Mehul Desai
“As I look around, I believe we have a serious crisis in leadership across all walks of life; the only solution is to build a new generation of leaders whose hearts and minds are in the right place…I support Learn to Start as I believe it institutionalizes value-education within the confines of the current education system in a truly altruistic manner, instilling hope and optimism as our young people come of age.”
Mehul Desai has almost 30 years of experience in FinTech, ICT and related New Economy applications worldwide, focusing on intellectual property, product development, business development, strategy, and international operations. He has done pioneering work in the field of secure personalized transactions, with focus on finance, retail, healthcare, consumer, and government services, evolving the Digital Wallet, to a Mobile Wallet, to Lifestyle Containers and upcoming Digital Money technologies (DeFi CBDC).
Mehul founded C-SAM, a global technology-provider for secure mobile commerce and mobile payments, which was acquired by Mastercard Worldwide in 2014. Mehul founded PEaaS, a product-engineering-as-a-service provider, which was acquired by Finablr in 2019. Mehul was on the board of Medici and its first outside investor; Medici was acquired by Prove in 2021. Mehul is on the board of Swych and its first outside investor; Swych was sold to Finablr in 2018.
Mehul is currently the founder and CEO of DeZai, which provides strategic advisory services in the areas of FinTech and Sustainable Innovation. DeZai provides angel investments to ventures focused on the New Economy. DeZai fosters innovation in the areas of technology, new economy and social entrepreneurship, thru mentorship, investment, and cross-pollination across sectors and markets.
Mehul is also the founder and Chairman of Tntra, an open innovation ecosystem that provides engineering services, incubation, and funding for ventures around the world.
Mehul is on the board of Swych and is an advisor to Strong Force. Mehul is an expert-in-residence at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago.
Mehul was Group Chief Technology Officer for Finablr, a (formerly LSE listed) global financial services provider for foreign exchange, remittances, and payments.
Mehul has founded several companies that include Caspo (IoT/Smart-home solution provider focused on empowering the homemaker), Joovo (Conversational-commerce based trusted assistant) and Zopus (New-media platform focused on helping authors build communities, foster collaboration, and drive engagement).
Mehul co-authored March of Mobile Money, The Future of Lifestyle Management – which was published by Collins Business in 2010 and authored August of Money, The Quest for Cashless Society – which was published by Let’s Talk Payments in August 2015.
Mehul has over seventy issued patents mainly in the areas of secure financial transactions and IoT. Mehul has been involved with several industry forums focused on developing standards for secure mobile transactions.
Mehul often speaks at industry conferences on topics related to FinTech, Cashless Societies, and Innovation, and his other areas of interest include Knowledge Methodologies & Knowledge Cities, New Education Models, New Representative Models, Use of ICT in Delivery of Public Services and Food Security.
Mehul and the DeZai Foundation support several non-profit initiatives, including the Global Foodbanking Network, ChildFund International and Global Giving.
Mehul holds a B.S. in Telecommunication Engineering and a M.S. in Engineering Management.
