GSMA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager of the GSMA Innovation Fund
- Senior Manager, GSMA Innovation Fund ( Jakarta )
Achmad Pradipta (Dipta) is the Senior Manager of the GSMA Innovation Fund in Jakarta, Indonesia, he collaborates with both local and international innovators, leveraging technology hubs to amplify the impact investments. He also closely engagement with local Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), fostering relationships with other technology partners, and actively collaborating with policymakers. Through these efforts, he aims to unlock the full potential of connectivity for the benefit of society.
Prior to GSMA, Dipta has worked across multiple companies and various industries from start-ups, consulting firms, MNOs as well as mining company where he played a pivoting role helping them to build the sustainability portfolios. Dipta's holds a Degree in Marketing & Commerce from Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
Job Titles:
- Senior Market Engagement Manager, AgriTech ( Islamabad )
Ahmed is a Senior Market Engagement Manager for the AgriTech programme based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He provides consultancy and implementation support to AgriTech partners across the Asia Pacific region, focusing on the design, development, launch and commercialization of B2B and B2C agritech products and platforms. He also leads the user experience and design workstream for the programme. Before joining GSMA, Ahmed was managing multiple mobile money products for Telenor easypaisa. Prior to that, he worked with Standard Chartered Bank, primarily within the product management and Small and Medium Enterprise functions.
Ahmed completed his undergraduate studies from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and his MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager, Spectrum & Policy, South Asia ( India )
Ashish is the Senior Manager, Spectrum and Policy, South Asia for the GSMA.
Prior to joining the GSMA, Ashish held various positions in the ICT sector including with Reliance Communications, Etisalat, Samsung Networks and industry associations including infrastructure providers. In these roles he was responsible for delivering projects in spectrum management, digital Infrastructure, broadband penetration, sectoral taxation, M2M/IoT etc.
Ashish specialises in the field of spectrum management and has a wealth of experience in managing and resolving complex issues such as spectrum re-farming, harmonization, auctions including active participation with Government for review of National Frequency Allocation Plans and implementation of WRC decisions at Regional and National levels.
Ashish holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications, from MD University India, and a post graduate Diploma in Business Management from Narsee Monjee University in India.
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager Asia for the GSMA Innovation Fund
- Senior Manager, GSMA Innovation Fund ( Islamabad )
Bilal is a Senior Manager Asia for the GSMA Innovation Fund based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He engages with the start-up ecosystem including tech hubs, venture capitalists, mobile operators, government institutions and founders to catalyse innovation. Moreover, he manages GSMA Innovation grants across Asian markets with an objective of creating social economic impact. Previously, Bilal has worked with Karandaaz Pakistan where he led digital financial inclusion initiatives for private and public sectors. Prior to Karandaaz, he worked for Easypaisa, where he launched Pakistan's first ‘Pay as you go' solar system to provide low cost, high quality renewable energy to off-grid areas. Bilal has also worked on development projects during his assignments with UNDP and the World Bank.
Bilal has an MBA from Institute of Business Management, Karachi, Pakistan. He has also received training in financial inclusion and policy design from Harvard Kennedy School.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Director, APAC ( Hong Kong )
Christina is responsible for developing and implementing GSMA's marketing and communications strategies across the APAC region.
Prior to joining the GSMA, Christina held senior marketing positions in companies such as Microsoft, Lenovo, Dell, and Compaq. She has extensive experience in Product Marketing and Strategy, Project Management and Marketing Communications.
Christina holds a BSc in Computer Science and an MBA in International Marketing.
Job Titles:
- Market Engagement Manager, ClimateTech, GSMA ( Kuala Lumpur )
Daniel joins GSMA as a Market Engagement Manager attached to the ClimateTech team. Witnessing the worsening effects of climate change in his home country and globally, he is keen to bring stakeholders together in his role at GSMA to create meaningful solutions to what he believes to be one of the biggest challenges of the century.
He is based in Malaysia and brings with him experience from working on circular economy and community development solutions in the Southeast Asian market. Daniel is passionate about impactful entrepreneurship, having previously spent 5 years immersed in the social enterprise ecosystem in Asia as an early employee, entrepreneur, and ecosystem builder.
