A champion of international trade, investment and emerging markets, Dr Mohan Kaul is an influential, well-connected & recognised policy adviser, business leader, social entrepreneur, development specialist and academician. To have a glimpse of his journey over last few years please visithis photo gallery.
He chairs a specialist advisory, business development, project management and investment consultancy since April 2012.
A firm believer in making globalisation work for all, he led a number of high-level initiatives targeted at investment promotion and strengthening the investment climate, good governance and corporate social responsibility. Over the past 30 years, he has built an enviable rapport with Presidents and Heads of Governments across continents He has led over 50 high-level initiatives and Forums, involving Heads of Government, Senior Ministers and top Business Leaders, in a number of countries primarily in South Asia and Africa including in countries which had never received FDI before. These initiatives have resulted in considerable investment in a number of countries including Ghana, India, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, and others.
His focus has been on Mobilizing Investment, building Public-Private Partnerships, reducing the digital divide, WTO market access and trade facilitation and integration of developing countries into the global market. He strengthen Commonwealth trade linkages recognised by the WTO as an important partner contributing to the liberalisation of trade and leading practical initiatives such as the Boksburg Group on Trade Facilitation. He has also facilitated links between Commonwealth Countries and the European Union which led to a Commonwealth-EU roundtable led by Baroness Ashton, European Commissioner for Trade and Indian Minister Kamal Nath and attended by Ministers and Business Leaders.
He has been a member of the Presidential Advisory Councils of Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and similar councils in other countries and works closely with them. He has lead several business delegations to India and various countries in Africa and Asia. . He worked closely with the President and Government of Rwanda on mobilising investment and assisting Rwanda's entry to the Commonwealth.
His current assignments also include:
Vice Chair and Director of Indo-UK Institute of Health, a joint initiative of Prime Ministers of United Kingdom and India with an objective to set up several private hospitals in various Indian cities in collaboration with Kings College Hospital and other NHS hospitals in the UK and working closely with UK-TI.
Chair, Pontaq UK-India Innovation Fund
Member of the Advisory Council of British Expertise
Member of Board of Crown Agents Foundation
Member of Board of Directors of Ahmedabad University, India. (Facilitated an agreement between Judge Business School of University of Cambridge and Ahmedabad University)
Chairman and Director of Micro Finance Company, CIGS, Chennai, India
Liveryman of the City of London and Member of World Traders
Member of Board of Directors of Europe India Chamber of Commerce (EICC), Brussels
Emeritus Director, Commonwealth Association of Public Administration, Canada.
Other positions held:
Member of the Board of Directors and Chair of Governance Committee of ICICI Bank (UK)
Member of the first Board of Directors of the UK-India Business Council (2006-2009)
Member of the Board of the World Bank's Africa Virtual University, Nairobi (2001-2008)
Member of the Central Council for the Royal Over-Seas League (2003-2009)
President of the International Association of Schools and Institutions of Administration (IASIA) (1996-2001). As the President of IASIA, he led a delegation to China for discussions with then Vice-President and later President Hu Jintao on governance and globalisation in 2000
He was a member of the UN Secretary-General's Management Efficiency Group and Taskforce on Human Resource Management. (Supported by the UK Government though its UN Mission 1996-1997)
He was a member of the UN Secretary-General's Management Efficiency Group and Taskforce on Human Resource Management. (Supported by the UK Government though its UN Mission 1996-1997)
He also addressed a special session of the UN Assembly on public management (1995).
1999-2012 Director General Commonwealth Business Council
Dr Mohan Kaul was appointed the first Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) on its establishment by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Edinburgh in October 1997 which was chaired by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who took a personal interest in promoting this initiative.
He worked with the office of Prime Minister John Major, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of Trade and Industry on initial planning for the first Commonwealth Business Forum in London in 1997. He developed the Commonwealth Business Forum as an important Event adding value to the Commonwealth, and with relevance to the UK, by increasing trade and investment between the UK and Commonwealth countries.. Since 1997, Commonwealth trade has increased from USD2 trillion to over USD4 trillion and investment flows have reached over USD200 billion. The biennial Commonwealth Business Forum in conjunction with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is the largest international business event in the Commonwealth resulting in billions of dollars’ worth of business.
He led consultations with business for the Commission for Africa set-up by Prime Minister Tony Blair. He also led business consultations for the Taskforce on Asia set-up by Chancellor Gordon Brown. He hosted business meetings for visiting Heads of Government from Commonwealth countries, particularly from Africa, in cooperation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He facilitated consultations between British Ministers and their counterparts in other countries.
