
Sheetal M Mehta
Sheetal is the UK Deal Maker (by appointment) for the UK Trade and Investment’s Global Entrepreneur Programme. As a liaison between Government and entrepreneurs, she is responsible for helping innovative start up technology and life sciences companies make the UK their base so that they can be successful globally through strategic partnerships.
Previously, Sheetal was Director of VC Relations at Microsoft where she worked with the Venture Capital community in EMEA and the Silicon Valley to help their portfolio companies leverage the .NET initiative, access smart funding and go to market.
Sheetal has received several awards: Asian Women of Achievement: Social and Humanitarian (Prince Charles and Cherie Blair) for her efforts on taking technology to developing communities in India and Africa (2005); Management Today Magazine 35 Under 35; Success Magazine No 5 of top most powerful Asian women in the UK (2006), Award for Entrepreneur of the Year by Asian Woman Magazine and No 3 Ones To Watch’ section of the Asian Power 100 list – the most influential and highest achieving Asian women in Britain (2007). Asian Woman Magazine covered a story of Sheetal’s business in the Sept 2007 issue. Sheetal has been invited to Buckingham Palace for “Women in Business” reception hosted by Her Majesty, The Queen in November 2007, Alumni Award of Excellence from the University of Alberta in 2008 and more recently nominated for Future Leader of the Year by Lloyds TSB’s Jewel Awards.
Sheetal has a Masters in International Relations (Economics) at the London School of Economics and a BA (Honors) in International Politics at the University of Alberta, Canada. She is a yoga teacher and plays drums and dohl.

Shamir Shah
In 2004, he left the City and established The East India Tea House with the goal of providing customers with premium quality loose leaf teas. The company has quickly grown and is currently one of the market leaders in terms of supply of leaf tea, supplying both bulk and private labelled products. The company works with a number of well-known brands, supplying to the likes of Caprice Holdings, Conran Restaurants, Soho House Group, Ren Skincare, Harvey Nichols and the Lanesborough Hotel. The company has been recognised for its innovative approach, winning awards for its signature blends as well as being the first company in the UK to develop a tea sommelier training course.
Capitalising on his experience within the food sector, in 2005, Shamir set up three coffee shops in Hertfordshire under a franchise brand known as Muffin Break. Since then he has been providing general consultancy services to a number of start up and established brands.
Identifying a gap in the market for branded impulse buy snack items, in 2006, Shamir diversified into the packaging and distribution of nuts, seeds, dried fruits and confectionary products. Icone International Ltd packs for numerous UK high street brand including operators such as Itsu, Apostrophe, Yo! Sushi and Curzon Cinemas.
Shamir has further diversified his interests and is a Director of Swiss Pack UK which is a market leader in Europe in the manufacturing of stand up resealable pouches. With a modern production facility in Gujarat, India and network offices in Asia and the US, the company is widely recognised as carrying the largest range of stock pouches in the World.
Drawing upon his experience in the packaging sector, in 2007 Shamir co-founded, Enviropack Ltd. The company specialises in the supply and distribution of environmentally friendly forms of packaging.
Recognised in the Hospitality Industry, Shamir has been featured in numerous publications and has also been awarded The Hamptons Newcomer of the Year Award 2007 at the Asian Business Awards. Shamir is looking to draw upon his varied entrepreneurial background as well as his experience specifically in dealing with companies and institutions in India to support the the goals and objectives of Shanti Microfinance.

Paul Walsh
Paul was one of the first AOL employees in 1995 – as a core member of the new technologies team. From 2006-2008 Paul served as Chair of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA), the longest established association for the digital industry. Paul has been instrumental in the creation and outreach of Web and mobile industry standards worldwide. He is one of the original founding sponsors of the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, helping to make the Web more accessible to people in developing countries. He also helped to instigate the formation of the W3C’s first incubator project; which recently became the industry standard for certification/content classification.

Shaan Devnani
Shaan’s background lies in addressing business and international development problems through the use of economic analysis. Working as a consultant for the World Bank in Pakistan and post-conflict Ethiopia, he coordinated an international group of advisers and stakeholders, including top economists, government donors and NGOs, to develop financial innovations for the poorest in society. Prior to this, Shaan worked as a consultant for a variety of blue-chip companies and spent two years building up an investment consulting firm that applied economic ideas to investment decision-making processes – attracting the world’s leading investment groups as clients.
Shaan holds degrees in Economics from Cambridge University and the London School of Economics.

Leena Desai
Jitendra’s background lies in investment banking & finance and has worked for one of the top 6 UK banks and one of the largest accountancy firms globally. Jitendra has had a varied career in investment banking,
working on mergers and acquisitions, securitization and, his current role, project finance. In his time in securitization he was, inter alia, responsible for analysis of multi million dollar loan portfolios for international banks across a variety of geographies including Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and South Africa. More recently Jitendra has been focused on financing infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, including ports and power plants.
Jitendra holds a first class degree in Physics from the University of Bristol.


