The Team

Akhil Gupta serves as an Advisor to Stride, bringing over three decades of experience in building one of India's most successful global enterprises.

He served as Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, where he was a key architect of Bharti Airtel's growth from its early days into one of the world's leading telecom and digital services companies. He was instrumental in the company's 2002 IPO and the $10.7 billion acquisition of Zain Africa, one of the largest outbound transactions by an Indian company.

He pioneered initiatives that became global industry benchmarks, including Bharti's outsourcing partnerships with IBM and Ericsson and the creation of Indus Towers, one of the world's largest telecom tower companies, both documented as case studies at Harvard Business School. He also led the induction of institutional investors including Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR, and Qatar Foundation Endowment into the group.

He is a Chartered Accountant and an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

Martin Gilbert serves as an Advisor to Stride, bringing four decades of experience in building and leading global asset management businesses.

He co-founded Aberdeen Asset Management in 1983 and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2017, building the firm into one of the world's leading independent asset managers with over £300 billion in assets under management. Following the 2017 merger with Standard Life, which created the UK's largest asset management company and the second largest in Europe, he served as Co-Chief Executive Officer and subsequently Vice Chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen.

He is Chairman of Revolut, one of the world's leading fintech companies. He previously served as Deputy Chairman of Sky plc, Chairman of FirstGroup, and Chairman of the UK Prudential Regulation Authority's Practitioner Panel.

He holds an LLB and an MA in Accountancy from the University of Aberdeen.

Fariha currently serves as the Partner, GCC & Global Capital Formation at Stride Ventures, leveraging 21 years of experience across finance, insurance, and government in the US, Europe, and APAC regions. In this role, she oversees fundraising and global investor relations for INR and USD funds, while also serving on the Alumni Board of Harvard Business School and the HBS Club of India Board. Previously, Fariha held the position of Chief Strategy Officer at Toffee Insurance, driving strategic partnerships to enhance company revenue and long-term value.

She also played a key role in investment fundraising and investor relations. Prior to that, she was the Founding Director at The Common Room, a platform for new entrepreneurs, and served as Advisor for India at the Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry, facilitating FDI from India to Turkey. With a background in underwriting at AIG Global Marine and Energy and Zurich Insurance Services in New York City, Fariha managed multi-billion dollar portfolios for US clients with international property and mega-reinsurance placements. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Quantitative Economics from Mount Holyoke College and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

Christopher Dix is Managing Director of the Co-Investment Platform, with experience across investment banking and venture capital, focused on technology investments and capital markets across global and emerging markets.

He began his career at J.P. Morgan, where he spent over a decade in TMT Investment Banking, working across M&A, debt, and equity transactions, as well as private equity coverage. He subsequently served as Head of MENAP and Global Capital Director at Antler, where he built and scaled early-stage investment platforms across multiple geographies. Most recently, he was an Investment Partner at BECO Capital, one of the leading venture capital funds in the MENA region, where he backed high-growth technology companies and partnered closely with founders.