SASWATI CHAKRABORTY
Saswati Chakraborty is a former business editor with The Economic Times. She spent 22 years with ET, eventually serving as Resident
Editor of the South Editions. She successfully incubated, set up, and launched three major metropolitan editions of The Economic
Times in completely diverse socio-economic environments. As a Business Strategist at Lateral Thinkers Communications, she will draw on her years of expertise in the media, and offer strategic insights
to strengthen the business and enable us to serve our clients better. She will also help us strengthen our 'content' and
'story
telling' services, which form the core of LT.
Saswati believes that future economic growth will come from harnessing the value of the last woman. She works with the belief that
where knowledge is denied, social equity remains an elusive dream. Over the last few years, Saswati has been working towards
creating an information architecture that will facilitate the integration of small India with growing India – the power of micro
markets.
In 2010, she founded Bhasha News Media, a development media platform which seeks to create a more inclusive media built around the
theme of social justice. As she puts it: "even marginalized voices have a right to be heard". She is currently the Managing Director
and Chief Editor of Bhasha News Media.
Apart from English, Bhasha News Media works in several regional Indian languages to create a communication channel that is relevant,
useful, and fulfils aspirations by converting development into a bottom-up process. It works across critical verticals to create
awareness and build capacity for informed choices.
Saswati also teaches journalism at the PG level as visiting faculty at Commits and the National School of Journalism and sits on the
advisory board of Co Media Lab, an initiative by Radio Active and Citizen Matters. She supports start-ups across the spectrum, is a member on the Advisory Board of a start-up incubator, Excubator, and is available to all who believe in a cause.