Our Team
People's P.ow.e.r Collective {'PPC' } is a Registered Trust in India, and a Company Limited by Guarantee in the United Kingdom. The two are completely separate entities.
PPC believes in the power of unified action and we continue to grow our community across India and the United Kingdom, as a collective, Our vision is fueled by our members' combined expertise in the fields of radio, broadcasting and international development.
Saritha Thomas || Managing Trustee, PPC India | Director, PPC UK
PPC's founder and driving force, Saritha has nurtured a lifelong love for radio.
An alumnus of Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai's, Social Media & Communications programme, Saritha has worked in India, UAE and the UK. Her time in commercial radio - spanning popular radio networks such as, Radio City, the Arabian Radio Network, BBC World Service Radio and BBC Radio 4 - gave way to full-time social entrepreneurship, and community radio activism.
A fellow at The School of Social Entrepreneurs, London, Saritha was the only member of her Graduating class with an overseas social enterprise: PPC.
Saritha believes in the life-changing capacity of community radio, which offers isolated communities an accessible, binding social medium. She hopes that the medium, which places at its hearts a voice unencumbered by the prejudices of class, caste and creed, will offer these communities a way forward: eroding a range of social evils, simply by being inclusive, and building stronger, forward-thinking communities.
Neil Curry || Director, PPC UK
Neil has thirty years' experience in the media industry, having served as a journalist, editor, and business leader.Africa and Asia-Pacific have remained main areas of focus during this time.
Neil started out working as a reporter/producer with BBC World Service News and Current Affairs, later going on to become the Editor for Network Africa. Keen on expanding the horizons of International News programming, Neil subsequently joined Public Radio International in America, as Executive Producer of 'The World', a multicultural international news programme, and the biggest American public radio programme development for over 20 years.
In his present role as Head of Business Development (Asia-Pacific Region), BBC World Service, Neil leads a global team of business development managers spanning the region. As BBC's Executive Editor for East Asia, he also leads editorial teams across China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Burma.
Since January 2013, Neil has provided consultancy, advice and leadership to a number of media organisations and NGOs around the world. Neil's expertise and advice remain a source of knowledge, strength and support for PPC.
Christina Noble || Director, PPC UK
Born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, Christina went on to become a pioneer in the adventure holiday business in the early 1970s. During her twenty years running a trekking business in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh (in the Indian Himalayas), Christina also worked with the rural health programme in the high altitude villages of Lahoul.
After her return to the UK in the 1990s, Christina completed a MA in Industry and Education, and subsequently worked as an Industry Liaison Officer (with Marks & Spencer and John Lewis), for inner London secondary schools.
In 1999, Christina launched 'Here We Are', an innovative rural community development charity, in Argyll, Scotland, for which she was awarded an MBE in 2010. Today, Here We Are has blossomed into a rapidly self-sustaining social enterprise, with a focus on renewable energy. Here We Are has a Community Interest Company Biomass Heat Plant, and is in the midst of establishing a joint venture (51% community ownership) hydro-electric turbine, selling power to the National Grid.
Ramaswamy Narayanan || Trustee, PPC India
A Chartered Accountant by profession, Nari has worked with organisations such as Hindustan Lever, AF Ferguson & Co. (now merged with Deloitte), Infosys and Sequoia Capital, handling internal audits, along with International Tax and Finance matters.
During his time at Sequoia India, Nari has donned multiple hats: from helping portfolio companies (audit, CFO level recruitment, ESOP plans, etc.) to building organizational structures, providing investment support, and handling Compliance matters.
A member of the Economic Affairs Panel, CII Karnataka, Nari is frequently called upon to participate in forums on important issues, such as Fraud, Capital and Corporate Governance.
Currently the Controller for Sequoia India, Nari has also contributed his time and expertise in support of various NGOs (e.g. Dream-a-Dream, Bangalore, and Sri Gita Vidyalaya rust, Tirunelveli), in addition to PPC.
As the Programme Grants Coordinator at Women for Women International ('WfWI'), Joeyta works on fundraising via trusts and foundations, in addition to International Development policy research and writing.
Prior to joining WfWI, Joeyta worked at the International Women's Tribune Centre in New York, where she liaised between grassroots groups and the United Nations; by developing funding proposals and programmes, she enabled grassroots groups to utilise international policy in their work with women in conflict zones.
An alumnus of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, Joeyta has also worked as a staff writer and editor in Mumbai, for the Indian Express, a leading national English daily in India.
Uzma Hamid-Dizier || Director, PPC UK
A senior manager at KPMG, Uzma is an internationally experienced Corporate Sustainability and Inclusion professional with ten years' experience.
During her time with HSBC, KPMG and the United Nations, Uzma has focused on helping businesses understand the nature and scale of their social and environmental footprint, and how best to manage the same.
While at KPMG, Uzma has managed Diversity and Inclusion at the UK firm, while also working latterly in CSR design and delivery, aiming to build capacity in the third sector by implementing social inclusion-through-employment programmes, amongst others.
Uzma's chief areas of expertise include: employer branding; diversity and inclusion; and corporate community investment, with a keen interest in how businesses engage with international development issues and human rights.
Arati-Menon Gupta || Trustee, PPC IndiaArati has over two decades of experience working in the Development sector in India, starting as a student at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai when she was actively involved with the Akanksha Foundation in its formative years.
With a Masters degree in International Relations World Politics from JNU in New Delhi and a Masters in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies in England, Arati began her professional journey with The KC Mahindra Education Trust in 1997 and went on to set up the United Way of Mumbai as their Founder-Executive Director.
Since her move to Bangalore in 2004, micro finance and urban issues have interested her.
What keeps her busy these days is her love for Ashtanga Yoga, learning TaiChi, watching her son Abhinav play squash passionately, trekking and summitting the Himalayan peaks in Uttarakhand with her husband Mohit as often as possible.