Diversity & Inclusion

Himani Anand, Zumba instructor - Consultant

New Delhi

I am an experienced professional with over 13 years of experience in the aviation, hospitality, real estate, and consulting industries. I have an excellent reputation for resolving problems, improving customer satisfaction, and driving overall operational improvements.

It has been 1.5 years with Primus Partners, and I have seen myself moving from an administrative role to a more hands-on profile within the span of one year. I have been able to do so under proper guidance and exposure from my peer group and leaders. I consider myself fortunate to have found the right platform to develop my skills.

My childhood passion has always been to be an Athlete, which I have accomplished by winning numerous best athlete awards at state, national, and international athletics competitions. The best part is that I am still pursuing it as a marathon runner. Simultaneously, I've always wanted to show my athletic grooming on the fashion runway, so I entered the Pageant MRS Delhi NCR where I was ranked in the top ten and is doing part time modelling assignments.

Renu Punhani, Vice President

New Delhi

I have been working in the Education sector for more than 25 years. It has been a remarkable journey with a lot of experiences and the opportunity to work with some of the best people in their respective fields. I started my career as a Trained Graduate Teacher and taught Math and Computers to students of Class 6 to 10 in esteemed educational institutions of Delhi for over 10 years. I got interested in exploring innovative methods of teaching math concepts and was part of the team during the development of NCERT Problem Book of Mathematics for Class VIII. To reach out to a wider audience, I diversified into authoring a series of Math textbooks and worksheets for Class 1 – 5 (CBSE and ICSE) for a leading publication. Joining consulting was a tough decision but I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey so far. I have grown stronger with each project and realised my core competencies.

My life at Primus is full of excitement and opportunities. Each project and responsibility given to me has brought a new dimension to my learning and helped me understand my strengths.

I enjoy origami, doodling and listening to old songs in my free time. I also like testing my math skills by solving puzzles and brain games. At heart, I am still a teacher. I wish to spend time creating tools which would help children attain foundational skills.

Farhan Ahmad, Assistant Manager

Chandigarh

I have had more than 5 years of experience of working with focus on strategy, policy, business planning, regulatory advice, program and project management in the areas of government advisory, social development, community organization, microfinance, water & sanitation and the financial inclusion sector. I have an in-depth knowledge of preparing plans and strategy, monitoring, governance and the development of communication strategy.

At Primus I get to work with senior team members that instantly recognize and praise my efforts. Primus has instilled the value of ownership and this gives me pride in the work I do. At Primus I get to provide consultancy for implementation of safe access to potable water in rural households. This helps in improving the health of those in rural habitats by reducing waterborne diseases and providing economic opportunities, especially for women.

I am also a passionate swimmer. It plays an integral part in addressing and overcoming the challenges that I face on an everyday basis and enables me to think and react clearly while facing difficult client situations. My initial days as a swimmer helped me in understanding the importance of leading and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for overall well being.

Hiloni Shukla, Assistant Manager

Bangalore

Early on, I realised that I wanted to work in a space that touched lives and created lasting impact. I have 4 years of work experience in the development sector in the field of Education and Livelihoods. As a Teach for India Fellow, I taught 165 kids in a low-income school and while on most days it made me want to pull my hair out, I was proud to be a part of a movement that addressed the issue of educational inequity at scale. As a trainer under the Youth Employability Program at TechnoServe, I worked with underprivileged youth from under-resourced colleges and provided them with soft skills training, and placement opportunities to empower them through a formal sector livelihood. My favourite part of the job was to see the sheer joy and gratitude the students exhibited after having placed with a company. It was knowing that a difference was made in their lives.

Today at Primus, I am presented every day with an opportunity to support ideas, people and approaches to creating a more sustainable and inclusive world. I am glad to work on intellectual challenges and be at the same time a small part of making a difference.

I am a closet dancer; I enjoy adventure activities and watching animated movies, with The Lion King being my all-time favourite. My life lessons till date continue to come from them and no matter how many times I have watched them all, they still continue to inspire me every single time.

Arindam Pal, Manager

New Delhi

I have grown up amidst people who’ve had heavy inclination towards the performing arts. This naturally has also swayed me into theatre. For the last 15 years, I have been associated with National level theatre.

While this has helped quench my thirst as a theatre lover, it has also given me an opportunity to impact society positively by doing socially relevant dramas on topics like awareness on still-born, paying homage to our fore-mothers, social acceptance of rape victims etc. It also helped me donate generously to social causes and support institutions like Indian Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (IMFPA), NBBA Cancer Homes, Nirmala-Niketan (old age home), and many more via my cultural endeavours.

Impacting society at large with my work, saw new heights when I was blessed to be able to work on electronic national agri-market (eNAM) – a Prime Minister’s flagship disruptive project for the agriculture sector. With my previous organisation, I lead one of largest digital implementing projects of the country for multiple states, thereby impacting the lives of countless farmers and affecting society positively and tangibly with my work.

Now, in extension, I am truly happy to have been associated with Primus Partners today; wherein I can continue to work every day on projects that impact the society. Working with the sectors like Agriculture, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GAD, etc. gives me a macro perspective and sustainable roadmap for the impact I intend to have on the society.

