Rajesh Anandan

Rajesh Anandan is Senior Vice President, Private Sector Partnerships and UNICEF Ventures.

Since joining the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in April 2009, Mr. Anandan has led a broad range of cross-sector partnerships with foundations, corporations, sports and academia, resulting in a portfolio that generates over $350 million annually in funding and in-kind resources. In 2011, Mr. Anandan launched a new practice area, UNICEF Ventures, which aims to develop new financing vehicles, launch new business ventures, and accelerate efforts to deploy and scale innovations in the field.

Previously, Mr. Anandan served as Head of Private Sector Partnerships for the Global Fund in Geneva, where he led a full spectrum of public-private collaborations including large scale co-investments, access and pricing initiatives and resource mobilization platforms such as (PRODUCT)RED. Prior to that, he was the Director of Strategy at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Mr. Anandan has also had a broad range of roles in the private sector, including product development and marketing at the Microsoft Corporation, corporate strategy and private equity consulting at Bain & Company, and senior management engagements in technology-related start-up ventures. He is the founder of üba, an innovative cause-related brand platform which promotes peace and human security, and WeCare, a grass roots service organization focused on children affected by conflict in Sri Lanka, his home country.

Mr. Anandan moved to the U.S. to pursue higher education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he obtained Bachelors and Masters degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and has since lived and worked in North America, Western Europe and Southern Africa.

Related links

• Mr. Anandan wrote an article for Added Value—Closing the half a billion dollar gap for UNICEF.
• Mr. Anandan has contributed to the Fieldnotes blog for Uganda.
• Mr. Anandan interviewed in the June 22, 2011 IEG Sponsorship Report—Corporate/Nonprofit Partnerships: A Unique View from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

June 2011