aikyam fellows

About Us

aikyam fellows inspire actions on important & urgent needs of the planet and underserved communities.

We back people who have already started. A fellow arrives with work under way and something in the way of it — money, a skill they do not have, a room to work in, or simply nobody to think out loud with. The fellowship supplies what is missing: peer learning, coaching, and access to resources, so they can turn their ideas into reality.

We are small on purpose. Six fellows have come through since 2023, and the whole team is on this page.

Meet the team

Founders and leadership

  • Co-founder

    Shemeer Babu

    Passionate about supporting changemakers. Fifteen years in leadership, design thinking and impact technology.

  • CFO

    Chhabil Gadia

    Financial controlling, P&L management and planning. Previously Lenovo, Microsoft, Tata and startups.

  • Co-founder, Advisor

    Deepali Kulkarni

    Passionate about technology for social good; provides leadership and mentoring.

  • Co-founder, Advisor

    Arunabha Bhattacharya

    Passionate about bridging worlds and creating human connections for the greater good.

Fellows

  • aikyam fellow, 2023

    Jinso Raj

    Full stack developer.

  • aikyam fellow, 2023

    Pooja T

    Makes knowledge accessible; curates PATTIC, for regulatory compliance accessibility.

  • aikyam fellow, 2026

    Greeshma Thottingal

    Works on the aikyam jobs platform, for meaningful social sector employment.

  • aikyam fellow, 2026

    Vivek

    Manages the aikyam space; builds community connections.

  • aikyam fellow, 2026

    Krishnan Ghosh

    Spatial designer; facilitates design consultations.

  • aikyam fellow, 2026

    Sentinaro Shiu

    Mental health professional; connects organisations with talent via aikyam jobs.

Read the fellows’ stories

Team

  • Chef & Tiny Entrepreneur

    Jasentha

    Prepares meals; knowledgeable about home remedies.

  • Facilities & Tiny Entrepreneur

    Haseena H

    Maintains the garden and the spaces; enjoys cooking.

  • Facilities & Tiny Entrepreneur

    Nasini Asharaf

    Maintains cleanliness; passionate about kitchen gardening.

  • Upcycling Clothes & Tiny Entrepreneur

    Mary Gracy

    Collects tailoring scraps and upcycles them into bags to reduce waste; teaches stitching.

  • Community Coordinator

    Shabana K H

    Supports community building, outreach, livelihood programmes and sustainable opportunities.

  • Communication Associate

    Aparna R

    Leads communications and storytelling with an inclusive, accessible lens.

Advisory board

  • Director, Board Member

    Ramya Sundararajan

    Storyteller; CEO at WeLive Foundation; associated with Azim Premji University’s English Language Support Centre.

  • Director

    Veena Gadia

    Post-graduate in Chemistry; volunteers with special-needs organisations and counsels parents.

Open positions

We are looking for social entrepreneurs, technologists, storytellers and advisors — with expertise in programme design, fundraising, writing, finance and grassroots engagement.

If you would like to volunteer your skills in design, technology, strategy, fundraising, storytelling, talent management or finance, we would like to hear from you.

Get in touch

How this is paid for

Who funds it
Four foundations — Samagata Foundation, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, Rainmatter Foundation and FOSS United — and a number of individuals. All of them are named below, with what each one supports.
What fellows pay
Nothing. The fellowship charges no fee and takes no share of anything a fellow goes on to build.
Not for profit
aikyam fellows is a project of aikyam, which is constituted not for profit. Read what that commits us to.
How we handle your information
Our privacy, content and terms policies — three short documents. Our work is built on trust, clarity and care, and those three say what that means in practice.

The foundations that fund this

Four foundations and a number of individuals pay for this fellowship. All of them are named here, with what each one supports.

Samagata Foundation

Supports projects and ideas that bring value to society, across science, culture, art, technology and education.

Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies

Supports groundbreaking work that enables a strong community.

Rainmatter Foundation

Works on climate change, afforestation, ecology and livelihoods.

FOSS United

Promotes and strengthens the free and open-source software ecosystem in India.

And these people

Individuals who have given money, time or advice. Same type, same size, no order of importance.

What partnership includes

Choosing fellows
needs sign-off Partners fund the fellowship. They do not select the fellows.
What gets published
needs sign-off No partner reads or approves a fellow's story before it goes up. Every story is written with the fellow, and the fellow reads it first.
What partners get
needs sign-off Their name on this page and an account of what their money did. There is no logo placement, no naming rights and no advertising.

Funding a fellow

If you are thinking about supporting this work, the useful first step is a conversation rather than a form. Contact us — that page says who reads what you send. There is also a page on giving.

Kit note — not part of the page.

Every name and role is real, read off the live /about/ page on 7 Aug 2026 and reproduced exactly — including "Chef & Tiny Entrepreneur", which is deliberately not tidied up.

⚠️ The mission paragraph is design's wording, not the site's. The live page's own description could not be reproduced verbatim, so the two paragraphs under the H1 are written from what it says. They need the organisation's approval as copy, not just as layout.

⚠️ "Six fellows since 2023" is counted from this page's own list and is also the figure on Our Impact. If the real number of fellows supported differs from the number named here, both pages are wrong together — which is the good failure mode, but it still has to be checked once.