Tentative Program
BizLitFest Bangalore 2025
Fostering Entrepreneurship through Business Literature
September 20, 2025 - Venue: WeWork Galaxy
9.30 am to 10.00 am
Registration and Networking
10.00 am to 10.10 am
Welcome
V Raghunathan, Prolific Author, Chair, BizLitFest Bangalore
10.10 am to 10.45 am
Unravelling India’s Rich Ancient Commercial History
Gurcharan Das, Curator, Editor of the Penguin Series of Indian Business History
Host - Raman Mahadevan, Author, Fortune Seekers: A Business History of the Nattukottai Chettiars
10.45 am to 11.15 am
India’s Economy - What’s the Real Story?
Arun Maira, Former Member, Planning Commission, Author, Reimagining India’s Economy: The Road to a More Equitable Society
Host - Rishikesha Krishnan, Professor of Strategy, Former Director, IIMB
11.15 am to 11.30 am - Networking Tea
11.30 am to 12.00 pm
The True Face of Bengaluru and What Big Data Reveals About the City
Roopa Pai, Author, Becoming Bangalore - Stories That Shaped A Home Town
Malini Goyal, Co-author, UnBoxing Bengaluru: The City of New Beginnings, CEO, Co-Producer, Bengaluru Rising - A Data Book
12.00 pm to 12.45 pm
Founder Stories - Books and Writers Who Influenced and Shaped Their Journey
Shashi Kumar, Co-Founder, CEO, Akshayakalpa Organic
Amritha Mani, Founder, Amylo, Sustainable Packaging
Swaroop Madhavan, Founder, Parentof, an AI-based Cognitive Intelligence Platform
Vinay Prashanth, Co-Founder, Tamaala Art Merchandise
Host - Benedict Paramanand, Festival Curator, Co-Founder, BizLitFest, Founder Greenlitfest
12.45 pm to 1.20 pm
Personal Branding Insights and Tools for Startups and Growth-stage Founders
Sudhakar Rao, Director, ICFAI Group, Startup Mentor
Founders - How to Have Law on Your Side
Stephen Mathias, Chairman, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Partner, Kochhar & Co.
1.20 pm to 2.00 pm - Networking Lunch
2.00 pm to 2.30 pm
A Phenomenal Textile to Tech Journey - The Sona Story
C. Valliappa and Chocko Valliappa, Valliappa Group
Host - Murali Sunderraghavan, Founding Director, CEO of Klib Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
2.30 pm to 3.00 pm
The Truth About E-commerce We Know So Little About
Vandana Vasudevan, Author, OTP Please! Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers in South Asia
Host - Malavika Harita, Passionate about mentoring Startups and Women Entrepreneurs, Communication Evangelist, Brand Strategist, Teacher, Independent Director
3.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Understanding New-age Business Models
K Ganesh, Author, Mastering Disruption: A Practical Guide to Understanding New Age Business Models, Serial Entrepreneur, Co-Founder, Big Basket, Bluestone, Portea, HomeLane, Freshmenu, HungerBox
Host - Sudhakar Rao, Director Branding, ICFAI Group
3.45 pm to 4.30 pm
India’s Deep-Tech Playbook
Nitin Seth, Author, Human Edge In The AI Age, Co-founder, Incedo Technologies
Aayushi Singh, Co-founder, Chief Product Officer, Magicroll.ai
Host - Arvind Saraf, Computer Scientist, Engineering Leader, Entrepreneur
4.30 pm to 5:15 pm
Book Launches
First. Forever. NJ Yasaswy: They Don’t Make Them Like Him Anymore
Biography of the ICFAI Founder
Co-Authors V Pattabhi Ram and Sudhakar Rao, Director of Branding, ICFAI Group
Diviseema Business Fables
Co-Authors Sudhakar Rao and Hari Paruchuri
The Responsible Manager: Building Blocks of an ESG Perspective
Author, Meena Raghunathan, Impact Professional / Consultant
Prosper: The AI Edge for Financial Advisors and Wealth Managers
Author, Kashyap Kompella, Prolific Author, Columnist and Educator, CEO, RPA2AI Research
Host - J Shiruti, Content Support, BizLitFest
5.15 pm to 6.00 pm
BizLitFest CK Prahalad Best Business Book Award 2025
Guest of Honour - Arun Maira, Former Member, Planning Commission, Author, Reimagining India’s Economy: The Road to a More Equitable Society
Benedict Paramanand, Award Curator
Jury’s Insights
Rishikesha Krishnan, Professor of Strategy, Former Director, IIMB
Hema Ravichandar, Former Global Head of HR, Infosys
Malini Goyal, Co-author, UnBoxing Bengaluru: The City of New Beginnings, CEO, Co-Producer of Bengaluru Rising - A Data Book
Award Winner's Acceptance Speech
Host - Reena Pereira, Author Management, BizLitFest
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Townhall / Workshops
Venue - 91Springboard, MG Road (Adjacent to WeWork Galaxy)
Workshops
11.30 am to 1.00 pm (Paid - Rs.999 - Working Lunch Included)
Dream Big. Pitch Bigger: Impactful Storytelling and Pitchdecks for Startups
This interactive workshop shows founders how to connect personal and profession narratives for effective pitches. Tools and frameworks will be shared for entrepreneurs to present their journey in a captivating story, which can effectively frame their business achievements and goals.
Founders will practice how to tell their stories in a compelling manner to stakeholders, and benefit from subsequent opportunities for ecosystem engagement.
Madanmohan Rao and Vinay Dora, Co-founders, MXR World
2.15 pm to 3.15 pm (Paid - Rs.499)
AI For Writers and Journalists
Kashyap Kompella, Author, A Short & Happy Guide to Artificial Intelligence for Lawyers, Columnist and Educator, CEO, RPA2AI Research
3.15 pm to 4.15 pm (Paid - Rs.499)
How to Write a Book While Holding a Busy Job
Many have good ideas and stories they are keen to write about but, even after years, they don’t manage to do it. It is not as difficult as it appears. V Raghunathan wrote 10 books while holding leadership and academic roles and 5 more after that. Come and learn his secrets. He will also share the art of authorship. His book Games Indians Play: The Way We Are was a bestseller. Check out his other books here
4.30 pm to 5.15 pm (Free to Attend)
Townhall - Ask me Anything
Gurcharan Das is one of India's most celebrated authors and thinkers. He is best known for two iconic, best-selling books: India Unbound offers a personal account of India’s economic rise. The second, The Difficulty of Being Good, illuminates our day-to-day moral dilemmas.
Event Venue
Wework Galaxy, Wework Galaxy, Shanthala Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025, India, Bangalore
INR 0.00 to INR 999.00
