Naveen Jha

Naveen Jha (born April 9, 1977) is a social entrepreneur and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Deshpande Foundation, India.

He is the CEO of Hubli Sandbox and Chairman of Sandbox Startups. He also co-founded Ek Soch Sandbox and is the Patron of Kakatiya Sandbox. He has also contributed significantly to the founding of the Hubli chapter of TiE.

He is also a Recipient of the International Ford Foundation Fellowship Award.

Early Life and Education

Born in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand) Naveen graduated in Mathematics from Jamia Millia Islamia in 1997 and then went on to earn an MA in Social Work from the same university in 2000.

Later on, he studied at Brandeis University and earned a Master's degree in International Development in 2007. He took several courses at MIT’s Poverty Lab and Harvard University.

Career

Naveen Jha started his career in 2000 at PRADAN, a social organization actively engaged in the area of livelihoods. In 2006, he worked as a Consultant (Trade Policy Analyst) to Oxfam America. He was a member (2012–2013) of Karnataka Knowledge Commission.

He joined Deshpande Foundation in 2007 as a Program Officer and was responsible for managing the Foundation's India offices in Karnataka. Later, he worked as Director (Programs) at Deshpande Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (DCSE). In 2011, he became the CEO and has been leading the organization till date.