Rise Internship Program

Akhil Pawar is currently a Project Manager at Yunus Social Business (YSB), where he is supporting the World Economic Forum's COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs. Prior to this Akhil was part of the YSB India fund team, investing and supporting social businesses in India. YSB is a global philanthropic venture fund and impact advisory firm, co-founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus, which invests and supports social businesses across the globe. Akhil will soon be joining the London Business School to pursue his MBA and aims to continue contributing to and developing the social impact space post the MBA. Prior to joining YSB, Akhil worked as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs. He holds an integrated Master in Economics and Bachelors in Engineering from BITS Pilani, India."

Kashyap Mahavadi is an engineering graduate from BITS Pilani. He hails from a background of doctors, healthcare professionals and well-established businessmen. After college, he joined Merilytics, an analytics-based startup which provides data-driven solutions to clients across the globe. Kashyap excelled in his 2.5-year stint at Merilytics, where he received various accolades such as “Distinctive Individual Performance” award etc., consecutive appraisals to managerial roles and opportunities to work on-site in the US. At Merilytics, Kashyap worked with senior clients across industries such as Private Equity, CPG, Logistics, Consumer Finance, Real Estate, Hospitality etc. to provide solutions that helped the company survive or grow. After this, Kashyap moved on to his family business Vivimed Labs (listed on the NSE/BSE) which is a multi-national pharma manufacturing firm with factories in 5 countries including Spain, UK, Hungary, Mexico and India. As part of the corporate strategy team, Kashyap worked on a complex cross-border divestment of the specialty chemicals business division (valued at ~INR 275Cr) which involved working with several internal and external stakeholders such as IB analysts, Fund managers, valuers, legal etc. While doing all this, Kashyap also developed a hunger for creating a purpose in corporates and that drew him to Aspire. He has started his own #supportsmallbusiness campaign where he advises small entrepreneurs on matters of pricing, launching and financial strategies.

I was born and raised in Bangalore, India and recently moved to the UK to pursue my higher studies. I’m currently studying at the University of Warwick, pursuing a degree in BSc Management, and specialising in marketing. Over the years, I’ve started two community betterment initiatives and have been actively involved in various groups and community projects. I was first exposed to the field of impact investment when I did a short internship at Yunus Social Business Fund, Bangalore in 2016. I thoroughly enjoy travelling and experiencing new cultures and meeting new people!

I'm a 20-year-old student at the University of Warwick, UK, pursuing my Bachelors in Economics, Politics and International Studies. Ultimately I aim to work in the field of environmental sustainability, combining my knowledge in Economics and Politics in hopes of amplifying changes being made to combat climate change and pollution. I have had a keen interest in the field of sustainability for a substantial part of my life; this has led to having aspirations of also potentially working with organisations such as the IMF or the UN which are crucial in the race towards environmental preservation. Born and raised in Bangalore, I also dance and enjoy political debate apart from my academics. I have been trained professionally in styles such as Jazz, Hip-Hop and Salsa since I was 5 and I continue training even while I am at university. Political discourse and research is another way for me to pass my time, particularly in the field of analysing Post-colonialism and its effects on today's society. Travelling and meeting people from other cultures is something I hold very close to my heart, I can fluently speak Spanish and I'm to start studying French soon.

Sai Krishna Ghantasala is a finance specialist with over fours years of experience in research and trading at organizations like Nomura and Deutsche Bank. He is a BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus graduate with dual degrees in Economics and Mechanical Engineering. He has also cleared CFA L3 and is a Certified FRM. He currently works with JPMorgan Chase Wealth Management.

Manthan is a motivated individual with a positive track record in impact work. In Madrid, at Design for Change, he worked as an organizer for their ‘I Can Global Summit’, Rome, he drafted the proposals for UNESCO Hamdan grant and X Prize fundraising. In Singapore, at Ashoka, he was the project manager for Bosche’s ChangemakerXchange and drafted a partnership proposal for Google.org. In Dubai and Pune, he has worked with a wide range of start-ups and NGOs. Currently, he is an undergraduate at S P Jain School of Global Management majoring in finance. He has consistently been a Dean’s Lister for all semesters with a current GPA of 4.09/4.3 and a ranked 1/220 in the batch. He has published papers on ‘Business Models in Circular Economy’ and ‘Impact of Community Service on Students Personalities’ in International Journals.  He is passionate about audio storytelling- he is the host of the original ‘Planet Impact’ podcast. He speaks English, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati fluently and Spanish functionality. Formerly, he has been twice Indian Table-Tennis National Champion, India’s youngest Spartan trifecta winner and at 17, he founded two social initiatives- ‘Kin’ and ‘Athletes for Athletes’. While in high school, he created an award-winning online course on CSR for Symbiosis College, Pune, where he gives guest lectures frequently.

Tanay is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur where he pursued Agricultural and Food Engineering. As an Agricultural engineer, he went on farm visits and interacted with farmers to create a sustainable agri value chain, and drive sustainable practices in rural India. He interned with Khetify, an urban farming startup where he learnt  how to build and scale organic farming practices in urban areas, and these experiences made him more compassionate towards the environment. Troubled by the plastic pollution generated by online food deliveries every time he ordered food online, he started his venture InfinityBox with the aim to solve this plastic menace. He will soon be starting his professional journey at McKinsey & Company. As a RISE Scholar at Aspire, he hopes to learn how to drive sustainable practices within organization and scale his efforts of building a more impact-focussed business world.