Board

Ajaya Mohapatra – Managing Director

Ajaya is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Justrojgar India Pvt. Ltd. a for-profit company was incorporated in 2009. Ajaya co-founded justrojgar.com, the brand owned by Justrojgar India Pvt. Ltd. Since inception of the Company, Ajaya has steered the skill development initiatives. In his leadership, the company has trained and placed over 2000 candidates as at March 2013. He raised fund over Rs.4.5 million from corporates like Vedanta Group, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., JSL Stainless Limited and International Agency viz. American India Foundation in the last 2 years.

Prior to staring We The People (NGO), Ajaya worked with Bhartiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST)–CII, WWF-India, Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC-IC), PRIA, PHD Rural Development Foundation (PHD Chamber of Commerce) and CASA spanning over 20 years in the development sector. He was a member of the State Steering Committee on Panchayati Raj, Government of Himachal Pradesh, India.

As a professional trainer, Ajaya has trained more than 10,000 elected representatives of Panchayats, government functionaries, corporate sector and NGOs in India. He has demonstrated experience in the field of micro-entrepreneurship, livelihoods and micro-finance, skills development, policy advocacy, strategic planning and management, and networking. He is authored to several development sector books, manuals and articles published in the magazines of national and international repute.

To  his  credit,  he  steered key innovation  projects  including Mentor  Online Training (MOL) for micro-entrepreneurship development on behalf of BYST supported by International Finance Corporation (IFC). He launched Pre-Election Voter’s Awareness Campaign (PEVAC) for Panchayats at PRIA in 2000 in Rajasthan that becomes a national level campaign  adopted by many  state governments with the identical acronym viz. PEVAC. For this contribution, he was awarded Visiting Fellowship by the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

He holds a Post Graduate degree in Rural Development from Xavier Institute of Social Services (XISS), Ranchi and was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

Jyotirmayee Lenka – Director

Jyoti has over ten years of experience in the development sector. She has been working with We The People since January 2006. She has been spearheading the microfinance operations since 2007 including MIS. Bedsides, Jyoti has been looking after the HR and skill development programmes. She is the one of the oldest colleagues at We The People and has been the pillar of support and source of inspiration during the critical times of the organisation. Prior to joining We The People, Jyoti worked with NGOs viz. ASRA and associated with Samaj Seva Parishad.

Arindam Pramanik – Director

Arindam has over 13 years of extensive experience in treasury, project financing, project coordination and accounting operations. He is currently a consultant with Fore Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and has raised more than 5 million USD for Fore Consultants. He worked with Indus Knowledgeware offering consulting services to microfinance industry and Bhartiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), a strategic partner to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as Project Head (National Policy). He is skilled at analyzing the financial viability of new ventures/ new projects and forecast the amount of project finance/ funds required and conceptualizing and implementing financial procedures. He has handled working capital management, internal financial controls & costing. He holds a diploma in Business Management (Finance) from Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad.

Dr. Gopal Nadadur – Director

Gopal holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and product design from the Pennsylvania State University. His current role at the New York-based Clinton Health Access Initiative involves leading technology innovation, field testing, and global policy development concerning refrigeration and remote monitoring equipment for sub-Saharan African countries. This work also involves working closely with technology developers and manufacturers in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Gopal’s past experiences include global product strategy consulting with large multinational companies (e.g., GE, Alstom) and financial analysis for a venture capital firm in Washington, D.C. On an academic level, he has taught a number of courses and conducted seminars at the Pennsylvania State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These span a variety of topics: product design principles, user-centered design, cross-cultural leadership development and relationship-building, and designing for the developing world.