Malavika R. Harita

Malavika R. Harita, age 67 years, has 43 years of experience in marketing, communication, and entrepreneurship. She founded and led Saatchi & Saatchi Focus in India as CEO for 25 years, managing a diverse portfolio of B2B, B2C, B2E and Healthcare brands. She founded Brand Circle, her own consultancy firm in 2018. She serves as a resident mentor at NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore. She actively mentor’s startups in both profit and non-profit sectors at NSRCEL and other incubators nationwide.

She serves on the Board of Governors of IIM Bangalore and IIM Visakhapatnam and on the Governing Council of Mount Carmel College. She is the first woman to win the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIM Bangalore and has a strong passion for mentoring startups and women entrepreneurs. As a Communication Evangelist, Brand Strategist, Teacher, and Corporate Trainer, she continues to make significant contributions to the fields of marketing and education.

She is an independent director on the Board of Symphony Limited. She is also a director at AICIIMV Foundation for Incubation Entrepreneurial Learning and Development.

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics from Bangalore University, Post Graduate Diploma in Management: IIM Bangalore (with specialization in Marketing and Finance) and other postgraduate diplomas from prestigious institutions like Columbia Business School and MIT Sloan School.