social sectors, successfully managing a wide range of multi-locational programs and multi-cultural teams, her expertise lies in program and people management, process training, operations, monitoring and evaluation, and quality assurance.

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VINITA KURUP

LEAD, COMMUNITY REHAB (HON.)

VINITA KURUP

Vinita is an Electrical Engineer with 25 years of Corporate experience, passionate about simplifying and professionalizing writing and communication. Vinita also consults with start-ups and believes in empowering young adults, with extra-curricular skills for succeeding in their careers and lives. Vinita manages OBLF’s Community Rehabilitation Project on a plethora of activities – including running classes at the Learning Centre for the children of the community, arranging regular health checkups and hygiene camps for the women and other community members. Vinita played a very crucial role in organizing Covid vaccination camps for the underprivileged in our area of operation. 

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MAHESH SHETTY

LEAD, FIELD OPERATIONS

MAHESH SHETTY

Mahesh is our Program Manager, who recently completed six years with OBLF and is without doubt the central pillar on whom this organization rests. His eye for detail, his organizational ability, and his ownership and commitment to OBLF’s cause make him an invaluable part of this team. An alumnus of Manipal Institute of Technology, Mahesh has spent over 10 years in companies like BEL and others in Gulf countries. You will always find Mahesh on the roads of rural Bangalore to ensure the seamless functioning of our flagship program and to supervise and support our women coordinators on the field. The man has become a household name in the communities we work in – a source of guidance and mentorship to the women and a ‘fun-uncle’ to the kids in the schools.

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DR.ROOPA DEVADASAN

LEAD, PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGY

DR. ROOPA DEVADASAN

Dr. Roopa Devadasan has been working as a Public Health expert and school teacher, alternately and sometimes in parallel for the past 35 years. Trained in allopathy, there has been ongoing learning in other healing systems along the way, working with tribal and urban populations. The challenge ahead is to discover, in the Anekal Taluk , ground realities of the disadvantaged and to look for more equitable holistic health care solutions. Much work could be in collaboration with the government and other stakeholders, always with the community at the center. 

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FAIZA KHAN

LEAD, ACAD. PRODUCTS & IMPACT MEASUREMENT

FAIZA KHAN

A Hyderabad gal at heart, Faiza is a relatively new addition to the OBLF having recently relocated to Bangalore. She is a post-graduate in Gender Studies from The Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and has done some intensive work in women empowerment and adolescent education. At OBLF, Faiza drives our Syllabus and Curriculum working closely with our Education Advisory Board, the Foundation’s social media strategy, its volunteer efforts amongst many other things; she is an incredibly creative and talented individual who has managed to infuse some much needed youthfulness into the OBLF team; and when you do meet her, ask her to allow you to follow her on Instagram, and you will be fortunate to see the amazing artist that she is!

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TUHINA NAIR

LEAD, FUNDRAISING & CORP. VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS

TUHINA NAIR

Tuhina has been instrumental in helping OBLF build fundraising and resource mobilization capacity by developing functional linkages with both corporate and social sector donors. Inspired by her mother, Tuhina began her career 18 years ago at HelpAge India going on to work for esteemed organisations like SOS Children’s Villages of India, CRY, Smile Foundation, Hope Foundation & Concern India Foundation. Tuhina is a talented cook who enjoys traveling and spends every minute away from work making memories with her 10 year old munchkin!

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DR. ANVITA SHETTY

MEDICAL OFFICER, PUBLIC HEALTH

DR. ANVITA SHETTY

Coming soon.

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K SHREE VIDYA LAKSHMI

FINANCE CONSULTANT

K SHREE VIDYA LAKSHMI

Shree Vidya qualified as a CA in 2005 and has been in practice for the past 4 and half years. She also completed IFRS (ACCA) & Dip. In. Forensic Audit & Fraud Detection (ICAI). Her mantra ‘Learn till your last breath’ makes Vidya a keen learner who is open to new experiences. She enjoys music, playing chef in the kitchen and traveling! 

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SUNADINI

LEAD OPS, PROGRAMS AND TRAINING

SUNADINI

Sunadini is our Master Trainer and currently oversees the training and development of our para-teachers and field trainers. You are most likely to find Sunadini in a classroom in her element. She believes that classrooms are a microcosm of the world outside and if we achieve equity in classrooms, it ripples outside into the world. Working with strong, gritty and vibrant women fuels her motivation to work at OBLF. When she is not working you can find her playing with dogs or Netflixing something questionable!

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SONALI GUPTA

SENIOR MANAGER - ACADEMIC PRODUCTS

SONALI GUPTA

Sonali has been working on creating meaningful and engaging learning experiences for learners and teachers for over a decade. In the past, she has worked on creating facilitator led sessions and digital toolkits in areas like English, Life Skills and Career Skills for children, adolescents and young people. She has worked closely with facilitators in training and supporting them to create 21st century classrooms. She has completed her Master's in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. At OBLF, she manages the development of learning products for students and teachers. When she is not working, Sonali enjoys sketching and oil painting. 

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SAFOORA NOOR

FIELD TRAINER

SAFOORA NOOR

Safoora is a graduate from Christ University, Bangalore with a Bachelors in Psychology, Sociology and Economics. She has previously worked as a fellow at Teacher for India teaching in a low income private school for two years. The Fellowship experience has shaped her world view and greatly informs her role as a Field Trainer at OBLF. Her goal is to scale impact from one classroom as a teacher to many classrooms as a Trainer. Safoora, also happens to be a cat mom who befriends every cat she crosses paths with!

