Manoj Kumar

A Robert McNamara Fellow of the World Bank, Manoj shifted career from banking to social sector with a pit stop in micro-finance, before taking over leadership at Naandi.

As the founding CEO of Naandi Foundation, Manoj disrupted the NGO space in India by being the first to implement large scale government programs with efficiency and measurable outcomes. This included feeding 1.3 million school children midday meals, assuring learning outcomes in 2100 government schools, providing skills and jobs for over 100,000 unemployed youth and looking after education of 300,000 girls across India. Naandi has also spun of a social impact venture for the provision of safe drinking water across India under the brand name iPure which is a joint venture with the French Group Danone. Under his leadership, in the last 20 years, Naandi has impacted 6 million lives.

Manoj is the co-founder of ARAKU Coffee, a premium coffee brand which has won global acclaim and retailed currently in France and India. This venture has enabled over 100,000 tribal lives to come out of poverty and created a bio-diversity reserve with nearly 25 million trees planted in the eponymous Araku region.

Manoj serves on the Boards of NICE Foundation, Ananta Centre, and Azao India apart from being the CSR Advisor for the Mahindra Group. A Laureate of the John P. McNulty Prize, Manoj was named by The Financial Times London as one of the 25 people to watch out for in India.

Manoj is a Fellow, Moderator and Member of the Aspen Global Leadership Networ