Daniel earned a Master's in Civil Engineering (MEng) from the University of Nottingham and continues to be involved in social ventures in Malaysia as an advisor.
Job Titles:
- Head of Technology for the GSMA Asia Pacific
- Head of Technology, APAC
David Turkington is the Head of Technology for the GSMA Asia Pacific. David is responsible for driving the technology direction of the GSMA across the APAC region and working with its membership to execute key technology initiatives. Prior to joining the GSMA, David held senior positions in companies including Pixel Networks, Ericsson, SmarTone, Nokia and British Telecom. David is a Chartered Engineer and member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Director, Advocacy and Industry Engagement, GSMA ( Delhi )
Debashish Chakraborty is a management professional with 26 years of experience in managing global strategic alliances, building partner ecosystems, policy advocacy, new business development, technology consulting, and key account management roles in diverse industries like IT, Telecom, Data Centres, Smart Cities, Green Buildings, Internet Service Provider (ISP), and IT system integration, with a successful track record of being outcome focused.
Prior to joining GSMA, Debashish was working with Schneider Electric, leading strategic initiatives like the start-up ecosystem program, policy advocacy for smart cities, influence and standardisation activities, influencing and advocating the policies for the New Energy Landscape, as part of the Corporate Strategy team. He has worked with Reliance Infocomm and Tata Communications during the early stages of his career.
Debashish holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics from Marathwada University and is a Post-Graduate in Business Administration from Symbiosis.
Job Titles:
- Senior Market Engagement Manager, Digital Utilities ( New Delhi )
Digvijay is Senior Market Engagement Manager for the Digital Utilities programme in New Delhi. He focuses on building strategic partnerships between digital utility service providers, mobile operators, and government stakeholders across the region, supporting innovators in the journey to scale, and driving a more enabling environment for digital utility services in our priority markets in the region.
He has extensive experience in public policy having worked on national health accounting, publicly financed health insurance, air pollution management and climate financing. Prior to this role, Digvijay was working on scaling the green bond market in India with a focus on climate risk assessment and mitigation. His work with the Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago, focused on air pollution abatement in Delhi National Capital Territory. Previously, Digvijay has led several partnerships with regulators, policy makers and corporates. He is experienced in capacity building and training across various industries.
Digvijay is a graduate in Economics from University of Delhi, a post-graduate in Sustainable Development Studies from TERI University and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA from the Indian School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Strategic Partnerships Director for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation
- Strategic Partnerships Director, Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation ( Kandy )
Dulip is the Strategic Partnerships Director for the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) programme based in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He works closely with mobile operators, technical partners, humanitarian organisations as well as public sector stakeholders on projects that contribute to accelerating the delivery and impact of digital humanitarian assistance. The strategic partnerships team continuously supports mobile operators, technical and humanitarian partners to collaborate and work towards more innovative and resilient digital solutions for communities faced with sudden onset disasters and protracted crisis.
In his previous role, Dulip led the Mobile Innovation Hub project in Indonesia and was a founding member of the GSMA ClimateTech programme.
Prior to GSMA, Dulip worked with Axiata Group in Malaysia and its OpCo Dialog in Sri Lanka managing their sustainability reporting process. He also set up the sustainability strategy for the Axiata Group. Dulip's first degree is in Natural Sciences. He's a trained GRI professional, ISO 9001 and SA8000 auditor.
Job Titles:
- Manager, GSMA Innovation Fund ( Jakarta )
Falah has a solid business background with a strong interest in entrepreneurship and a passion towards business strategy. He began his professional journey with an obsession to grow Indonesia's digital economy.
Falah has mixed experience in managing corporate innovation programs from his previous teams, which were Digital Amoeba and Indigo Incubator & Accelerator within Telkom Indonesia. He is proficient in analyzing pre-seed to seed stage startups by conducting due diligence and regular performance monitoring, and also discovering potential startups in the tech ecosystems. Moreover, he also has a track record as a web-app product manager for Telkom Indonesia's network data management platform strengthened by AI.
