Prashant Gokarn is DigiAsia’s co-founder, co-Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors. Mr. Gokarn focuses on DigiAsia’s international expansion plans, investments and capital raises, strategic initiatives and sales to international partners. In his over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Mr. Gokarn has held executive strategic roles across geographies.
From 2011 to 2017, Mr. Gokarn was the Chief Strategy and Digital Services Officer at Indosat Ooredoo, currently PT Indosat Tbk. (trading as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison), a telecommunications provider in Indonesia. In this role, he was responsible for driving significant cost and investment efficiencies that helped the company achieve profitability in 2013. Additionally, Mr. Gokarn led the digital transformation of the company by managing a successful technology accelerator (www.ideabox.co.id), while also managing a larger venture capital fund known as Softbank-Indosat Fund, which was a $50.0 million early-stage fund, set up in 2013, and was one of the first of its kind focused on the Southeast Asian markets. Prior to that, he served in various leadership roles in India as well as the United Kingdom.
Between April 2008 and June 2011, Mr. Gokarn was President of Reliance Communications’ GSM/3G business, one of the leading telecom operators in India. In that role, he set up and ran the entire 3G operations across India, and executed within more than 11,000 3G sites within 100 days of receiving spectrum from the Government of India, and subsequently drove a focus on distribution, content and partnerships.
Prior to that, Mr. Gokarn was a Partner at Spectrum Strategy, London, a media and telecommunications specialist and financial investment advisor to the industry, from September 2000 to March 2008. Mr. Gokarn received his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and undergraduate degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Alexander Rusli is DigiAsia’s co-founder, co-Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Rusli is responsible for Indonesian market operations, licensing and financing. Mr. Rusli has over 25 years of experience across the technology, telecommunications and retail industries, with demonstrated expertise in strategic leadership, business development and marketing management.
He has been an active investment and business professional, both personally in early-stage start-ups and professionally through private equity investments. From 2012 to 2017, Mr. Rusli was the Chief Executive Officer of Indosat Ooredoo, now known as PT Indosat Tbk. (trading as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison), a telecommunications provider in Indonesia. Prior to Indosat, he served as a Managing Director of Northstar Pacific, a Singapore-headquartered, private equity firm managing more than $2.5 billion in committed equity capital, dedicated to investing in growth companies in Indonesia and to a lesser extent, other countries in Southeast Asia.
From April 2000 to October 2009, Mr. Rusli was a special advisor to the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises of The Republic of Indonesia. Mr. Rusli currently serves on the board of directors of WWF, Indonesia, a position he has held since February 2014. Mr. Rusli is a graduate of Curtin University, Australia, where he received bachelor to doctorate degrees.
Subir Lohani serves as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Strategy of DigiAsia, having held each role since 2017 and 2018, respectively. Mr. Lohani has over 14 years of experience in private equity, leveraged finance and debt capital markets, and has experience in product and business development and design, corporate strategy, user acquisition and retention, operations and marketing strategy. In his current role at DigiAsia, he is responsible for strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, product development and business development.
From 2016 to 2018, Mr. Lohani was the Chief Executive Officer of Carmudi Indonesia. Previously, he was Managing Director of the Carmudi Philippines. Additionally, from 2015 to 2016, Mr. Lohani was an investor and advisor to HeyKuya, a Philippine-based SMS virtual assistant service, a member of the Board of Directors at Tricor, Singapore, an advisory firm, and a Managing Principal at White Rhino Strategic Capital, Singapore, a corporate advisory firm. Mr. Lohani also held senior finance roles at Barclays Capital Asia Associate and at DBS Bank.
Currently, Mr. Lohani serves as an advisor to Antler, a startup accelerator and early-stage venture capital firm, a position he has held since 2021. Mr. Lohani earned a degree in Economics from Boston University in Massachusetts.
