Singapore, overseas and in India in IIM–A, IIM–B, IIM–L and ISB. From being just a word in the dictionary six years ago, it has now consumed her whole being.Her moment of epiphany happened in 2006 when she realized that in India not too many people became entrepreneurs simply because they didn’t know how. So she founded her company Startups to mentor entrepreneurs (forstartups.blogspot.com) .Up until July this year, she has mentored over 600 startup entrepreneurs across domains, across geographies, pro bono. Twenty years in the corporate sector, in MNC’s on all inhabited continents, have given her enough reason to say, been there, done that.
Startups has also been involved in mentoring women to scale from livelihood enterprises to opportunity based and profitable organizations in Afghanistan, countries in South and East Africa and India.
In July 2010, she founded CARMa (Creating Access to Resources & Markets), (www.carmaconnect.in) with a lofty ambition: to change the karma of entrepreneurs in India. She writes a regular monthly column for the magazine, Entrepreneur. It delights her no end that it is from smaller towns that aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs reach out to her after reading it.
She is a TED speaker.
Her best-selling book Entrepedia – a Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming an Entrepreneur in India, has touched the lives of many a start-up entrepreneur in India as evidenced by the no.of mails she receives every month. She cherishes them all but her favourite is from a 77-year old retired business man, who wrote to her saying ‘I’m angry with you that you didn’t write this book 40 years ago when I started my business.

World Cup match, she decided two things: That her first job would revolve around cricket and that her first visiting card would have ESPN on it. She worked in sports management firms for her internships and even before she completed her Masters', she got picked up by ESPN cricinfo.com. Her passion for cricket was so fierce that she even put aside her distaste for television reality shows to participate in the ESPN Dream Job! (She did make it to the Top Ten nationally by the way!) She decided to be a part of the CARMa movement because she believes that several enterprises don't get the voice or visibility they deserve simply because branding gets lost in the rigor of building everyday business. This is even more true of entrepreneurs coming from tier II and tier III towns, who have little knowledge about branding and its importance.

Photography Design from the ‘National Institute of Design’, her expertise lies in photography and other visual forms. As a photographer, her works have been displayed at various national and international platforms. She believes in using her curating skills in every aspect of her work. She thinks visually and implements creatively. She has enjoyed 8 years of her life in enriching herself each time with a new experience. She has worked as a math teacher, HR professional, client servicing in advertising, a freelance photographer and now working with CARMa to experience all the diversity at one place. Having a decent understanding of brand building due to her past experience, she aims to contribute to CARMa's mentees with their brand building process. Nikita herself wants to be an entrepreneur, and of course her ideas revolve around photography. Meeting Nandini once, made her realize how necessary it was for her to join CARMa. It is Nandini’s infectious energy and enthusiasm of life that keeps her motivated to start something of her own.

hidden, as she is usually shy reveal them, though we are constantly discovering her skills from this shy little girl. From being an Assistant to the Operations Head earlier, now she is pretty much handling the back office operations of CARMa all alone.

- Commencement speaker, University of California at Davis, Graduate School Commencement, 2007
- US National Inventor of the Year Award, 2005
- American Chemical Society, Heroes of Chemistry Award, 2004
- New Jersey R & D Council's Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, 2002

– the only macho male in the office and the long-standing member of CARMa after its directors. RajKumar plays a pivotal role in making the office operations go smooth. Our system cannot boot without his lovely cup of black coffee and our evenings are incomplete without his goodbye PJs. He is one of most dedicated team members of CARMa.

know computers and she certainly did not know Tally, but give her credit she has learnt all three on the job. Vani now handles all our accounts and ensures everything is up to date. Her quick learning and the ability to think on her feet has made her a big asset to CARMa.