Top 0 Asian Stars in UK Tech - JOOMAG version Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech 2015 | Page 12

Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech 2015

Azeem Azhar
Evangelist - Brandwatch
Azeem Azhar is founder of PeerIndex, a startup building an expertise directory for the
social Web, which was acquired by Brandwatch in 2014. Previously he worked with, started,
advised or invested in startups like Seedcamp, Dopplr, Powerset, New Energy Finance, Zygo,
TrueKnowledge, Mondus.com, PlanetOut, esouk and AMI Software. Prior to that he was Head
of Innovation at Reuters; and had stints at the BBC, The Economist and The Guardian. He has a
Masters degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Manoj Badale
Co-Founder & Managing Partner - Blenheim Chalcot
Manoj Badale was born in Dhule, Maharashtra, India and later on moved to the UK. He is a
graduate of the University of Cambridge where he studied economics. Manoj is the co-founder
and managing partner of Blenheim Chalcot, the Chairman of Emerging Media, chairman of
The British Asian Trust (part of the Prince of Wales’ Charities organisation) and of the Prince’s
Charities Events Ltd., as well as chairman of Operation Smile UK. He was formerly a partner
at Monitor Company, a co-founder of the Netdecisions group, co-founded Fluency (sold to
venture capitalists in 2003), Eviivo, and Steeltrace (sold to Compuware in 2004), the Rights
Company (sold to Warner Music in 2005). In 2008, he along with a consortium of investors
acquired the Jaipur Indian Premier League cricket team ‘Rajasthan Royals’ where Manoj is now
Chairman.

Hasan Bakshi
Director, Creative Industries - Nesta
Hasan Bakshi leads Nesta’s creative and digital economy policy and research. His recent
work includes co-authoring the Next Gen Skills Review (2011) of the video games and visual
effects industries, and the Manifesto for the Creative Economy (2013), which sets out ten
recommendations by which governments can help the creative economy grow. Hasan has
a particular interest in data and experimental research methods: in 2010, he designed and
piloted in Manchester Creative Credits, a business support scheme structured as a randomised
controlled trial; in 2011, he devised the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts which has been rolled out
in a three-year partnership with Arts Council England and the Arts and Humanities Research
Council.
Prior to Nesta, Hasan worked as Executive Director and Senior International Economist at
Lehman Brothers, and as Deputy Chief Economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
He has eight years’ experience as an economist at the Bank of England and has also consulted
for a number of organisations, including the European Commission, Film London and the
British Film Institute. Hasan has a BA in Economics from Cambridge and an MPhil in Economics
from the University of Oxford. Hasan is a founding member of the government’s Creative
Industries Council. He was awarded an MBE for services to the creative industries in the New
Year’s Honours List for 2015.

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