“We have two lives; the second begins when we realise, we only have one”

Like countless others, my heart always knew me to be an automobile lover and moto enthusiast as a child. I am blessed to have kept it alive with my garage of superbikes even today and intend to travel places on my two wheels.

Sagar Salunkhe, Assistant Manager

New Delhi

Grew up in a small-town village, I always had fascination towards Agriculture as it was our one of the family income sources. The lush green crops, the flowing water, the fresh air, the feel of soil while walking barefoot in fields have always made me more confirmable than anything else.

Our farms are situated at Satara in the western belt of Maharashtra with a medium to good black cotton soil. This belt is fortunately blessed with ample water and hardly any droughts that I remember. As I was growing up, I moved to Mumbai for my graduation, post-graduation followed by a corporate job in India and abroad. During this time, I could not actively pursue Agriculture but at the back of my mind it was always there to start again.

Now that I pretty much settled in a job, from close to a year, became a weekend farmer.

Agriculture is the highest employer in our country, yet it is underdeveloped in terms of technology compared to other sectors. The traditional farming methods are still being practiced in most part of the country. However, I could sense some change now taking place towards advanced modern intensive farming.

In my effort to pursue farming, apart from the seasoned crops like soyabean, rice, wheat etc., have undertaken couple of pilot projects with highly intensive farming. One such example is of sugarcane project, where the national average yield of sugarcane is between 30 to 35 tonnes per acre, whereas we are aiming for 100 tonnes per acre. This is tested by some of the farmers across India and very few were succeeded in achieving this to certain extent. However, lot of efforts are required to make it to mainstream for all farmers to follow and replicate to increase their income.

With our efforts when we shall achieve this, we shall work towards farmer awareness in increasing productivity, growing vertical instead of horizontal and reducing operational cost to build better farming environment.

Veda Halve, Consultant

New Delhi

I am an Allied Medical Professional with 2 years of experience in Management Consulting in the healthcare sector. Very early on in my life I had decided that I want to work in the development and social sector to bring positive change in the lives of people. My degree in Prosthetics and Orthotics gave me a whole new perspective on healthcare. It also drove me towards pursuing a career in management consulting and research to understand the behind-the-scenes action of this industry. In my career I have been lucky to have the opportunity to work with diverse clientele within the healthcare sector like Multinational pharmaceutical companies, national and international hospitals, state governments and international donor organisations.

Primus Partners has given me the platform to work with the some senior most professionals in not just healthcare but various other sectors. Having worked closely with senior government officials in matters of policy intervention, program implementation, monitoring etc., I now understand the nitty gritty of Public Health Administration and look forward to driving positive change through my efforts.  Working with the best minds in the industry and learning from them has been a great experience so far and I look forward to expanding my horizons even further with under the able guidance of our leaders.

I come from a long line of amateur singers, dancers and musicians and the artistic gene has been passed down to me as well. Arts and culture are a big part of who I am and having been formally trained in Hindustani Classical Music, I feel very passionately about it.  I am also an active advocate for mental health and wellbeing and gender equality and hope to contribute in a meaningful way to these causes.

Archana Mishra, HR Manager

New Delhi

I have over a decade of experience in HR, encompassing a broad spectrum of areas, including Business HR, HR Strategy, Consulting, Talent Acquisition & Management, Leadership Development & Succession Planning, Executive Coaching, and Compensation & Benefits. In addition to above I have also worked across a diverse range of industries, including Consulting, Hospitality, Technology, Retail segment.

In my current role, I am responsible for driving people, culture as well as development and execution of Primus Partners’ people priorities. I began my career with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. — a stint where I found my calling in the people function.

I also developed a natural interest in tarot card reading and am an empath. I have deep respect for each and every co-worker in the team; hence it naturally helps in boosting productivity, enthusiasm and allegiance and as a result helps in improving corporate culture.

I am based in Mumbai but ensures that I have a personal connect with each and every staff PAN India.

Isha Gakhar, Vice President

New Delhi

Since my childhood I was obsessed with the magnificence of the mountains. The bright blue skies, enormous green meadows and dense forests is what one can explore while taking up your expedition of climbing a mountain. I can’t remember what kick started this love for hiking/trekking but it’s there for a while now and one thing that is of sure is that it will last till my legs give away. It is among one of the most popular ways for me to spend my holidays. Trekking/Hiking enriches us with new knowledge of the world and its cultures. It blesses us with valuable life experience.

Last year I was able to take up my most exciting and adventurous trek of my life, allowing to witness the surreal beauty of mountain ranges for as far as my eyes can take me. Imagine walking on the breathtaking trail on the glorious frozen river for about 6-8 hours a day at an altitude of about 11,000 feet in temp below zero ranging between -5 to -35 degrees.

One thing that we all face in general while working is finding a perfect balance between our work and pursuit to fulfil our passions. Our Management at Primus encourages us to take up our pursuit of happiness and let us share our experience with them.

I feel blessed to be part of the Primus family, that means you are a part of something wonderful.