George Thomas

An alumni of St. Stephen’s College, George began his career with Unilever’s food businesses in India before moving on to work with India Value Fund Advisors for several years. In late 2011, George established CapAleph Advisors India Private Limited, a private equity fund. At Menterra, George spearheads the efforts to establish a comprehensive post-investment, asset and operating interventions. 

Mukesh Sharma

Mukesh witnessed the impact of better education, healthcare, and farming on the underprivileged in his hometown. He worked in investing in emerging markets for 10 years before becoming Chief Investment Officer at Villgro, where he discovered impact investing. This inspired him to establish Menterra, through which he aims to create social and environmental impact while generating financial returns. Mukesh is a Chartered Accountant and CFA.

Paul Basil

Paul’s journey, from a family of medical professionals to a social entrepreneur, was a transformation fueled by his passion to make a positive impact on the lives of underprivileged rural communities in India. Paul founded Villgro, one of India’s first social enterprise incubators, and expanded it to multiple countries across the world. Paul is an Ashoka Fellow and his story is a testament to the transformative power of social entrepreneurship. Paul has a degree in mechanical engineering and is a post graduate in forestry management.

Chris Ashley Pinto

Chris firmly believes in the transformative impact of focused capital and innovation, and the crucial roles they must play in addressing the complex challenges society is faced with. Guided by this conviction, he strives to unite capital with purpose at Menterra.

He brings with him a unique perspective, having previously gained experience in both technology and quantitative risk at Nomura. In his most recent role, he focused on building and improving risk models, exploring better quantitative techniques, and ensuring model compliance. In technology he was involved in building data tools and analytical solutions for teams across regions, including the use of machine learning algorithms.

Chris is a merit award recipient for his B.Tech in Computer Engineering at NMIMS’ Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering. He has also earned the FRM designation and has cleared all three levels of the CFA program.

C-CAMP

Since 2009, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), supported by the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India, has been a driving force for cutting-edge research and innovation in life sciences. C-CAMP promotes bioscience research and entrepreneurship by offering research, development, training, and services. In line with their mission to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, C-CAMP has established an entrepreneur-friendly culture through seed funding schemes, a mentorship program, and a bio-incubation facility.

Artha Impact

Artha Venture Challenge is an impact investment platform that operates under the auspices of the Singh Family Foundation. Its primary objective is to provide funding to early-stage social enterprises that prioritise delivering sustainable impact to the base of the economic pyramid across a wide range of industries.