Board Members

Priya Naik

Samhita Social Ventures evolved from Priya’s work with the Nadathur family’s social initiatives in the areas of nature conservation, art, education for differently-abled children, and livelihood generation through microenterprise.

Prior to working with Nadathur’s family office, Priya co-founded The Spark Group, an education company that delivered affordable education to low income communities. At Spark, Priya helped define strategy, created the business plan and was also instrumental in raising funds from IFMR Trust.

Priya’s interest in social entrepreneurship began when she worked as a Researcher at the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA. At MIT, Priya was part of two student-led start-ups – Aerovax, a company that created safe, inhalable aerosol vaccines that could be delivered without the use of needles and Kalpataru, a company that delivered innovative, low-cost technology to increase the efficiency of microfinance institutions. Kalpataru’s pilot was tested with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and was presented to Nobel laureate, Dr Muhammad Yunus. Both social enterprises won several awards at MIT.

Priya has worked as a consultant with the International Finance Corporation in Africa. She started her career in Accounting at Arthur Andersen in Mumbai. Her career is an interesting fusion of on-the-ground grassroots solutions through enterprise and strategic consulting experience with established companies, a perfect combination for understanding and implementing CSR projects across the board.

Priya has a Masters in Economics from Yale University, USA, a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and a Masters in Commerce from Mumbai University where she stood first in the entire graduating class.

Advisors

Noshir Dadrawala

Mr. Noshir H. Dadrawala is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy. He has been with the Centre since its inception in 1987. Currently, he serves on international boards as; Member, Asia Pacific Philanthropy Network which is a part of Give2Asia based in San Francisco, member of the Coordinating Committee of Brazil based Worldwide Initiatives & Network of Grant-makers (WINGS), Fellow of the Centre for Study of Philanthropy (New York) which is affiliated to the Graduate School & University Center of the City University of New York, member of the Advisory Council of the U.S. based International Centre for Not-for-profit Law. He is also a trustee of; Resource Alliance (India), India Sponsorship Committee, Make A Wish Foundation – India, V Care Foundation, Chronic Care Foundation, Forbes Foundation, Happy Home and School for the Blind, Junoon Foundation initiated by Sanjana Kapoor and the Jai Ho Trust which he established with the Oscar Winning Director, Danny Boyle. He is a permanent invitee on the Board of the Bombay Community Public Trust that CAP helped to incubate in the year 1990. He was earlier also on the Board of Resource Alliance (UK) and also served on the Ethics Committe of Indian Co-operative Oncology Network (ICON). He was until recently on the Board of the J.D. Bharda Education Society. He also serves on the advisory board of Altamount Capital and Seva Sadan Society. In March 2008 he was appointed by The ‘Planning Commission’ (Government of India) as a member of an Expert Group on feasibility of a New Central Law to serve as an alternative All-India Statute for Voluntary Organizations in India. He serves on the Ethics Committee of the Foundation for Medical Research. He is also on the Audit Committee of the Family Planning Association of India. Mr Dadrawala is also the regional contributing editor of the ‘International Journal on Non-profit Law’ and is Co-author of an internationally acclaimed publication titled, “Philanthropy & Law in South Asia”. Other books he has authored include; The Art of Successful Fund-Raising, Management of Philanthropic Organizations, Laws Governing Voluntary Organizations in India, Merchants of Philanthropy and FAQ on Trusts Act, Income Tax & FCRA. He also co-authored APPC’s Philanthropy & Law in South Asia. He has contributed research papers on not-for-profit law for the Johns Hopkins as also Harvard Universities. He was invited in June 2001 by the London School of Economics to participate in the International Seminar on Charity Laws. Back home, he was a regular contributor to the Bombay Chartered Accountants ‘Association’s Annual Referencer. He conducts seminars and workshops for nonprofits all over the country. He is visiting faculty at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, SNDT University, Nirmalaniketan College (of Social Work), Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, the S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research and SIES College of Management Studies. He is invited regularly by the Rotary & Lions Clubs to address their members.