Image by the British Asian Trust

International development charity the British Asian Trust has welcomed Bharath Visweswariah as the new Executive Director India.

The charity, which was founded in 2007 by King Charles III, has mentioned that Visweswariah brings over 20 years of experience in development and management consulting to the role. He has worked for a number of organisations including the University of Chicago’s Center in Delhi, the Antara Foundation, Omidyar and McKinsey & Co. Most recently he was running a start-up he co-founded to increase the employability of students and recent graduates. Bharath holds a Bachelors of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management.

Visweswariah started in the role last week and is based in Delhi. He has replaced Saleem Khan who is moving into a global partnerships role with the Trust.

British Asian Trust Chief Executive Richard Hawkes said, “We are delighted to have appointed someone of the calibre and experience of Bharath to play a key leadership role in driving forward our work in India. The British Asian Trust has had the privilege of working with the Indian diaspora to support many programmes in India for more than 10 years. We support India’s ambitions to build a prosperous India for all and we are confident that Bharath’s appointment will enable us to support this agenda even more.”

Visweswariah said he was delighted to be joining the British Asian Trust, “The British Asian Trust has a strong track record in India and focus on locally-driven solutions, many of which have been ground-breaking globally. I look forward to working with the British Asian Trust’s many stakeholders and helping build a resilient future for India through the Trust’s pioneering programmes and approaches.”

Hawkes also thanked Saleem Khan for fulfilling his responsibilities in the role and said, “Saleem has made a significant contribution to the organisation’s success during his four years with us and I am delighted that he is staying with the organisation in an exciting new role.”