Name: Ananth Rao
Designation: Chairman & MD
Company: SkillProFocus Ventures

Education: Executive program, Business, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Summary: Ananth Rao is Chairman, Focus SkillPro & Managing Director of Focus Ventures. Ananth Rao is MD of Focus Ventures, that does early stage investments primarily in Mobile & Internet Technology, Financial Services, Hospitality, & education sectors. In addition, Ananth Rao is on the Advisory board of other later stage companies, assisting with corporate strategy, execution planning and team building. Ananth Rao is the Chairman of Focus SkillPro, a sustainable social venture with a mission to train and provide jobs to 1 million underprivileged youth. SkillPro is focused on placement linked skilling and vocational training. The organization has over 50+ skill-training centers across India and has trained more than 30,000 youth in rural and urban areas. SkillPro helps government, development agencies, corporates & NGOs in implementation of large scale skill training projects, research & evaluation studies and small to large scale capacity building. Ananth Rao is a proven entrepreneur with extensive background of over 20 years in general management, corporate strategy, product development marketing & sales. Rao was Founder of JP Mobile in the US, acquired by Good Technology, which was later acquired by Motorola in 2007. Over a span of 10 years at JP Mobile, he provided strategic direction, built customer and market traction, made 4 acquisitions, raised over $60M in multiple rounds, and grew the team primarily in the US and India. He led efforts for JP Mobile’s acquisition and worked through the integration. After the acquisition, Rao moved to India as Motorola’s Vice President of Business Development, heading up the strategic partnership efforts in Asiapac. In 2008 Rao started Focus Ventures and made investments in India in early stage and growth stage companies, in internet & Mobile technology, telecom, healthcare, hospitality and cleantech areas. Rao holds a Master’s degree in computer science from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Rao attended Stanford’s Executive business management program.