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DR.ANKITA KAR

PROGRAM MANAGER, PUBLIC HEALTH

DR. ANKITA KAR

 

Ankita has a formal background in Bachelors in Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery along with a professional background in Masters in Public Health. She started working as a Physician and then shifted to the domain on the larger public wherein she entered the Public Health realm. As a Public Health Professional she started her own project focusing on the Jan Aushadhi Program. After that Ankita worked as a Consultant in an evaluation project of the Maternity Waiting Homes in tribal areas and also in urban slums focusing on menstrual hygiene. At OBLF, Ankita works as a Public Health Consultant. Her personal interests include identifying the social determinants of health, strengthening of health systems and also gender equality. 

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MONISHA MARIA

PROGRAM MANAGER (TEACHER TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT)

MONISHA MARIA

Meet Monisha, Program Manager (teacher training & development) at OBLF. A former Structural Engineer and Designer with a passion for teaching and helping others, Monisha discovered her love for teaching early on in her career. After working as a designer for two years, she realized that her true calling was to share her knowledge and expertise with others.

For Monisha, teaching is not just a job but a passion. She worked as a STEM trainer and teacher for two years, empowering students to pursue their dreams.

Driven by a deep desire to create a positive impact on the lives of others, Monisha made a decision to redirect her career towards a meaningful cause. Joining the Teach for India Fellowship strengthened her conviction to empower the underprivileged children, enabling them to dream big and unlock their full potential.

Today, Monisha brings her unwavering dedication and passion to OBLF, continuing her mission to uplift and empower educators and students alike. She also believes in every talent without purpose to serve is a waste of talent.

Outside of work, Monisha enjoys spending time with her family. She is a proud mother of three children, all under six years of age. She also finds joy in gardening and home decor, which helps her relax and unwind. Whenever possible, Monisha loves to travel and experience new places and cultures, which fuels her creativity and passion.

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ANURADHA GANESAN

TRAINING & ED TECH

ANURADHA GANESAN

Coming soon.

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JIJO JOSE

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

JIJO JOSE

Coming soon.

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USA Team

SCOTT FORTMANN

PRESIDENT, OBLF USA

SCOTT FORTMANN

Scott Fortmann is retired after a career as a lawyer in private practice and then a career in human resources with Intel Corporation. Based upon his experiences working with non-profits in the US, Africa, and Asia, Scott believes strongly that the education of children, particularly girls, is critical to reducing poverty and promoting the economic development of communities.  Scott joined OBLF in 2021 and serves as President of OBLF USA. In his spare time, he travels and rides his bike.

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DAAMAN HEJMADI

VICE PRESIDENT

DAAMAN HEJMADI

Daaman Hejmadi is an accomplished semiconductor executive with a passion for working with diverse people and teams to bring life-changing products and technologies to market. He has a proven track record for achieving bold objectives and transforming global teams to deliver predictable, high quality, and repeatable results. These results span a diverse range of customers, technologies, products, markets, and supplier eco-systems.

Under Hejmadi’s leadership, he and his teams have consistently applied this passion delivering technological advancements benefiting global societies, and the companies in which they have served. Tenets to his success include strategic planning, design transformation, customer focus, technology innovation, operational and organizational excellence, and business expansion.

His extensive executive leadership and engineering experience spans semiconductor device manufacturing giants over the past three decades. Hejmadi’s most recent tour with Intel began in 2016 culminating in the role of Corporate Vice President & Infrastructure and Platform Solutions Group General Manager propelling the recovery of process technology leadership by creating a development platform for internal and external customers. This was preceded by nine years with Qualcomm in the capacity of Vice President of Engineering revolutionizing their development landscape, transforming their Bangalore design center from a small augmentation team to an engineering powerhouse comprised of ~4K staff.

Hejmadi’s initial service with Intel (1991-2007) is where he launched his career as a CAD Technologist pioneering the use of inter-tool communications to deliver integrated CAD solutions. In recognition of his achievements and leadership potential, he advanced into CPU Engineering Management (Itanium™ Processor Family and Whitefield™), followed by Director of Engineering (Bangalore Chipset) where he was accountable for leading core and global design efforts maximizing the output of 100+ engineers building high-performance Xeon server chipsets (a $4B adjacent high-volume chipset market for Intel) and supervising operations of a $25M+ datacenter.

He currently serves as a Strategic Advisor to Silicon Catalyst and is a volunteer at the San Jose Family Shelter. He also serves on the board of One Billion Literates foundation and does fund raising for the Akshaya Patra foundation. Hejmadi speaks English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.

Hejmadi holds a Master of Business Administration in Organizational Behavior and Finance from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He earned his Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science and Engineering) at the Indian Institute of Science preceded by a Bachelor of Science in Physics/Electronics from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.

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LEENA JANARDANAN

SECRETARY

LEENA JANARDANAN

Leena is a seasoned engineering leader and lives in Santa Clara, California. She is presently a leader in the personalization org at Netflix. Over the last 20 years, she has worked at companies ranging from small startups in the smart grid sector to large e-commerce companies like eBay. She has a Master’s degree in computer science from Arizona State University and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Mysore. Over the years, she has volunteered in an individual capacity at various organizations like BestBuddies, Maitri and Habitat For Humanity as well as supported organizations like Asha and Surkitham in India, all serving a wide range of communities and needs. Having directly seen the impact non-profits can have, she has taken that passion to OBLF and is excited to help grow it’s impact. Any spare time she has is devoted to her family, her two dogs and her love for gardening.

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