Unreasonable Mentors
Ashok Vasudevan
Executive and Entrepreneur, Co-Founder & Chairman of UMA Global Foods, and Co-Founder of C-SAW ( Center for the spread of Affordable Wellness)
Ashok is an Unreasonable Mentor. Ashok has participated in 4 programs, including Unreasonable Impact Asia Pacific 2021 (Jun), and has advised over 53 Unreasonable companies.
Ashok Vasudevan is an entrepreneur, academician and philanthropist with an abiding interest in international entrepreneurship, and a commitment to enhance wellness though food and agriculture. He is also committed to end hunger and malnourishment in the US.
Along with his wife Meera, he co-founded Preferred Brands International, a US based food company that makes Tasty Bite (www.tastybite.com) and a range of natural, ethnic and specialty foods sold in major supermarkets in North America, Australia, and UK. Ashok is also Chairman of the Board of Tasty Bite Eatables Ltd, a public Company on the Bombay and the National Stock Exchange (TSTY:IN).
Tasty Bite announced the sale of the company to Food major Mars Inc. in 2017.
In 208 Ashok relocated to Singapore with his wife Meera Vasudevan where they founded C-SAW®. The Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness (www.csaw.co), is a Singapore based company with an applied research center, an investment subsidiary and an advisory practice dedicated to farmer prosperity, affordable consumer wellness and the transformation of the food industry.
He is also Co-Founder & Chairman of UMA Global Foods, a Singapore based food MNC dedicated to affordable wellness through the acquisition of heritage and legacy food and CPG brands that will blend global innovation with scale in key global markets.
He also co-founded Tejas Networks Ltd., a Bangalore based optical networking company which was the recipient of the CSIR award for technology from the Prime Minister of India. Tejas just completed its IPO in the Bombay and the National Stock Exchange (BSE/NSE:Tejasnet) and recently got acquired by a TATAs
Meera and Ashok also have a social outreach through their newsletter and podcast called "Pay the Farmer-not the pharmacy" to promote affordable wellness through food(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-what-we-eat-pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794
In 2015, Meera and Ashok set up MAVF (www.mavfoundation.org), a fully-funded family foundation dedicated to ending hunger and malnutrition in the United States in a manner that is sustainable, self reliant and healthy.
Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Ashok spent 15 years between Unilver and Pepsico in India and the US.
WHile in the US he was involved in several non-profit boards in India and the US including:
The Fairfield County Business Council
The World Affairs Forum
C-STEP (Center for Science & Technology Policy) a leading think tank in Bangalore, India
Member of the Chairman’s Circle of the US-India Business Council,
Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Entrepreneurship and a member of the Business advisory Council of Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, India.
Ashok Vasudevan graduated in Agricultural Sciences from Bangalore and received his business education at the Bajaj Institute of Management in Bombay and the Harvard Business School. He co-authored part of a book “Drivers of Global Business Success- Lessons from Emerging Markets” (Macmillan, 2004).
Widely traveled in Europe, Asia and Australia, Vasudevan lived with his wife Meera, an entrepreneur and co-founder of Tasty Bite in Stamford Connecticut for the last 25 years. They have recently relocated to Singapore. Meera and Ashok were jointly presented the “2014 Indian American Achiever Award” by GOPIO CT. (Global Organization of People of Indian Origin)
Company Website: https://www.csaw.co/
Foundation: mavfoundation.org
Personal Blog: Impressions & Expressions
Food Blog: Veggieit.com
