Our Founders

Kalyan Ram – Founder & President Emeritus

Kalyan RamKalyan Ram arrived in Sydney, Australia in 1970 to establish the Regional Office of an Indian Government trading organisation. He had visited Australia/New Zealand earlier in 1968 as a member of the first ever Trade Mission from India to this region. Ever since, he has had an abiding faith and interest in the development and growth of the bilateral trade and other relationships between the two countries
Ram has had a long career both in India and Australia in the area of International Trade and Marketing and has held senior Management positions in both the public and private sectors. He was an Industrial Management Pool (IMP) officer with the Government of India when he arrived in Australia. He acquired his knowledge on the theoretical aspects of trade and marketing through a summer course he attended at the International Marketing Institute (IMI), Harvard Business School, Boston, USA from which he has been awarded Certificate of Achievement. He also travelled widely throughout the Pacific Island nations during 1991 to 1997 in his capacity as International Purchase and Supply Management (IPSM) consultant with ITC – UNCTAD/GATT, Geneva. He has been inducted to the category of Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute (FAMI) and as a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM).
Ram’s Professional and Community affiliations include:

  • Indo Australian Cultural Society – two term secretary and subsequent President;
  • SVT Association, Helensburg – Life Member
  • Sri Mandir Society, Auburn founder President and Life Member
  • TiE – Sydney chapter – member Executive – 2001
  • Australia India Business Chamber, NSW – Life member

SEVA International Inc. founder President since 2003 and currently President Emeritus.
Ram is very highly regarded in the wider community for his voluntary work and his contribution has been recognised through a number of awards including:
Certificate – Expression of gratitude – signed by Prime Minister John Howard for valued contribution towards assisting developing countries to achieve sustainable development – AESOP/ ABV, Canberra – marketing assignment in Laos 2003;
Certificate of High Commendation – in recognition of volunteer contribution to the people of NSW – Community Relations Commission (CRC), NSW, 2008
Certificate of Acknowledgement – in recognition of volunteer contribution to the community of NSW, 2009.

Vish Vishwanathan 

vishVish is a seasoned senior corporate executive having spent over 35 years in the industry with a career spanning areas such as technology development, product marketing, strategy, telecommunications, architecture and new business set up.

Starting his career on a strong foundation with IBM India, Vish had a successful career with Fujitsu for over 18 years in variety of senior strategic roles in Australia, Japan and Singapore. His last role in the corporate sector was General Manager with a leading Telecom organisation in Australia.
Vish currently manages his own business in Enterprise Architecture, strategy and planning with several global Fortune 500 companies as his customers in USA, Europe, India, China, ASEAN regions besides Australia. He is on the external advisory panel for some of the large US multi nationals as well as active participant in leadership role in The Open Group, a not for profit association of large IT users, vendors and R&D units. He has presented several papers in international conferences and is considered a global strategy leader and a visionary and evangelist for Open standards.

As a community minded citizen with a strong commitment to the welfare of South Asian migrants, Vish joined the initial team of founding members of SEVA in 2004. Since that time, he has been an office bearer, thought leader and a passionate participant in all SEVA activities and its growth. In addition, Vish has been a regular volunteer in community organisations and social events promoting the cause of health, education and employment of the South Asian communities in Australia.

He has served in several industry based not-for-profit professional associations and boards in the past and is a founding Chairman of Association Of Enterprise Architects (AEA) in Sydney and a mentor to other AEA chapters globally such as in Chicago, Columbus and Chennai.

Vish brings to SEVA’s leadership team, his extensive experience in strategy, business planning, private /public sector partnership, business case preparation and programme management needed to create a new sustaining direction and a pathway to be the leading South Asian organisation in Sydney.

Praviin Manaktala 

praviinPraviin Manaktala CA is an associate member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

After finishing higher studies in London, Praviin qualified as a Chartered Accountant with an accounting firm based in the heart of London. In addition to managing audits for businesses in many industries, he also managed audits for Oxford University colleges, a pride and joy for any accounting firm.
Praviin arrived in Sydney in 1988 and obtained registration as a Tax Agent in 1997. He has a vast array of experience in tax and accounting, including assisting businesses with growth strategies, tax planning, superannuation matters and accounting software consultancy. He operates his tax and accountancy practice under the name of PKM Tax Professionals and has clients from all industries located all over Australia and around the world.

Praviin has been actively involved as a treasurer with various social and charitable associations. During his spare time he enjoys a game of golf and plays badminton on a regular basis.

SEVA’S FOUNDING MEMBERS (2003)

Kalyan Ram, Vish Viswanathan, Dilip Mahanty, Yaseen Lakhani, Sanjay Dhuloo, Suresh Easwaran, Cooma Chelliah, Lalli Sethuraman, Iqbal Abdi, Dr. Raja Jayaraman