About Us

The Centre for Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Development (CEED), along with the deAsra
Centre of Excellence in Nano Entrepreneurship, is an entrepreneurship policy research and
advocacy centre at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

Considering entrepreneurs as an integral part of India’s business and employment ecosystem, CEED aspires to study the factors enabling and inhibiting the growth of entrepreneurship in India. Currently, there is no standard definition of nano enterprises or nano entrepreneurs. The deAsra Centre aims to provide a formal definition and create awareness about this category’s existence. Nano enterprises are typically small shops providing goods and services, operating hyper-locally and catering to their neighbourhood areas. Heterogeneity and fragmentation are distinct features of nano enterprises, but they form 95% of the micro-enterprise sector in India.

A diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning community of academics, practitioners, entrepreneurs, experts, and students from around the world, CEED aims to bring together a host of stakeholders such as academicians, policymakers, market and industry professionals to undertake research and training activities with a general focus on small businesses, and a particular focus on nano enterprises.

Mission

Centre for Excellence in Entrepreneurship & Development aspires to be a knowledge hub to strengthen the potential of entrepreneurship as an alternative to dependent employment as a priority for India’s economic development.

deAsra Centre of Excellence in Nano Entrepreneurship aims to increase awareness about issues of nano entrepreneurs, and envisions building a better ecosystem for nano entrepreneurs through policy advice and advocacy.

Legacy

CEED has been founded with a unique confluence of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and deAsra Foundation.

The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, established in 1930, has been one of the pioneering research institutions in India known for its contribution to empirical research methods, policy advocacy, and seminal contributions to policymaking for nearly a century.
deAsra Foundation is a non-profit organization which enables entrepreneurs to start, manage, & grow small businesses successfully. To this end, deAsra offers a platform wherein, setting up, managing & growing a small business is made simple & entrepreneur friendly through a broad array of support services. Each of deAsra’s services is simplified, benchmarked, tech-enabled, expert-led, with customer-friendly functionality, convenience & speed.

Mentors

Dr. Anand Deshpande

Founder & President, Persistent Systems, and Board Member, Gokhale Institute 

Anand holds a B.Tech. with Honours in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Indiana University, US. Prior to founding Persistent Systems, he worked at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in California. Anand is committed to making a broader impact and is focused on data, higher education, and entrepreneurship.

Research Advisory Committee

Dr. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha

Executive Director – Research and Strategy, Artha Global

Dr. Niranjan’s research interests include macroeconomics, political economy and economic history. Prior to this, he was the Research Director and a Senior Fellow at the IDFC Institute. He provides direction to Artha’s research programmes. Previously, he was Executive Editor of Mint, a financial daily, where he managed the opinion section, wrote the daily editorials and the award-winning Cafe Economics column.

Dr. Sumita Kale

CEO and Senior Fellow at Indicus Foundation

Sumita has worked extensively on financial inclusion, leading the Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion since 2011. She has numerous research publications and op-eds in major newspapers. Sumita has an MPhil in Economics of Developing Countries from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pune. Sumita also has a keen interest in urban environmental issues.
 

Team

Kiran

Dr. Kiran Limaye

Assistant Professor (Research)

Kiran Limaye has a PhD in Economics from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. He has been teaching Microeconomics and Econometrics for the last 10 years and has worked as consultant for the last 3 years for PRADAN and IRMA where he worked on sampling, design of quantitative impact assessment and analysis of survey data.

Neha Ghatpande

Senior Program Officer

An academic and communication professional, she is currently a Doctoral Scholar at the Research Centre for Women’s Studies, St. Mira’s College, Savitribai Phule Pune University. In her professional career, she has worked as a Journalist and multimedia content creator with leading news organisations.

Prakhar Garg

Communications Assistant

A trained journalist, keenly interested in socio-political scenarios around the world. He has worked in newspapers, magazines, advertising, and marketing, and writes occasionally for premier publications in India.

Surender Kaur

Research Associate

Surender Kaur is currently pursuing a PhD from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and holds an M.Sc. from Symbiosis School of Economics. She has worked on various research projects, including studies on socioeconomic linkages, judicial pendency, and economic theory. Her areas of interest include financial modelling and international trade, where she aims to contribute to meaningful insights and advancements in these fields.

Surabhi Sharma

Research Assistant

Surabhi has a Master’s degree from the Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics. She has worked as an economics researcher on marketing strategies at IIT, Mumbai, and also has experience in primary-level field surveys at Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR). She has also worked with large datasets and recently presented her “Research Paper” at the 58th Annual Conference of The Indian Econometric Society (TIES).  

Supreet Jojawar

Research Assistant

A research enthusiast, she is a doctoral student at Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. Her areas of interest include understanding environmental, wastewater and institutional governance and policy framework, She has experience of teaching administration and research at Ahmedabad University and IRMA. 

Minal Pawar

Research Assistant

Minal holds a Masters Degree from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and has extensive experience as a Research Assistant on an ICSSR project. She represented India at the IIFT Model WTO 2022 Conference, debating issues like COVID-19, vaccine patent waivers, and the TRIPS Agreement. She also presented her research on Energy Economics at the 2nd National Energy Conclave at Banaras Hindu University.

Interns

Devika

Devika is a first year Master's student at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and she did her undergraduate studies at Mar Ivanios College, University of Kerala. She has previously interned with Centre for Development Studies and has worked as project associate at Nalandaway foundation. Her broad areas of interest include development economics, behavioural science and finance.

Radhika

Radhika is a first year Master's student at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. She has done her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune. She is particularly interested in Health Economics, and aspires to work in the health sector and make a difference by integrating and applying her knowledge of both Sociology and Economics.

Vasudha

Vasudha is currently a second year Master's student at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. Having completed her graduation from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, she developed a keen interest in Macroeconomics, International Economics and Agricultural Economics. Her areas of research spanned from socio-economic to political projects.