Madan Padaki defines the purpose of his life as “To serve the Supreme, by empowering every human
being to unleash
their infinite potential, to create a world filled with abundance & oneness.”
A serial entrepreneur, Madan co-founded MeritTrac in 2000 as India’s first & subsequently one of
the largest skills
assessment organisations. Fast Company recognized MeritTrac as the Top 10 Innovative Companies
in India and it was
acquired by Manipal Education in 2011. After 23 years, MeritTrac continues its journey as a
leading assessments company,
having tested over 50 million candidates thus far.
He subsequently founded 1Bridge, an assisted-commerce platform that delivers digital financial
services & aspirational
products to our emerging markets - bridging access, choice & convenience gaps for rural
customers, while enabling sales,
financing & last-mile delivery network for it partners. Today, 1Bridge is present in 75+
districts across South & East India
and has over 20000+ village entrepreneurs engaged in delivering services to their consumers.
1Bridge was recognised as
a winner of National Start-up Awards 2021 by Govt. of India and was highlighted for its
pioneering work by the Hon.
Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat address to the nation in May 2022.
1Bridge also acquired the
assets of eSamudaay – one of ONDC’s earliest partners, to create a comprehensive ONDC-ready
rural commerce full-stack
for buyers, sellers, logistics and payments. Madan’s vision is to empower local entrepreneurs
and foster inclusive digital
growth across 350 districts of India, impacting 30 million households and 300,000 entrepreneurs
over the next five years.
