Philanthropist
Former private equity investor
Ashish Dhawan (born March 10, 1969) is an Indian philanthropist and former private equity investor who co-founded and ran one of India's leading private equity funds, Chrysalis Capital (ChrysCapital).[1] He is the founder-CEO of the Convergence Foundation,[2][3] founder-chairperson of the Central Square Foundation,[4] and a founder-trustee of Ashoka University.[5][3]
Dhawan has served on the board of trustees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2022.[2] His net worth is approximately $800 million.[6]
Education
Dhawan attended St. Xavier's Collegiate School, followed by St. James' School in Kolkata.[7][8] He is a graduate of Yale University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in applied mathematics and economics, and Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA.[7][9]
Career
From 1992 to 1993, Dhawan worked on Wall Street at boutique investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co., where he was the only Indian analyst.[8] He then moved to McCown DeLeeuw & Co., an eight-person private equity firm in California, where he was the junior-most associate.[8]
After completing his MBA in 1997, Dhawan went to work at Goldman Sachs, where he was part of the Risk Arbitrage Group.[8] At the age of 29, he decided to leave New York to return to India.[10]
In 1999, Dhawan co-founded ChrysCapital in Mumbai with Raj Kondur, a classmate from Harvard Business School.[8][11]
Philanthropy
In 2012, Dhawan left his career as a private equity investor to found Central Square Foundation (CSF), a grant-making organization and policy think tank focused on transforming the quality of school education in India.[12][13][14] In 2014, he spearheaded the launch of Ashoka University, billed as India's first "Ivy-league-caliber" liberal arts university,[5] together with other Indian entrepreneurs.[9][15]
Other organisations launched by Dhawan include the India Leaders for the Social Sector (ILSS), which he set up with Anu Prasad in 2017; the Air Pollution Action Group (APAG) in 2019; and the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS). a joint effort with economist Karthik Muralidharan.[1]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dhawan and CSF set up the ACT EdTech Ambition Fund, an organisation dedicated to helping deliver education to underprivileged children.[1] He and his wife Manisha set up the Convergence Foundation as an umbrella organisation and grant-making incubator dedicated to promoting growth in India by solving complex socioeconomic problems.[1][3]
Dhawan endowed the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professorship at Yale University to bolster scholarship in India and South Asia Studies.[16]
Accolades
In 2012, Dhawan was recognized as the NextGen Leader in Philanthropy by Forbes India for his charitable work.[17] He also placed 15th on the 2014 Hurun India Philanthropy List, a ranking of the most generous individuals in India produced by China-based Hurun Research Institute.[18]
Selected articles
- Dhawan, Ashish (September 16, 2022). "Education policy cannot be business-as-usual after Covid". Financial Times.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Convergence Man: Former ChrysCapital chief Ashish Dhawan embarks on an ambitious set of goals(April 10, 2022). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gates Foundation appoints Indian philanthropist Ashish Dhawan. The Times of India(August 18, 2022). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Advisory Board. The Convergence Foundation. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ Our Team. Central Square Foundation. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 A New University Offers Liberal Arts as Higher Education Alternative. The New York Times(November 26, 2013). Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ↑ Ashish Dhawan Portfolio: 6 stocks clock double-digit returns in 2023. Economic Times. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Private Equity Pasha: Ashish Dhawan. Business Today(January 13, 2008). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Lessons learnt: Why foresight foreshadows all else for Ashish Dhawan, CEO of Central Square Foundation. The Economic Times(December 20, 2013). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ashoka University: Ivy League, Indian-style. Financial Times(March 8, 2018). Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ↑ One-Man Industry; Not counting institutional investors, Ashish Dhawan has brought in the most money into private equity in India over the last seven years. What is it about the 36-year-old that makes global investors put millions behind him?. Business Today(July 17, 2005). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ Ashish Dhawan's New Ambitions. Business World(March 21, 2011). Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ↑ Take a lot of risks and do something different: Having given up a successful and lucrative career as a venture capitalist to work towards revamping the education sector in India Mridu Rai finds out more about the man with a vision. Ashish Dhawan/ CEO, CENTRAL SQUARE FOUNDATION. India Today(February 10, 2014). Retrieved 2023-08-14.
- ↑ CSF Official Website – Our Team. Central Square Foundation.
- ↑ Economic and social reform with Ashish Dhawan – KPMG Global. KPMG(2022-03-14). Retrieved 2023-06-10.
- ↑ Ashish Dhawan to raise Rs.400 crore for Ashoka University. Live Mint. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
- ↑ Sunil Amrith named the Dhawan Professor of History. YaleNews(April 20, 2020). Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ↑ Forbes India – Ashish Dhawan: Next Gen Leader in Philanthropy. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
- ↑ 胡润百富 – www.hurun.net. Retrieved 2015-05-11.