Job Titles:
- Senior Market Engagement Manager, Connected Society and Connected Women ( New Delhi )
Job Titles:
- Insights Manager, ClimateTech ( Kerala )
Gouri works as an Insights Manager for the ClimateTech program. She has collaborated with various research and advocacy groups on climate action, particularly in the areas of agriculture, energy transition, and climate planning. Prior to joining the GSMA, she was a part of the Climate Change & Sustainability team at PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd, focusing on private sector climate action and adaptation mainstreaming.
She holds an integrated master's in Development Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and a master's in Degrowth, Political Ecology, and Environmental Justice from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- British Telecom Director
- Head of Public Policy, APAC
Jeanette is Head of Public Policy, APAC at the GSMA. Her role entails providing public policy support for mobile network operators on telecoms, data privacy, spectrum policy, IoT, 5G and competition policy.
Before joining the GSMA Jeanette ran a Telecoms Media and Technology consultancy firm where she led a wide range of projects including development of fixed broadband strategies and business plans for mobile operators across Asia: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Macau, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Jeanette is a former British Telecom Director where she held senior roles in the areas of strategy, portfolio management, product development, Merger& Acquisition and IT.
Jeanette graduated from Loughborough University in the UK with a BSc (Hons) in Management Sciences. She is a Sloan Fellow with an MSc from London Business School and has a post graduate Diploma in Marketing from the UK-based Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Job Titles:
- Director and Head of North East Asia
- DXAF Community Head, Head of North East Asia
With over 20 years of research and consulting experience in the ICT and Telecoms industry, especially in North East Asia, Johnny has executed and directed major research and consulting studies for MNOs, vendors and government/regulatory bodies across a wide range of areas. Prior to joining the GSMA, he worked as Regional Head/Managing Director for ICT global research and consulting companies specializing in Telecoms & ICT and key industry verticals, respectively for North East Asia.
Johnny completed studies in Science and Business/Marketing at the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University of Technology, respectively and has also completed postgraduate studies in Economics and Applied Information Systems.
Job Titles:
- Chairman & CEO, Telefónica. GSMA Board Chair
Mr. Álvarez-Pallete has a degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid and he also studied Economics at the Free University of Brussels, in Belgium. He holds an International Management Programme from IPADE an Advance Research Degree from the Complutense University of Madrid.
In February 1999 he joined the Telefónica Group as Chief Financial Officer of Telefónica Internacional S.A.U., and in September of the same year he became Chief Financial Officer of Telefónica S.A. In July 2002, he was appointed Executive Chairman of Telefónica Internacional S.A.; in July 2006, General Manager of Telefónica Latinoamérica; and in March 2009 Chairman of Telefónica Latinoamérica. In September 2011 he was named Executive Chairman of Telefónica Europe, and in September 2012 he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Telefónica S.A.
Since April 8th 2016, he is Chairman & CEO of Telefónica S.A and he joined the board of directors in July 2006. Since March 2019 he is member of the Advisory Council of SEAT, S.A.
He began his professional career at Arthur Young Auditors in 1987, before joining Benito & Monjardín/Kidder, Peabody & Co. in 1988. In 1995 he joined the Compañía Valenciana de Cementos Portland (CEMEX) as head of the Investor Relations and Analysis Department. In 1996, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in Spain, and in 1998 to Chief Administration and Finance Officer of the CEMEX Group Indonesia and to a member of the Board of CEMEX Asia Ltd.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Head of Asia Pacific
Julian, Head of Asia Pacific at GSMA, drives collaborative efforts between the mobile industry, policymakers, and ecosystems to advance digital economies. With 20+ years of global experience in Wholesale, Business, Regulatory, Policy, and Digital Transformation, he's a pioneer in forging digital partnerships and units. His fervor lies in mobile tech as the cornerstone of economic resilience, sparking dialogues for sustainable, inclusive digital nations.
Job Titles:
- Head of Strategic Engagement, APAC
Kevin has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications sector working with various mobile operators regionally in APAC. He has held multiple senior positions with the last being the Chief Operations Officer of Tune Talk. He has worked with large mobile operators like Maxis, Celcom, Indosat Ooredoo (Indonesia), Robi (Bangladesh) as well as smaller startups like UMobile, P1, Seatel (Cambodia) and Tune Talk. He was crucial in the end to end service launch of 4G and content services for the large mobile operators stated above. He has both commercial and technical experience in the various roles he has held during his tenure.
