Dr. Neelam Maheshwari

Dr. Neelam Maheshwari is Director -Livelihoods for All, South Asia at Ashoka. In her role Neelam works closely with Ashoka Fellows in enabling innovations, strategies and system driven initiatives to enhance livelihoods for all. Neelam had begun her career with PRADAN in North India and then spent a few years in USA before she came back to work with Deshpande Foundation in India. At Deshpande Foundation Neelam has helped social enterprise scale, chaired an annual Dialogue called Development Dialogue. Neelam has also founded an ecosystem-based program called Navodyami to enable microentrepreneurs with a focus on specially women led small enterprises. Neelam has a keen interest in ecosystems, scaling innovations focused on emerging communities, and gender equality. Neelam has a Ph.D. in Gender Studies from SUNY Buffalo (USA) and a Masters in International Development from Brandeis University (USA). Neelam is a recipient of the prestigious British Chevening Gurukul Fellowship (2020-21)