Smita Deorah is Co-Founder and Co-CEO at LEAD, India’s largest School Edtech company and the first unicorn in the segment.
A chartered accountant-turned-educator, Smita has over 22 years of experience in Finance, Leadership and Education. At LEAD, Smita is responsible for education research, product development and capability building. She has been instrumental in developing the LEAD Integrated System, which is benchmarked with the best education systems globally and contextualised for schools in India.

Smita is passionate about excellence and values in academia. Her goal is to bring quality learning to underserved communities and to bridge the gap between India's high-fee schools and its affordable private schools, so that every child can be nurtured to her true potential.
Prior to co-founding LEAD, Smita founded Sparsh, an NGO that worked for the uplift of Anganwadis in Mumbai in association with the Maharashtra government. She also implemented a ‘pre-school in a box’ solution in 16 Anganwadis to prepare students for school, and to reduce dropouts and low attendance.
Prior to this, Smita spent nine years at Procter & Gamble Singapore and India as a leader in Finance, Treasury and Strategy.
Smita is a great believer in continuous learning. After graduating from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics and becoming a Chartered Accountant, she completed Executive Programs from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Smita is the only leader from India to be conferred the 2022 Power of Women (POW!) award for her work in providing equal access to the future through quality education for all. She is also a recipient of the ‘Woman Ahead’ award at ET Startup Awards 2022. Smita has been recognised as one among the top 100 female entrepreneurs who are building and shaping India.
She lives in Mumbai with her family and loves travelling to different parts of the world.