Dalberg opens New Delhi office and expands team
Dalberg Global Development Advisors has earlier this year opened a new office in New Delhi, its second in India. To meet growing demand in the region, the firm has in recent months also strengthened the team with three new senior advisors: Pritha Venkatachalam, Rajen Makhijani, and Varad Pande.
Since its foundation in 2001*, Danish-origin Dalberg Global Development Advisors (Dalberg) has grown to one of the larger firms specialised in economic advisory, development and social impact. Its clients include corporations, foundations and NGOs operating in emerging and developing markets and national governments.
In recent years, Dalberg has been serving the Indian market through its Mumbai office. Local client engagements have spanned diverse topics from scaling-up green growth models to designing rice fortification interventions, and from strengthening initiatives to fight human trafficking to tackling the region’s massive sanitation and water scarcity challenges. On the back of rising demand for its services the Mumbai office has grown steadily, and to further capitalise on the growth potential the consultancy has decided to open a second location in the country, based in New Delhi.
On top of the new office, the consulting firm also has added three new professionals to its team in the region. Pritha Venkatachalam and Varad Pande have joined in India, while Rajen Makhijani bolsters the Singapore office. All three advisors have also been added to Dalberg’s regional management team. “Our growth is exciting but also presents us with an imperative. Expanding our footprint requires keen and deliberate stewardship. We are, therefore, pleased to announce three new additions to our Asian leadership team,” states Dalberg in a press release.
Pritha Venkatachalam joins Dalberg as Principal and leads the firm’s New Delhi office. She previously was a Director at CEPA, where she led the global health practice with mandates in the infrastructure and agriculture sectors across developing and emerging market countries. She has advised clients on a range of social impact issues ranging from policy, strategy development, market/value chain studies, design and evaluation of development interventions, innovative financing, and governance and institutional frameworks. Venkatachalam holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a postgraduate degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics.
Rajen Makhijani comes on board as Associate Partner and anchors Dalberg’s Singapore office. He joins from Heidrick & Struggles, where he served as a Principal in its Leadership Consulting Practice, and prior to that worked for McKinsey & Company, ECS (purchased by PwC in India) and GlaxoSmithKline. At Dalberg, Makhijani will lead leadership and change management advisory engagements, as well as co-leading the firm’s initiatives in inclusive business and CSR.
Varad Pande joins Dalberg’s Mumbai office as Associate Partner, with significant advisory experience as a Ministerial Advisor in the Government of India, as Project Leader at the Monitor Group (acquired by Deloitte in Q4 2012), and as advisor at the World Bank. He has also been an Advisor on two recent UN Panels, on Sustainable Development and the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Varad holds an MPA in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School, a postgraduate degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and an undergraduate degree in Economics from St. Stephens College, University of Delhi.
* The firm was founded in October 2001 by Henrik Skovby and Søren Peter Andreasen.
