Canada India Foundation (CIF).

National Convenor, Canada India Foundation (CIF)
Founder & CEO, CSI Group
Chairman & CEO, Bates Management Consulting Inc.
President & CEO, Antex Designs Inc.
Director, Iter 8
Director, Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD)

Ajit Someshwar was born in Bombay (Mumbai) in India. He took an honours degree in commerce at the University of Bombay and obtained his chartered accountancy qualifications in India before moving to the United Kingdom, where he again completed the United Kingdom CA programme. He is one of the few Indian-born accountants to have qualified in both countries. He is currently working on a book on the history and influence of the twenty million strong Indian diaspora.

His work-in-progress on the increasing success of Indians abroad looks at their penetration of many markets and professions. They constitute a large percentage  of American doctors and technology professionals including many of those at NASA and Microsoft.

Someshwar moved to Canada from London and went on to launch and become president and chief executive of a large information technology and risk  management company, CSI Consulting, based in Toronto. He is also chairman and chief executive of Bates Management Consulting Inc. and director of Iter 8, a technology solutions company specializing in simplifying Insurance systems for business.

Before setting up CSI, he was a senior manager for KPMG Peat Marwick Thorne, acting as a consultant to the Ontario Insurance Review Board on costing and analysis of public automobile insurance models. From 1992-1998, Someshwar was vice president of operations, planning and analysis for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's bank assurance venture, where he was instrumental in introducing direct P&C Insurance to Canada for the first time.

Since the CSI Group was launched in 1998, it has achieved an average annual growth rate of 48 per cent. It deploys more than 400 consultants, based in the United States, Canada, India and Europe. Its operations are increasingly global in scope, and reflect the growing interest among western corporations looking to India for alternative and cost-competitive solutions to managing their technology and risk management systems.

Someshwar is active in promoting Indian affairs and international relations overseas. He has written, for example, in the Jerusalem Post on changing Israeli policies and attitudes towards India.

He served as president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (1991-93), where he introduced an awards program to recognize Indo-Canadian contribution to Canada. He commented on the programme: "Unless we recognize our people on our own, nobody will recognize them. We have to first show it to ourselves that our people are real achievers. If we do not have recognition programs, Canada is not going to do it for us. This is one excellent way to raise the Indo-Canadian profile." The Chamber has grown from eighty to more than a thousand professionals and business persons as members.

Someshwar's book, India Inc, is a two volume project looking first at "The Other India" of the diaspora. These are the growing numbers - possibly as high as 25 million - of Indians living and working abroad, some very successful in service industries such as hotels, some high-tech billionaires, some distinguished academics. The second volume looks at India itself, its interactions with the diaspora, and how the mother country may benefit by adopting some of the flexible strategies developed by entrepreneurs living abroad.

Much of the Indian success in business, academia, science, medicine and the arts is attributable to high standards of education and adaptability, together with good business and social networking, Someshwar believes.

He is married to a visual arts promoter, Shylee Holla, who had a show, Visual Rhythms, at the design exchange in Toronto.

Someshwar is an active speaker and participant in public policy forums such as the Canadian Coalition for Democracy - an agency promoting democracy throughout the world.  He is currently the acting convenor of a newly formed not for profit organisation "Canada India Foundation" created mainly to enhance bilateral relations between India and Canada as well as the participation of Indo-Canadians in the public policy process of the country. He is also an active fundraiser for hospitals and charities.