05 Feb Meet the leaders under 40 powering a future proof partnership between India, Europe and the UK
The Europe India Centre for Business & Industry (EICBI) has announced the top 40 business leaders under 40, driving bilateral relations between India, the UK and Europe. Titled #EuropeIndia40, the prestigious accolade highlights the most inspiring heads of cross-sector trade, investment and commerce across India, Europe and Britain. Bringing the winners’ significant contributions for India’s bilateral relations to the fore, the ceremony marks an exciting new era post-Brexit for the three superpower economies.
Representing leaders from 19 different nationalities, the EICBI released its 2020 Class of EuropeIndia40 leaders via a virtual ceremony that saw representatives from British Parliament, European Parliament and Indian Parliament share their inputs with the young leaders. Representing the UK and India, the list’s Nayan Gala is an Indian Born British Citizen who co-founded JPIN VCATS a decade ago. A seasoned Angel investor into early-stage businesses, Nayan’s championing role in bilateral UK-Indian investment has cemented his advisory capacity for governments and CXOs of the largest brands globally, whilst also providing crucial mentorship to SMEs who wish to scale and sell successfully. With the vision of building the largest Euro-Asia investment and growth corridor for start-ups, Nayan leads from the front for a SME powered Euro–Asia partnership.
During the virtual ceremony, government representatives shared their views on India’s relations with the EU and the UK. MPs highlighted the need for three dimensional collaboration, and the role that young leaders can play in building relationships.
Nayan Gala, co-founder of JPIN VCATS commented:
“I co-founded JPIN a decade ago with the vision to build something meaningful between India and the UK. After many years of hard work and persistence, I’m truly honoured to be recognised for these efforts, and named as part of Top #40u40. The diverse backgrounds of the 14 women and 26 men who also made the EuropeIndia40 reflects the truly global value of our collective efforts, and I look forward to collaborating with these exceptional brains to build a start-up powerhouse that is future proof and geared for success.
The UK-India bilateral partnership is worth £22 Bn, up almost 10% on last year, and the UK-India tech partnership lies at the heart of that success. I already see start-ups from India such as OYO, OLA and others venturing into UK, and similarly UK start-ups like TransferWise, Tide, Creditenable are accepted and expanding their operations into the Indian markets. Over the last few months, the UK has also supported Indian tech SMEs and startups such as Nocca Robotics, Chakr Innovation, Mecords, and Rite Water to develop affordable solutions to help tackle Covid 19 and similarly Indian companies have been actively supplying PPE to key ingredients for Covid vaccination to the UK.”
With Brexit opening new possibilities for furthering Europe India relations, India can look at fostering a renewed set of multilateral discussions with the EU, focusing equally on bilateral discussions with the UK.
