The Seductive Illusion of Hard Work

Kartik leads Asha Impact, an impact investing and policy advocacy platform, a capital-on-call multi-family office for Indian business leaders, UHNIs and philanthropists to invest in scalable, for-profit social enterprises. Asha Impact also works with the Indian government on sector-specific advocacy based on the experience of its investees and building the market for blended instruments like impact bonds through its non-profit trust. Prior to setting up Asha in 2014, Kartik worked with two pioneering impact funds in India – Lok Capital and Aavishkaar – was an investment banker with DSP Merrill Lynch, and consulted with the Rockefeller Foundation and the UNDP in the US and Africa. 

He has led several pioneering initiatives in building the social enterprise and impact financing ecosystem in India such as being a judge on the world’s first reality TV show on impact investing, launching a social enterprise operating a co-working center and digital polling platform for underprivileged youth in Delhi, teaching seminars on impact investing, authoring op-eds and policy papers on different development issues, and being selected as a ‘Champion of Change’ by the Indian PM’s office and Niti Aayog. He has led investments into twelve early-stage enterprises and is also a board member and member of the Executive Committee of the Impact Investors Association representing 40+ organisations and member of the India Steering Committee of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs.  

He completed his education at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Bachelors in Finance) and SIPA at Columbia University (Masters in International Affairs).

Arjun Vaidya is CEO and 6th Generation Vaidya at Dr. Vaidya’s: New Age Ayurveda. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in Economics and International Relations he returned to India and worked in private equity at L Capital Asia (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy Group) for 2.5 years. When his grandfather, Dr. Natoobhai Vaidya passed away in 2013, he believed his family legacy of Ayurveda would whither away and thus quit his finance career in 2016 to build an Ayurveda business for modern consumers.

For the second the session, we have NC Insider Gaurav Jhunjhnuwala joining us. Gaurav Jhunjhnuwala, 33, is a New Delhi based businessman, investor and speaker.   

After having served for 10 years on the board of S Chand Group, India's largest academic publisher, where he led the groups forays into digital content delivery, Gaurav Co-Founded two tech startups. Gaurav is afflicted by a rare disease which culminated in him losing his vision and becoming blind by the age of 20, however rather than slowing him down, his condition has only fuelled his passion and purpose in life further. When he’s not scaling his startups, Gaurav spends his time coaching people from all over the world on how to bring a winning mindset to their life, work and relationships.  

Gaurav is a voracious reader, and with the help of text to speech technology reads 50 books a year.  He is also a member of the Gurgaon chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) where he was voted Member of the Year in 2018.

The Seductive Illusion of Hard Work is a direct result of conversations and deliberations Utkarsh has had with different groups in different countries and different settings for extended periods of time.  

With this (virtual) road show, we will explore the 60 odd chapters of this book with Network Capital members and people who inspired these insights. They will talk about how they are applying the concepts of “The Seductive Illusion of Hard Work” in their daily lives.  

For the first session, we have NC Insider Mishaal Nathani joining us. Mishaal is a lawyer by profession and an entrepreneur by nature. He currently works in the CEO's Office at Dr. Vaidya's, a new age Ayurveda company. In addition, he is the Co-Founder of Plane Crazy, a full-service creative consulting agency. He is an advisor and consultant to Unergia, a solar energy company. Mishaal is the co-author and editor of The Skeptic Investor newsletter, a weekly publication of original articles and web content focused on startups, business and investing.Mishaal graduated with a B.A. LL.B from Jindal Global Law School. He has been admitted to Harvard Business School for the MBA program as part of the 2+2 deferred enrolment