TEAM & ADVISORS


Mrs Uma Prabhu

Managing Partner

Uma Prabhu is the Managing Partner at UAP Advisors and also the group editor at iTV Network. She has 30 years of experience in media and journalism, having worked at leading publications like The Times of India, The Education Times, Popular Prakashan and DNA Academy. She has also taught Media Management at the Goa Institute of Management and National Institute of Event Management.

She is currently the Chairperson of Jana Shikshan Sansthan Sindhudurg, a vocational institute under the Union Ministry of HRD, and is on the Executive Committee the Government of India’s National Literacy Mission. Ms Prabhu is a BSc and holds a post-graduate degree in journalism and an MBA specializing in human resources management.


Mr Ameya Prabhu

Partner

Ameya Prabhu is the founder and Managing Director of NAFA Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd and a partner in UAP Advisors LLP. Ameya has been designated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also a writer and the author of “The Rock Babas and other stories”, a book of short stories published by Amazon.

Ameya also serves as the Managing Director of New Age Financial Advisors, a joint venture with IFFCO which is the world's largest farmers co-operative organisation. New Age focuses on investment banking, Agri investments and farmer market connect. Ameya is a BSc. in Economics, Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick and an MSc. in Financial Management from IE Business School, Madrid

Ameya is a trustee of Manav Sandhan Vikas Sanstha, a NGO focused on skill training and skill development in rural and semi urban India with an emphasis on job creation for women and the under privileged classes. He is also the Vice Chairman of Konkan Krida Prabodhini, promoting sports in the rural Konkan region of Maharashtra. Ameya is a member of the advisory board of Climate Group India and is also on the board of Miracle Feet India, a NGO focused on elimination of club foot in India. He is currently the Senior Vice President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and was formerly the Chairperson of the Young Leaders Forum of the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is a columnist and his writings have been published by well known media outlets such as the Huffington Post, The Quint, Business Today etc.


Mr Tarang Gupte

Group Financial Controller

Tarang is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary with extensive experience in accounts, internal controls, finance, reporting (including US GAAP), MIS, planning, and Taxation (Corporate tax, Transfer Pricing, and GST). His experience is spread across working with startups, top consulting firms, MNC's like Deloitte, HDFC Standard Life insurance, India First Life Insurance and PwC.

Tarang holds a B.Com Degree from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics.


Ms Gayatri Sethuraman

Principal - Investments and Strategy

Gayatri has close to 9 years of experience across both multi-national and start-up establishments. Over the past 5 years, she has been actively involved in managing the Investments as well as advisory clients of the UAP group. She is also a director on the board of a few of our group companies including NAFA Asset Managers.

Gayatri was previously a co-founder at Dabbadoo, a first of its kind subscription based nutritional daily meal service for school-going children. Prior to that, she had worked with the structured finance team at ICICI Bank and also has experience in ESOPS consulting and equity research.

Gayatri is a CFA Charter holder and holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Finance from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune.


Mr Jigar Sangani

Principal New Projects and Initatives

Jigar Sangani is Principal - New Projects and Partnerships at UAP Advisors. He looks at all new projects, initiatives and partnerships at UAP Advisors and its investee companies. Jigar comes with an extensive experience of more than 7 years in the financial services and investment banking space. He has had exposure across a broad range of industries such as Power, Healthcare, Banking, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, and others as well as across geographies like Middle East, USA and India. Having worked in the financial services space in the past, he has been hands on with valuing private and public companies along with creating landscapes related to geographic and sectoral outlooks. He was previously Assistant Vice President at Maitreya Capital Advisors.

Jigar has completed his Masters and Bachelors in Management Studies both with majors in Finance from Mumbai University.


Mr Rahul Sankhe

Advisor

Rahul Sankhe is the President and Co-Founder of SenseHawk, a data analytics company focused on the seamless generation of actionable insights for solar power plants and other critical infrastructure assets. He was previously with SunEdison, where he oversaw the development of over 2GW of solar PV power plants across India, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Australia.

Mr Sankhe is also the founder-promoter of Agami Ventures, through which he invests in innovative companies in the solar energy, affordable housing and sustainable infrastructure industries. He holds a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.


Mr Kunal Dalal

Advisor

Kunal Dalal has over 10 years of experience in finance working with a large infrastructure company in India, where he helped raise over $500 mm from various PE and VC funds as well as local debt for large-scale infrastructure projects in India. He was previously the CEO of a 300-room luxury resort project in Goa and has an in-depth understanding of land development approval processes in India

Mr Dalal is passionate about entrepreneurship and has helped startups develop several mobile apps like LandApp, Play sports and StaffCheck. He holds a BBA degree in Management Information Systems from Pace University, New York.


Mr Kaushik Yegnan

Advisor for Business Development

Kaushik has over 25 years of experience in international business, strategy, marketing, media and information technology domains. He is currently Director & COO of NOWA ApS, Denmark, a company pioneering long distance transfer of fresh water. Kaushik earlier founded Skandsoft Technologies, which focused on Auto-ID/RFID, the precursor to IOT solutions in 2001. The company was successfully sold off. He continues to invest and mentor companies driving innovative ideas that have their ear to the ground. He was on the panel of experts at TATA – NEN (National Entrepreneurship Network) for evaluation of hottest startups in India.

Kaushik was the global head for business strategy and business development at a CASatyam ASP, a joint venture between Computer Associates US and Satyam Computers India. He was also involved with the early phases of e-learning implementation in India with Brainvisa Technologies which pioneered e-learning in the region.

