Madan Padaki defines the purpose of his life as “To serve the Supreme, by empowering every human being to unleash their infinite potential, to create a world filled with abundance & oneness”
A passionate, purpose-driven entrepreneur, Madan co-founded MeritTrac in 2000 as India’s first and subsequently one of the largest skills assessment organisations. Fast Company recognized MeritTrac as the Top 10 Innovative Companies in India, and was acquired by Manipal Education in 2011. After 25 years, MeritTrac continues its journey as a leading assessments company, having tested over 50 million candidates thus far.
He subsequently co-founded Head Held High Foundation a pan-India non-profit that brings dignity & abundance to ultra-poor households by dramatically transforming low-educated, school dropout youth (mostly girls) into confident, English-speaking professionals and entrepreneurs. Today, Head Held High is present in over 100 rural locations and has impacted over 100,000+ youth. He also is the Founder of 1Bridge, an rural commerce start-up that provides last-mile delivery as a service to emerging markets – bridging access, choice & convenience gaps for rural customers, while enabling distribution and last-mile delivery network for it partners. Today, 1Bridge is present in 75+ districts across South & East India and has delivered over 80 million packages since its inception through a network of delivery associates and entrepreneurs. 1Bridge was recognised as a winner of National Start-up Awards 2021 by Govt. of India and was highlighted for its pioneering work by the Hon. Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat address to the nation in May 2022. Through these initiatives, Madan’s vision is to empower rural youth as entrepreneurs and foster inclusive digital growth across 350 districts of India, through 1 million entrepreneurs over the next 10 years. His journey and philosophy is chronicled in this story by Forbes as one of the leading Tech For Good Philanthropists in India
He is the Co-founder of Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) which catalyses large-scale job creation by bringing Governments, Businesses & CSOs to collaborate on igniting a mass entrepreneurship movement. Partnering with other Education leaders, Madan is also a Co-founder & Director of Sylvant Advisors which has invested in over 15+ start-ups, primarily in the education space. He currently serves as a Board Member of YuWaah /UNICEF having played a key role in its inception as a Strategic Advisor. He was also elected as the Hon. President of TiE Bangalore in April 2021 and has been elected to serve on the Global Board of Trustees, TiE Global. Madan was also the Chair of the TiE Global Summit – TGS2024, one of the world’s largest celebrations of entrepreneurship. He also serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Wonderla, a public listed entity.
Madan is a sought-after speaker at various conferences and corporate leadership training programs around the world and has shared his innovative ideas & thoughts on leadership, entrepreneurship and rural development at prestigious forums like TEDx IIM Bangalore, TEDx Gateway, INK Conference, etc. Since 2020, he also serves as a Guest Faculty at LBS National Academy of Administration (Mussoorie) to train all incoming Officers of Indian Civil Services on empowering rural youth and entrepreneurship. He was also invited by Prime Minister Modi to share his ideas at the Champions of Change Conclave in 2017. He serves on various committees/vision groups of both Central and State Governments – he was nominated as the Co-chair of Govt. of Karnataka’s State Higher Education Vison Group. He also writes regular columns on Bhagavad Gita and Entrepreneurship in leading publications. In Jan 2021, he was conferred the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award by India CSR Network.
A Mechanical Engineer from NIE, University of Mysore, he holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Management from SPJIMR, Mumbai. He was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from Chitkara University for his contributions to entrepreneurship and rural development.
