Jagadish Babu

Jagadish Babu is the COO at EkStep Foundation, known for shaping and driving large scale digital public infrastructure in India across education, identity, and agriculture. With a career that spans Intel, Government of India missions, and nationwide platforms like Aadhaar and Diksha, he is one of the rare practitioners who has worked at the intersection of deep technology, public systems, and leadership development. He brings a grounded perspective shaped by his early years between Bengaluru and his family's farmland, along with a global technology outlook honed over more than a decade at Intel.

Critical Capabilities	Domain(s) of Practice
Systems Leadership Narrative Building and Storytelling	Education Livelihood

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Areas of Expertise / Domains of Work

• Digital Public Infrastructure

• Education systems and foundational learning (incl. AXL)

• Agriculture and agri technology

• AI for community knowledge systems

• Systems design and implementation at population scale

• Leadership development and executive coaching

• Organizational design and team culture

Experience Highlights

• Built and led high impact technology programs at Intel for 11 years, including India's top supercomputer, IRCTC as a digital entity, bank automation systems, and stock exchange modernisation.

• Played a key role in Aadhaar and other Government of India digital missions after transitioning from the private sector with special approval from Intel.

• Contributed to the creation of Diksha as early as 2009, long before its nationwide implementation.

• Served as an election agent in 2014, gaining deep exposure to grassroots political mobilization, manifesto creation, and real world systems behaviour.

• Leads major EkStep initiatives across education and agriculture aimed at impact at a billion person scale.

• Mentored startups from 6 crores to 35 crores.

Mentoring Approach & Philosophy

• Jagadish sees mentorship as a mirror that helps people see themselves more clearly. His approach is rooted in integrity, deep listening, and an expectation that mentees take ownership of their desires and commitments. He works best with people who are reflective, coachable, and hungry to grow. He combines systems thinking with somatic and generative leadership practices to help leaders become more aware, more grounded, and more effective.

Possible Mentoring Topics

• Navigating complexity and leading at scale

• Designing and implementing platforms for population level outcomes

• Bridging technology, policy, and ground reality

• Leadership coaching using generative and somatic frameworks

• Emotional intelligence and ontological distinctions

• Thinking and executing with integrity

• Balancing ambition, clarity, and personal grounding

Signature Insights or Beliefs

• Say yes to what shows up. It showed up for a reason.

• Deal with things now. Avoid postponing what matters.

• Integrity is non negotiable.

• If you want something, you must be willing to own it.

• Scaling systems requires clarity of purpose and the patience of a farmer.

Select Past Work / Roles / Ventures

• Intel Corporation (11 years, multiple strategic roles)

• Government of India initiatives including Aadhaar

• Diksha conceptualization and later implementation

• AXL foundational literacy initiative

• Agri systems work in partnership with state governments

• Mentor to early stage and growth startups