Dr Gunjan S Jhajharia

Dr. Gunjan S. Jhajharia is an entrepreneur, startup ecosystem contributor, researcher and mentor committed to building inclusive, scalable and execution-driven solutions for Emerging Bharat.

Her perspective is shaped not only by academic research, but also by years of building and operating an organisation across Tier-2, Tier-3, Tier-4 and rural markets.

As the Co-Founder and COO of Aaklan IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Dr. Jhajharia leads organisational operations, people, academic execution, school experience and scale.

Today, Aaklan works in regions where access to qualified technology educators and structured future-skills education remains limited.

Beyond building Aaklan, Dr. Jhajharia has contributed extensively to India’s startup ecosystem as a startup evaluator, jury member, mentor, speaker and entrepreneurship educator.
She has served as a jury and evaluator for startups under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme and has participated in the assessment of ventures for funding, incubation and growth support.

She has worked with government bodies, government-backed entrepreneurship initiatives, incubators, accelerators and academic institutions. Her ecosystem engagements include platforms such as iStart Rajasthan, FAVCY and other startup and innovation programmes by various private incubators.

Through these engagements, she has evaluated and mentored founders across different sectors and stages—from problem identification and opportunity validation to value proposition, business modelling, impact measurement, scalability and investor presentation.

Her experience gives her a distinctive understanding of both sides of the startup ecosystem: the realities founders face while building on the ground, and the qualities that incubators, government programmes and funding institutions look for while supporting a venture.

Dr. Jhajharia holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship and an MBA in HR and Finance. She is a UGC NET–JRF/SRF-qualified researcher and a former Assistant Professor.
Her published research explores entrepreneurship, opportunity identification, entrepreneurial responses during crises and gender stereotypes in entrepreneurship.

Her work sits at the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, institution building, research and social impact—with a clear focus on ensuring that the next generation of founders and innovators can emerge from every part of Bharat.

Open to collaborations involving startup evaluation, jury panels, founder mentoring, government and institutional initiatives, entrepreneurship education, research, speaking engagements and Bharat-focused innovation.