Kevin has a BSc Physics Degree (Honors) from the National University of Malaysia.
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator for APAC
- Project Coordinator, APAC, GSMA ( India )
Latika Sahni is the Project Coordinator for APAC at the GSMA, providing support for the Public Policy team.
Before joining the GSMA, Latika worked with United Nations Industrial Development Organization as a Project Assistant towards inclusive sustainable industrial development in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology - Department of Science and Technology. In this role she conducted research to assess innovation practices in large, MSMEs to incorporate Industry 4.0 technologies and to empower self-reliant India. She has undertaken market research and designed an outreach program to create awareness about inclusive industrial development among industries-supporting domestic technology development, research, and product or process innovation.
Latika holds a Bachelor of Commerce honors from the University of Delhi and an MBA in marketing.
Job Titles:
- Business Manager
- Business Manager, APAC ( Hong Kong )
Lilian Hung is the APAC Business Manager for the GSMA, reporting to Head of Asia Pacific. She is based in Hong Kong.
Prior to joining the GSMA, Lilian has many years of experiences with a number of MNC verticals including Red Bull, Warner Bros, and Ericsson.
Lilian holds a Bachelor Degree of Business Management from La Trobe University Australia and Diploma of Human Resources Management/Business Administration from the Hong Kong Baptist University.
Mats Granryd is Director General of the GSMA and a member of its Board. In this role, he leads the GSMA in supporting its global membership across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach.
Under Mats' leadership, the GSMA has been instrumental in the advent of the 5G Era - advocating for timely and affordable spectrum access, supporting the global rollout of 5G and mobile IoT networks, creating an eSIM solution and providing the world's largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem and industry verticals at the MWC and M360
Job Titles:
- Senior Policy Manager, South Asia
Natasha is the Senior Policy Manager, South Asia for the GSMA.
Prior to joining the GSMA, she was a senior manager with a consulting firm, Ernst & Young's Policy group. Natasha is a lawyer who has worked globally on technology regulation and innovation policies. She has consulted for the UN Development Program, World Trade Organization, the Economist Intelligence Unit as well as different governments. She was appointed as a fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA and is the recipient of the Thomas Edison Innovation Fellowship at George Mason University, USA. Her writings on innovation policy and regulation issues have been published widely.
Natasha has a LL.M from George Washington University, USA and has studied Economics for Competition Law at King's College, UK.
Job Titles:
- Subgrants Compliance Manager, GSMA Foundation ( New Delhi )
Neha has over 20 years of professional experience which includes over twelve years of development sector experience with a passion for nonprofit management. During her career, she has successfully engaged in financial management, internal audits, external audits, financial accounting, FP&A, procurement and grants management functions. She is well-versed in legal compliances, project management and general operations. Though she has worked in several capacities, she feels happy working on excel/spreadsheets and working with numbers.
Before joining GSMA, Neha was the Head-Finance, Admin & IT for Digital Green leading the accounting, FP&A, grants management and Admin teams for their India office. In prior years, she worked with both national NGO like Helpage India and international NGOs like WaterAid, including some time working with audit firms and corporate entities. Neha is a Chartered Accountant and has a bachelor's degree in commerce.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director - Accelerator, Women in the Digital Economy Fund ( New Delhi )
Radhika Sarin is the Director - Accelerator for the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) and is based in New Delhi, India. Radhika leads the WiDEF Accelerator in India, that aims to identify, fund and accelerate investment in solutions to close the gender digital divide, thereby improving women's livelihoods, economic security and resilience. Prior to this, Radhika was a Senior Manager at the GSMA Innovation Fund, engaging with startups driving digital innovation & socio-economic impact in Asia & Africa. Radhika joined GSMA's Mobile for Development team in 2018 as a Market Engagement Manager in the Digital Utilities team, managing grants & enabling partnerships between mobile network operators and startups.
Radhika has over 11 years of experience in working across telecom, development sector consulting and driving digital innovation. Prior to GSMA, Radhika worked at IPE Global and Vodafone UK. Radhika holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick in the UK and a BA in Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.
