Devita Saraf

Devita Saraf is an Indian businessperson who is the founder and CEO of VU Technologies. Devita Saraf is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vu Televisions, a $150 million (revenue) luxury television brand. She founded the company at the age of 24 after completing her Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.  

Devita Saraf
Born
Devita Saraf

(1981-06-25) 25 June 1981
Mumbai, India
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
OccupationChairman and CEO, Vu Televisions
Parent(s)Rajkumar Saraf
Vijayrani Saraf
Websitewww.devitasaraf.com

Her early influences of business, technology and design helped her co-develop products with Intel and Microsoft until she founded her own domain of making high-tech products that appeal to new age consumers. The company is driven to be the visionary in consumer electronics for the modern and intelligent consumer and with 1.5 Million Vu Televisions sold worldwide, they are the fastest growing TV brand and the innovators of the industry. Vu has a team of 300 employees across 11 offices and Devita spends her time between Mumbai and California.

Early life

Saraf was born in a business family in Mumbai, India, her father Rajkumar Saraf was chairman of Zenith Computers.[1] She attended Queen Mary School, Mumbai[2][3] She later attended the H.R. College of Commerce and Economics[4] and the University of Southern California, where she received a Bachelor of Business Administration.[5]

Career

Zenith

Saraf started her career at age 16,[6] under the guidance of her father at Zenith Computers and was named as the Director of Marketing when she was 21.[7][8] In 2006 Saraf went from being the head of marketing to CEO.[9] The high court of Bombay (currently known as Mumbai) in case filed by The Bank of New York Mellon, London has convicted Ms Saraf, her father and all the promoters of Zenith Infotech Limited of siphoning company funds to personnel accounts and has directed BIFR (Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction Government of India) to take action as per its regulations.[10]

Securities and Exchange Board of India accused Zenith Infotech Limited and its six promoters of fraudulent removal of funds to personnel accounts without the notice to share holders, and as of 25 March 2013, SEBI prevented the promoters from accessing the securities market or trading in securities in any manner. The named six promoters included by SEBI are Saraf, her father Rajkumar Saraf, Akash Kumar Saraf, Vijayrani Saraf, VU Technologies Private limited and Zenith Technologies Private Limited.[11][12]

Vu Technologies

At age 24, she started Vu Technologies, which sells high-end LED TVs.[6] While Zenith was mass technology focused, Vu sells innovative luxury items.[13][14] Vu came out with a 4K HD Iconium Series televisions in October 2015.[15] In October 2014, the Bombay High Court sealed the premises of Andheri based office of Vu Technologies after it fraudulently showed 200 employees in their affidavit but only 32 were found on premises in a visit and in the muster roll for September–October 2014.[16]

Others

Saraf has been a National Co-Chair and Executive Committee Member in the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Young Leaders Forum.[5] She was also the founder and Chair of the Young Bombay Forum which was part of Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.[17] Currently, she also serves as the CEO of View TelePresence, which creates communications services for smaller business markets.[18] She is the member of Mensa, an international society for people with high IQ. [19]

She was also a columnist for The Wall Street Journal.[2][20] In 2017, Saraf bought a full page ad in the Times of India newspaper, where she congratulated Donald Trump on becoming President of the United States. The ad attracted mixed reviews on social media.[21][22]

Awards
  1. Zee TV’s Youngest Achiever Award – 2006.[23]
  2. IT People Women Leadership Award – 2006. [24]
  3. Youngest businesswoman on India Today’s list of 25 Most Powerful Women in India in 2012.[25]
  4. Won the Business Woman of the Year 2016 at India Leadership Conclave 2016 Annual Edition. [26][27]
  5. Featured in the Fortune - Top 50 Most Powerful Women in India – 2019. [28]
  6. Featured in the GQ - 50 Most Influential Indians – 2019. [29]
  7. Indo-American Society’s Most Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur [30]
  8. IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List 2020. She was the only women in the list.[31]

Recognition

Her profile has been covered in the following books:

  1. Most Powerful Women in India – Prem Ahluwalia [32]
  2. Daughters of Legacy – Rinku Paul [33]
  3. Business Czarinas – S. N. Chary [34][35]

