Sourabh is the old man on the team; besides business development, he looks into our online marketing strategy. A second time entrepreneur, Sourabh, brings experience. He sold his previous startup MicroAppli, a media sharing mobile application company to OnMobile Global (BSE: 532944) where he defined product strategy and was responsible for revenues in excess of 1 million USD.

Sourabh graduated with honors in Computer Science from National University of Singapore (NUS). When not labouring, he likes to run. He has covered over 200Kilometres with 10 half-marathons and one full marathon in Singapore in 2010.

Sourabh is passionate about mass market activation for convenience in lifestyle. Milaap for him is an extension of this passion, an opportunity to involve the masses in bringing convenience to the poor with every loan made.

Anoj is our man on the field; he builds and maintains relationships with microfinance institutions, social enterprises, and funders from the development sector. A Starting Bloc Fellow for 2010, Anoj co-founded Milaap after working with SKS Microfinance in energy and water services. He has also worked at ReEx Capital Asia, a cleantech investment boutique in Singapore and served as a fellow at D.light Design, developing consumer financing & mapping models for rural electrification.

Anoj graduated from National University of Singapore. He is a founder member of the Microfinance Society in Singapore.

When Anoj witnessed first-hand the impact of a $10 solar lantern, sold on credit, to the extremely poor in tribal Orissa, it sparked in him the idea for Milaap - to connect with ease the struggling 700 million people of India with prosperous Indians and the Diaspora, thus, creating opportunities that change the playing field for the poor at an everyday level.

Shub handles the communications, content and PR at Milaap. She likes to call herself a reformed software engineer who saw the light before it was too late. After five years in the industry, she decided she wanted to do something a bit more inspiring. Since writing had always been a love, she jumped at the chance to work in an ad agency where she learnt the ropes of writing good copy under someone she considers the best boss ever. On a typical day at Milaap, she is found responding to emails, replying to PR questions, updating Twitter and running around like a headless chicken.

She spends her free time in trying to get off the internet and drinking tea.

Sarath is our web designer and go-to-guy for all things UI and website-related. If you need to convert a concept into a layout and a layout into HTML, Sarath is the man to approach. He hails from Palakkad in Kerala. He has worked as an application designer previously, creating usability websites and applications. He also has experience teaching Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML and various multimedia tools.

While he’s not working, or working out, he likes to read and go on long drives.

The in-house geek, Deepak Kannan is our lead developer. He is responsible for ensuring that the back-end of the Milaap website runs like a well-oiled machine. It means that he needs to see to it that all transactions are on track and keep everything running all the time. It also means that occasionally he’s up at night firefighting, fixing the odd bug – but we suspect that he quite enjoys that kind of stuff. Deepak was an early employee at Cleartrip, and that’s where his baptism into Ruby began.

Holding a Masters’ in Computer Application from Mumbai University, Deepak likes to code for fun. Apart from trawling the internet and reading, he likes to indulge in yak-shaving

Bianca is our visual storyteller from Brazil. A Bachelor in Social Sciences, Bianca has worked extensively in the field of Visual Anthropology. Having joined Milaap as an AIESEC fellow, Bianca brings to the table her vast experience working with audiovisual production in several Brazilian local communities. She strongly believes that audiovisual means and new media have the unique power to promote dialogue and interaction. Our in-house film producer-director-editor is responsible for the recent slickly shot and crisply edited videos that you’ve been seeing on Milaap.

She loves photography and art and is constantly seeking ways to use technology to create art. She can teach you a thing or two about Capoeira and Yoga too.

Karthik is the Chief of Marketing at Milaap. Having attended Rutgers University, New Jersey for a year, he decided to come back to India to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. Kartik takes keen interest in community related activities. At the age of 19, he started an organization called ‘Youth4cause’ to bring about social awareness in youth around the world. He is passionate about using technology to bring about change and his dream is to build the next Google. If you see some outrageous, but rather effective campaigns on Milaap, you can be sure Karthik has a hand in it.

Abhijit focuses on corporate and high-value fundraising in Singapore for Milaap. A finance professional with experience in equities at Deutsche Bank, FX derivatives at Barclays Capital, and consulting engagements at Ernst & Young, Abhijit is also the Founder and President of an international charity- EPICS, for education of children in India, which he feels has contributed to his understanding and skills for connecting world resources to development needs.

Our cheerleader par excellence, Tanvi Mehta takes care of all our fundraising activities in and around Mumbai. An alumnus of AIESEC, Pune and Adelaide, she has worked with SKS microfinance, helping launch schools in low-income communities in Andhra Pradesh. Her work on solar lighting with SKS also took her to rural Orissa, where villages mired in darkness and poverty motivated her to do something to better the lives of the poor. She also has worked with Grameen Koota and Shell foundation on promoting the use of smokeless chulhas, among other projects.

When she is not raising funds for Milaap, Tanvi is usually found making impassioned speeches and giving pep-talks to people on various topics under the sun.