Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, CEO, Akshaya Patra Foundation
Carleton University’s Innovation Hub and the Alterna Social Ventures Institute at Carleton’s Sprott School of Business are excited to announce the appointment of Bhawani Singh Shekhawat, CEO of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, as Social Entrepreneurship Fellow.
In this role, Bhawani will draw upon his extensive experience in entrepreneurship and social innovation to provide coaching, mentorship, and learning opportunities to Carleton University students interested in social entrepreneurship.
Bhawani is the CEO of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which runs the world’s largest and perhaps most celebrated school meals program. It currently serves over 1.8 million school children in over 19,000 schools across India, amounting to over 2 billion meals annually. In the U.K., Akshaya Patra runs a holiday lunch program to provide meals to food-insecure children in greater London during school holidays, as well as a program that provides daily meals to more than 3,000 homeless adults in London. The work of the Akshaya Patra directly contributes to reducing food insecurity among children, addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. In 2019, the Akshaya Patra Foundation received the prestigious BBC Global Champion Award.
Prior to his work with Akshaya Patra, Bhawani led large multinational, multicultural, and multidisciplinary teams in global corporations. He held senior management positions with Nielsen in emerging markets and led the consumer business in Central, South, and Western Europe. Subsequently, he led the global marketing science and best practice areas for Reckitt Benckiser and the strategic planning function at Coca-Cola. During his time with these companies, he was responsible for strategic initiatives including mergers and acquisitions and legacy planning.
He currently serves on the advisory board of Adhyayan Asia and HaikuJam (UK) where he consults and advises the corporate board of directors. He is also associated with Erehwon Consulting where he helps businesses and leadership realize and unlock their orbit-shifting potential.
Bhawani is passionate about people, innovation-driven growth, and the challenges that leadership brings to any given situation. He divides his time between teaching at leading business schools and advising and mentoring business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Carleton students who are interested in attending a workshop or scheduling a coaching session with Bhawani will be able to do so through the Innovation Hub. More information will be forthcoming; in the meantime, students can contact Bhawani by email at innovationhub@carleton.ca .
This position is supported with funding from the Innovation Hub and the Alterna Social Ventures Institute.