He organised the first UK - India business leaders Forum in 2004 before the establishment of the UK India Business Council of which he was a founding director. He developed the first “UK India Trade & Investment Flows Report 2008”, prepared by CBC with support from UKTI and UKIBC which is widely referred and currently being updated. He led a UK business delegation to Gujarat, India in January 2009 and has also facilitated a number of activities between India and the UK focusing on infrastructure and mergers and acquisitions. He facilitated discussions between India and the UK on transport infrastructure between Transport Minister Kamal Nath and Secretary of State Lord Adonis in early 2010.
He also signed MoUs with key Chinese Companies in Beijing in October 2010 in the Presence of the British Ambassador for cooperation between British and Chinese companies for the implementation of projects in Commonwealth Countries. This also led to the setting up of the China-Commonwealth Business Council.
He was involved in establishing the G8 Business Action for Africa, Business Action against Corruption, Business Action for Corporate Governance, Code for Social Responsibility, Investment Climate Facility in Africa, Africa Recruit, NEPAD Business Group, South Asia Trade and Investment Network, China-India-Brazil-Africa Business Forum, Commonwealth Middle East Business Forum and the UK-India Business Leaders Forum. He facilitated the participation of business from developing countries in the Business Call to Action for the Millennium Development Goals
1986-1998 Director, Commonwealth Secretariat
As Director of the Management Development Programme and then Management and Training Services Division, he was responsible for the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation’s programmes for management development, governance, human resource development and special programmes for South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia. He led programmes and international advisory assignments relating to good governance, public sector reforms, human resource development, privatisation, private sector development and related areas in over 40 countries including Barbados, Cameroon, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Granada, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, St Lucia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zimbabwe.
Dr Kaul assisted the South African government of President Mandela on public service reforms and led a group of Advisors in capacity building including organising the office of the President and Deputy President and Ministry of Public Administration. He organised the first international conference on Human Resource Development for the post-Apartheid South Africa in 1994.
He organised the first Commonwealth Southern African Heads of Government Roundtable on Democracy and Good Governance in Botswana in 1997, which was attended by all Heads of Government in the region, including President Mandela.
He jointly chaired a Meeting of Commonwealth Cabinet Secretaries with the Canadian Cabinet Secretary, Jocelyn Bourgeon, in 1998. He also led the Commonwealth Initiative on new Public Administration approved by the 1993 CHOGM in New Zealand. He organised programmes on public service reform together with the British Royal Institute for Public Administration (RIPA).
He was involved in setting up the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) in Canada, Commonwealth Network of Information Technology for Development (COMNET-IT) in Malta and Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) in the UK.
1983-1985 Advisor to the United Nations
Advised the Malaysian government of Prime Minister Mahathir in the areas of information technology, management development, agriculture and economic policies. Other assignments included to advise the Governments of China and south East Asian countries. He conducted the first evaluation of the Grameen Bank of Nobel Prize winner Mohd. Yunus on behalf of the World Bank and IFAD, which led to large scale funding for the bank.
1971-1982 Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad And Dean (1981-1983)
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is the most prestigious Business School in India and was set-up by Harvard Business School. He was part of the initial faculty group and he played a key role in the building up of the Institute. He designed and taught post-graduate and doctorate programmes and led management seminars for top leaders of business and Government. While at IIMA, he was Advisor to the various Departments of the Government of India, including the Planning Commission, Electronics Commission, and Department of Foreign Trade.
He was a Member of the Expert Panels for new liberalised policies on computer hardware and software exports. He was Advisor to the Government of Gujarat and member of industry policy committees.
He was a member of the boards of the Dredging Corporation of India and LD Engineering College.
He was also consultant to leading public and private sector firms including Shipping Corporation of India, L&T, DCM & Electronic Corporation of India.
Education
He has a PhD in Management Science from the University of Paris-Sorbonne and a degree in Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology.
He was also conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Cape Breton University Canada in November 2007.
He is a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (UK), Fellow of the Computer Society of India and Fellow of the Institute of Training Development (USA).
Publications
He is author of a number of publications, including:
Global Growth and the Commonwealth, 2010
“The Future of the Commonwealth: Good Governance, Economic Empowerment And Respect for Diversity”, Round Table, 2007
An Outsider's Inside View, 2000
Public Enterprise Reforms and Divestiture, Australian Journal of Public Administration, June 1995
From Problem to Solution: Commonwealth Strategies for Reform: Managing the Public Service, 1995
Management Reform in Government: A Review of International Practices and Strategies
Co-author: Strengthening Indigenous Communities: Development Initiators Programme, 1991
Searching for a Paddle: Trends in Information Technology Applications in Asian Government Systems, 1987