References
  1. Sra, Gunjeet (18 October 2010). "Power Steering: Born Into a Business Family Devita Saraf, Executive Director, Zenith Computers, Knows That the Only Way to Expand Her Legacy is to Forge Her Own Distinct Identity". India Today. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  2. "Devita Saraf: Gadget woman from India". The Saturn Herald. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  3. Chary, S.N. (2015). Business Czarinas. Bloomsbury India. ISBN 9789382951179.
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Business of Luxury". Afternoondc.in. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  6. "She Likes to Hone Her Skills on the Cutting Edge". Hindustan Times. 17 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  7. Exhibit (31 Posts). "Devita Saraf - CEO - Vu Technologies |Exhibit Magazine". Exhibitmag.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  8. "On the radar : Simply Mumbai - India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  9. "Devita Saraf moves from head of marketing to CEO". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  10. The Bank of New York Mellon, London vs Zenith Infotech Limited, Para 34 (THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY 2015-07-30) ("" In view thereof, though I have expressed my view viz. that the Promoters of the Company are absolutely dishonest and have siphoned away the funds of the Company in the manner set out in detail hereinabove and are responsible for the state of affairs of the Company prevalent as of date, I leave it to the BIFR to decide whether the Reference filed by the Company should be registered and/or further entertained. "").Text
  11. Sharma, Mahesh (10 April 2013). "How $33M was siphoned from India's Zenith Infotech". Mumbai. ZD net. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  12. Modak, Samie (25 March 2013). "Sebi bars Zenith Infotech promoters". Mumbai. Business standard. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  13. "'Keep company lean' says electronics CEO Devita Saraf". BBC News.
  14. Sen, Sunny; Sinha, Suveen (24 May 2015). "Off the Old Block, off Course ; Had Enough of Business Family Scions Who Follow in Their Parents' Footsteps? Business Today Finds Some Who Blaze Their Own Trails". Business Today. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  15. SiliconIndia. "VU Unveils the New Iconium Series with 4K UHD SMART LED". siliconindia.
  16. N Sundaresha Subramanian (15 October 2014). "Bombay HC raps Vu Technologies for false statements in affidavit". Business Standard. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  17. "Leading ladies : Woman - India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  18. "Vu TelePresence Partners With eWomenNetwork To Spur Business Growth for Female Entrepreneurs". Manufacturing Close-Up. 19 February 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  19. Singh, Saumit (23 January 2008). "Meet the fashionable Mensan!". dnaindia.com.
  20. Chaudhuri, Arcopol (31 October 2010). "Lights, Camera, Ideas at TEDx Mumbai". DNA, Sunday. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  21. "Who is Devita Saraf? Why is she trending on Twitter? Here's what you need to know". The Indian Express. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  22. "Vu Televisions' CEO welcomes 'President' Donald Trump with full-page ad, gets trolled". Hindustan Times. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  23. India, Silicon (2 December 2011). "Youngest women CEOs in India".
  24. Business Standard (10 January 2009). "Minimum toting". Business-standard.com. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  25. G., Seetharaman (29 September 2012). "Business Today honours the most powerful women in Indian business". indiatoday.in.
  26. "History". indialeadershipconclave.in.
  27. "Indian Business Woman of the year 2016 – Indian Affairs". indianaffairs.tv. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  28. "Most Powerful Women". fortuneindia.com.
  29. Sethi, Shikha (12 December 2019). "Here's the full list of GQ's 50 most influential young Indians of 2019". gqindia.com.
  30. "Charter Member Dinner with Ms. Devita Saraf, Founder & CEO - Vu TV". hub.tie.org.
  31. Sil, Debarghya (14 October 2020). "From Devita Saraf, The Only Woman, To Ritesh Agarwal,The Youngest; Here's India's Wealthiest Self-made Entrepreneurs Under 40". entrepreneur.com.
  32. Ahluwalia, Prem. India's Most Powerful Women (2016 ed.). Indian Books and Periodicals.
  33. Narayanan, Chitra (16 September 2018). "Daughters to the fore". thehindubusinessline.com.
  34. Narayanan, K S (27 December 2013). "Business Czarinas". thesundayindian.com.
  35. Chary, S. N. (30 April 2015). Business Czarinas. London: Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 9789382951179.
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