About

Saravana Mani is a seasoned entrepreneur and innovation expert with over 17 years of experience in the technology industry. He currently serves as the Global Head of Innovation/Accelerator at Kmart Group Australia, where he leads technology acceleration initiatives. He is also an author of the Open Innovation Playbook, a guide to impactful enterprise-startup collaboration. Saravana is passionate about entrepreneurship and aims to instill this mindset into the general society's DNA. He is actively involved in educating, mentoring, and consulting various academia, associations, and startups from across the world. He is a University rank holder during his undergraduate program in Engineering and a proud alumnus of IIM Bangalore in General Management and MIT Sloan, Cambridge, US, with specialization in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Technology. Prior to his current role, Saravana was the Head of South India Region, NASSCOM Product Council, leading three key pillars – NASSCOM Deep Tech Club, Skill Enablement, and Product connect. He spent his first professional experience for a decade with a career in Infosys, followed by a stint in Cognizant Technology, encompassing Software Development, Business Analysis, Consulting, presales, solutioning, and Program Management. After his corporate world journey, Saravana has been involved in ideating and growing multiple startups in the space of retail loyalty, Web development, Online recruitment, skill development, Wi-fi hotspot, etc. Some of the companies have generated significant shareholder value, customer delight, and exit. Some of the companies have created an impact on SWACHH BHARAT and DIGITAL INDIA initiatives. He has been instrumental in creating a consortium of group companies, which also played the role of incubator & accelerator. Saravana is an alumnus of MIT Sloan School of Management, where he completed an Executive Program in General Management in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Technology. He also holds a degree in Business Administration and Management from IIM and a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial and Production Engineering from Mysore Jobs. Saravana's tech stack includes Web and Software Engineering, and he has relevant experience of 17.13 years.