Ajit Mantagani is a versatile, strategic business leader with a global mindset who has been CEO / President / Profit centre manager for 40 years of his corporate life. He has had a distinguished career with well-known companies, including Asian Paints, Comcraft / Chandaria Group, Berger Paints, Parry / Murugappa Group, Arvind Ltd, Raymond Ltd and NSL Group.

Over the years, he has had an opportunity to work at, lead and shape the future of some of the finest Indian companies that eventually earned a place among the Top 3 in the world in their respective domains – Asian Paints, Arvind Ltd [Denim]. He joined the corporate world when India was a ‘closed economy’ and then, post 1991, joined the party of an ‘open-to-the-world’ India that fuelled the drive among companies to become competitive worldwide with best-in-class benchmarks. He evolved in this movement and became a business leader with a global outlook and gained extensive experience in servicing customers and in developing strategic alliances in the Americas, EU and the Far East. He has been enriched further by working in several domains, such as Paints and Home Ceramics, Textiles and Clothing, Telecom, to name a few. He learned lessons in management and leadership by working in various situations – large and small organizations, start-ups and turnaround cases.

After completing his studies in Chemical Engineering in 1970 from KREC in his home state of Karnataka, he earned his MBA at IIMA in 1972. International competitiveness of companies in emerging mega-economies like India is one of his management and leadership areas of interest. He has rich experience in both domestic Indian and international management and business development contexts. Throughout his career, he has served as an inspirational leader, who has mentored and coached people in organizations to achieve their goals, improve their performance and reach their greatest potential.

Ajit has recently become a minority stake angel investor in Cybersecurity start up (see www.entersoft.co.in). He will not only be on its Board but also be a mentor to the promoter.