After 25+ years of a professional career with international organisations, Nivedita has evolved towards philanthropy. She has been working since 1985, across sales, marketing, project management, and category development in varied industries like fragrances & flavours, office automation & direct marketing. Nivedita is a Chemistry graduate with a Master’s degree in Marketing Management from Mumbai University. Her interest in philanthropy led her to explore various humanities-based online courses like ‘Giving with Purpose’, ‘How to Change the World’, and ‘Social Psychology’ offered by reputed international schools.

As Managing Trustee of Animedh Charitable Trust, Nivedita focuses on the transformation of underprivileged girls and women in India. Her role is to mobilize donations, enlist girls and women into various educational and vocational programs and empower them to be educated, confident and economically independent.

Nivedita says, “In my work, I gained the insight that doing the simple, little things add up to the big things in the lives of the needy girls and women, which inspires them to transform their future.”

Dharti A. Desai is a visionary Senior Executive and Entrepreneur with more than 20 years of success - spanning wines, printing, packaging, and the lifestyle industry. Her broad areas of expertise include data profiling, marketing strategy and enhancement, branding, digital communications, imports, and Asian markets.

Dharti is the Founder and CEO of FineWinesnMore, a Mumbai-based fine wine retailing and marketing company. Known as the ‘First Lady’ of imported wines in India, for two consecutive years - she was featured as one of the Top 10 Women of Wine in India by the Indian Wine Academy. Dharti is also the Founder and CEO of Mail Order Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., a state-of-the-art print production company with clients in over 10 countries.

In addition to running her own businesses, Dharti is on advisory boards of companies in the digital marketing and ‘Not for Profit’ sectors. Dharti is currently mentoring women entrepreneurs from small towns across India, as part of AIRSWEEE 2.0 (All India Road Show for Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship) - a project by TiE Global and funded by the US Mission to India.

Dharti is the author of DM in India Guidebook and is a member of the Direct Marketing Association, USA, the International Council of the DMA, the Direct Marketing Ideas Club of NY, Asian Women in Business, New York and is a Charter Member of TiE NY. She has been selected as a judge for the International Echo Awards of the DMA for 2017 & 2018.

A single mother of a 20-year-old daughter, Dharti is a graduate of Wilson College, Mumbai University (India), and now divides her time between the USA and India. She is fluent in French. The brother-sister duo longed to convert their father's dream of an NGO which finally took shape in 2013. Mehul, Nivedita and Dharti have been actively engaged in creating fundraising concepts and personally overseeing all fund deployment. Taking advantage of group companies, they ensure administrative costs for Animedh are at a minimum. Dharti is very passionate about championing the cause of education for girls and women empowerment and she does it with a lot of compassion. She is looking forward to taking Animedh to the USA and other foreign countries. Her idol, Mother Theresa, inspired Dharti to lead by example, “It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.”

Mehul A. Desai is the driving force of Regency Group and founder of Mail Order Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. The group specialises in outsourced print production and distribution for international direct marketers and advertisers. His vision and focus have led the company to establish standards and business models that have proven exemplary for a small set up to grow exponentially in a short span.

An avid cricket fan and graduate from Mumbai University, Mehul started his career as a Sales Executive at Procter & Gamble India Ltd. and rose to senior positions in companies like Modi Xerox Ltd., Real Value Appliances Ltd., and Atlaz Telecommunications Ltd. Mehul was Vice President (Sales & Marketing) with Atlaz before he launched his own enterprise, Regency in 1997. Mehul is on the Board of Advisors for the DMA, India, is a committee member of The Bombay Master Printers Association, and has been a speaker at various industry events and seminars. Recently, Mehul has also done a management course on family managed business from IIM, Bangalore.

Mehul is an ACT ambassador who really believes in making a difference. He says, “In my twenties, I was moved by the quote, ‘Generosity is not giving something that you have in plenty. Generosity is giving something when you need it yourself.’ This is the essence of selfless giving and I have always been guided by it.” He is a thought leader among his network of business and social contacts and leads the way in philanthropic pursuits. He works tirelessly to raise funds and awareness about ACT’s causes and programs, which make a meaningful contribution toward the betterment of girls and women in society.