Ms Shailaja Asave founded and was the managing director of Orbit Exports Ltd., a textile manufacturing and exporting firm, for 22 years. Prior to that, she worked for two years each, with Mercantile Bank of Canada in Montreal as a research analyst and also with British Petroleum in Toronto, Canada. After her retirement, she has been associated with assisting non-profit organisations in the education, health and empowerment sectors. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from JBIMS(Bajaj) and a bachelor’s degree from Sydenham College, both from the Mumbai University.