Job Titles:
- Mobile for Development Director, APAC ( Mumbai )
Job Titles:
- Country Lead, Digital Transformation, Pakistan ( Islamabad )
Saira is working as the Country Lead Digital Transformation for GSMA1 in Pakistan. She focuses on the promotion and execution of the GSMA's global programmes and advocacy initiatives at the country level, as well as managing and delivering regional priorities defined by its members through GSMA governance bodies. Her focus is to advance the impact, growth, and sustainability of digital economies by collaboration between the mobile industry, policymakers, and ecosystem.
Saira is a telecommunication & project management executive with around 15 years of experience in Technology, Project Management, Regulatory, Policy & Digital Transformation. Before joining the GSMA, Saira was working as Head of Projects at Apollo Telecom leading various technology projects with the telecom industry. Saira has also worked with UNAIDS & Cure2Children Foundation Italy.
Saira has a degree in Information Technology.
Job Titles:
- Market Development Director at APAC Technology
- Market Development Director, Head of APAC 5G Industry & IoT Community, APAC
Terence serves as the Market Development Director at APAC Technology team in GSMA. The key focus is on 5G, IoT, eSIM. He establishes the APAC IoT partnership programme and the APAC 5G Industry Community that accelerates the 5G and IoT ecosystem development and innovation in the APAC region. The IoT partnership programme accumulates 60+ MNOs, 500+ innovators and ecosystem members in 20+ APAC countries, jointly drive the digital transformation in various sector including manufacturing, transportation, logistics & port, healthcare, smarty city, agriculture and environment protection etc.
Worked for IT/Telco industry for over twenty years, Terence has strong and broad experiences in telecom industries on infrastructure, product development and management, consultancy, sales and marketing. He has worked for multinational companies such as Fujitsu, Nokia, and served as the architect, consultant, product lead and pre-sales head of BSS/OSS in the Asia region.
Terence has Bachelor of Engineering (Electronic Engineering) in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Master of Business Administration (Information Technology Management) in Hong Kong Polytechnics University, previously certified as Project Management Professional (Project Management Institute).
Yi Shen specialises in policy and regulatory issues in the telecommunications, media and technology sector. His experience includes radio spectrum policy and management, digital broadcasting, economic regulation of telecommunications infrastructure, and competition issues in the communications and audio-visual markets.
Most recently, he was a director at Plum Consulting where he specialised in spectrum management issues, such as allocation, valuation and pricing of spectrum for mobile and other uses, cost benefit analyses and impact assessments of policies and regulations relating to mobile and other wireless technologies. Yi Shen has led numerous consultancy projects and advised governments, regulators and industry players around the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the UK.
His previous experience also includes roles within regulatory authorities in Singapore and the UK. Yi Shen has an MSc in Media and Communication Governance (Distinction) from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Economics and Philosophy from the National University of Singapore.
Job Titles:
- Innovation Fund Manager With a Focus on Mobile for Humanitarian
- Manager, GSMA Innovation Fund, GSMA ( Islamabad )
Zohaib is an Innovation Fund Manager with a focus on Mobile for Humanitarian (M4H). He is passionate about technology and how it can be leveraged for development and humanitarian assistance to communities. He has developed deep expertise in fintech product management through stints with Easypaisa as Assistant Director - Products, where he launched industry-first initiatives such as Instant Payment Scheme (Raast) and Open Banking. He has also worked as a Product Manager for Digital Wallets at JazzCash.
Zohaib has been instrumental in designing social sector interventions, programme management, and managing innovation funds at Karandaaz where he led four fintech innovation challenge rounds supporting more than 10 fintech start-ups with grants and technical assistance, enabling them to achieve sustainability and impact financial inclusion. Zohaib was also associated with the World Bank, working on provincial development programs. In his previous roles, he has authored academic papers, research studies, and reports.
Zohaib has a Master of Science in Economics from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, and has received training at "The Design Thinkers" academy on Design Thinking from Amsterdam. In addition to this, he has various certifications on Agile framework for Product Owners, Project Management, and Leadership.