CEO

K Vaitheeswaran is currently the chief operating officer of Indiaplaza, the world’s largest India-centric e-commerce company with operations in Bangalore, Chennai and Austin, Texas.

K Vaitheeswaran is a co-founder of www.fabmall.com, the company that pioneered the Indian E-commerce Industry. Since September 1999, he spent all his time and efforts in not only building Fabmall.com into a position of industry leadership but has also been engaged in evangelizing the cause of E-commerce in India.

In November 2006, The Pitch magazine listed him among the Top 20 people in the Indian Internet industry.

He also co-founded the Fabmall chain of grocery stores, which has become one of the leading brands in the Indian organized retail industry.

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GB Prabhat talks about what made him leave his top position as a Director at Satyam, one of India’s biggest software companies, and take the hard route to entrepreneurship.

This particular edition will be of special interest to both entrepreneurs and to those who aspire to be one.

When he quit Satyam recently, he had helped grow its Enterprise department’s revenues to 200 million US dollars a year.

His new venture, Anantara Solutions, has gotten seed funding of $6.5 million US dollars from Helion Venture Partners, Walden International and Silicon Valley Bank. He talks about his experience in getting funding and also shares his advice to those wanting to jump into the entrepreneurship bandwagon.

Anantara focuses on Second Generation Outsourcing (SGO), a business paradigm that radically improves first generation outsourcing which is predicated primarily on cost arbitrage.

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GB Prabhat helped net in $200 million in revenue when he decided to quit Satyam Computer Services, one of India’s largest software companies. Prabhat left his cushy job to found a startup called Anantara Solutions which received investments of $6.5 million from Helion Venture Partners, Walden International Silicon Valley Bank.

His new company focuses on Second Generation Outsourcing (SGO), a business paradigm that “radically improves first generation outsourcing which is predicated primarily on cost arbitrage.”

Prabhat says “By pioneering SGO, we at Anantara Solutions are reinventing the offshore delivery model combining the efficiencies of a top-notch consulting firm and a high quality offshore delivery firm.

In 1995, he co-founded Satyam Renaissance Consulting, a then subsidiary of Satyam Computer Services. Prabhat believed strongly that, much as IT services work was beginning to be offshored, all manner of consulting services could be delivered using the onsite-offshore model with India as the hub of such services.

Prabhat is also a writer of fiction. His first novel, Chains, was published in November 2000 to critical acclaim and his second novel, Eimona, was published in 2006.

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Futurebazaar.com is India’s latest big ticket shopping site that comes from the group which owns India’s largest retail chain.

FutureBazaar.com recently got infused with a funding of $25 million and is bound to give established etailers in India many sleepless nights.

Led by Kishore Biyani, the group owns and operates huge retail chains including Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Central, E-Zone, Fashion Station, Depot and many others.

I caught up with Sankarson, CEO of FutureBazaar.com at the eTailing Conference in Chennai. Shanky, as he prefers to be called, has had impressive experience in the online retailing market having set up shopping sites for Rediff and Shoppers Stop.

In this podcast, Shanky gives his honest opinions about etailing in India and about FutureBazaar in particular.

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Listen to the man who heads Sify.com, one of India’s biggest portals and also heads marketing for Sify Iways, one of Asia’s biggest cybercafe chains with over 3300 cafes in more than 150 cities in India. Sivaramakrishnan talks about his experience and challenges in both these businesses.

Sify is a leader in Consumer Internet and Enterprise Services in India with global delivery capabilities.

Siva, as he is popularly called, has over 18 years of experience in marketing consumer brands and building their businesses.

In his role as Vice President of the iWay cyber cafe business at Sify, he was instrumental in leading their transformation from Internet browsing centers to e-stores by introducing break-through alliances and initiatives.

Earlier, He was part of the Ford India marketing leadership team and led the successful launch of Ford’s Ikon, Fusion, Fiesta and Endeavour in India.

For the launch of the Ford Ikon, Siva initiated a path-breaking online promotion considered one of the leading web initiatives of that time.

In August 2006, Siva took over as President, Portals.

He is a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, with a successful track record of managing brands, sales, and customer service for global market leaders such as Procter & Gamble and Ford, both in India and abroad.

During his career with them, he has led brand, sales and customer service teams, championing successful marketing and sales initiatives for brands such as Vicks, Pampers, Old Spice, Ford Fiesta, Ford Ikon and the Ford Endeavour.

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