Kaushik is a published author and also launched India’s first newspaper for children “Super Junior Times” in September 1991 as its founding editor.


Mrs Uma Prabhu

Managing Partner

Uma Prabhu is the Managing Partner at UAP Advisors and also the group editor at iTV Network. She has 30 years of experience in media and journalism, having worked at leading publications like The Times of India, The Education Times, Popular Prakashan and DNA Academy. She has also taught Media Management at the Goa Institute of Management and National Institute of Event Management.

She is currently the Chairperson of Jana Shikshan Sansthan Sindhudurg, a vocational institute under the Union Ministry of HRD, and is on the Executive Committee the Government of India’s National Literacy Mission. Ms Prabhu is a BSc and holds a post-graduate degree in journalism and an MBA specializing in human resources management.


Mr Ameya Prabhu

Partner

Ameya Prabhu is the founder and Managing Director of NAFA Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd and a partner in UAP Advisors LLP. Ameya has been designated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also a writer and the author of “The Rock Babas and other stories”, a book of short stories published by Amazon. .

Ameya also serves as the Managing Director of New Age Financial Advisors, a joint venture with IFFCO which is the world's largest farmers co-operative organisation. New Age focuses on investment banking, Agri investments and farmer market connect. Ameya is a BSc. in Economics, Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick and an MSc. in Financial Management from IE Business School, Madrid

Ameya is a trustee of Manav Sandhan Vikas Sanstha, a NGO focused on skill training and skill development in rural and semi urban India with an emphasis on job creation for women and the under privileged classes. He is also the Vice Chairman of Konkan Krida Prabodhini, promoting sports in the rural Konkan region of Maharashtra. Ameya is a member of the advisory board of Climate Group India and is also on the board of Miracle Feet India, a NGO focused on elimination of club foot in India. He is currently the Chairperson of the Western Region of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and was formerly the Chairperson of the Young Leaders Forum of the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is a columnist and his writings have been published by well known media outlets such as the Huffington Post, The Quint, Business Today etc.


Mr Tarang Gupte

Group Financial Controller

Tarang is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary with extensive experience in accounts, internal controls, finance, reporting (including US GAAP), MIS, planning, and Taxation (Corporate tax, Transfer Pricing, and GST). His experience is spread across working with startups, top consulting firms, MNC's like Deloitte, HDFC Standard Life insurance, India First Life Insurance and PwC.

Tarang holds a B.Com Degree from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics.


Ms Gayatri Sethuraman

Principal - Investments and Strategy

Gayatri has over seven years of experience across both multi-national and startup establishments. She was previously a co-founder at Dabbadoo, a first of its kind subscription based nutritional daily meal service for school-going children. Prior to that, she had worked with the structured finance team at ICICI Bank and also has experience in ESOPS consulting and equity research.

Gayatri is a CFA Charter holder and holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Finance from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune.


Mr Jigar Sangani

Principal New Projects and Initatives

Jigar Sangani is Principal - New Projects and Partnerships at UAP Advisors. He looks at all new projects, initiatives and partnerships at UAP Advisors and its investee companies. Jigar comes with an extensive experience of more than 7 years in the financial services and investment banking space. He has had exposure across a broad range of industries such as Power, Healthcare, Banking, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate, and others as well as across geographies like Middle East, USA and India. Having worked in the financial services space in the past, he has been hands on with valuing private and public companies along with creating landscapes related to geographic and sectoral outlooks. He was previously Assistant Vice President at Maitreya Capital Advisors.

Jigar has completed his Masters and Bachelors in Management Studies both with majors in Finance from Mumbai University.


Mr Rahul Sankhe

Advisor

Rahul Sankhe is the President and Co-Founder of SenseHawk, a data analytics company focused on the seamless generation of actionable insights for solar power plants and other critical infrastructure assets. He was previously with SunEdison, where he oversaw the development of over 2GW of solar PV power plants across India, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Australia.

Mr Sankhe is also the founder-promoter of Agami Ventures, through which he invests in innovative companies in the solar energy, affordable housing and sustainable infrastructure industries. He holds a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.


Mr Kunal Dalal

Advisor

Kunal Dalal has over 10 years of experience in finance working with a large infrastructure company in India, where he helped raise over $500 mm from various PE and VC funds as well as local debt for large-scale infrastructure projects in India. He was previously the CEO of a 300-room luxury resort project in Goa and has an in-depth understanding of land development approval processes in India

Mr Dalal is passionate about entrepreneurship and has helped startups develop several mobile apps like LandApp, Play sports and StaffCheck. He holds a BBA degree in Management Information Systems from Pace University, New York.


Mr Kaushik Yegnan

Advisor for Business Development

Kaushik has over 25 years of experience in international business, strategy, marketing, media and information technology domains. He is currently Director & COO of NOWA ApS, Denmark, a company pioneering long distance transfer of fresh water. Kaushik earlier founded Skandsoft Technologies, which focused on Auto-ID/RFID, the precursor to IOT solutions in 2001. The company was successfully sold off. He continues to invest and mentor companies driving innovative ideas that have their ear to the ground. He was on the panel of experts at TATA – NEN (National Entrepreneurship Network) for evaluation of hottest startups in India.

Kaushik was the global head for business strategy and business development at a CASatyam ASP, a joint venture between Computer Associates US and Satyam Computers India. He was also involved with the early phases of e-learning implementation in India with Brainvisa Technologies which pioneered e-learning in the region.

Kaushik is a published author and also launched India’s first newspaper for children “Super Junior Times” in September 1991 as its founding editor.