Neena Dasgupta | MMA Global

Neena Dasgupta

Neena Dasgupta
CEO and Director
Zirca Digital Solutions
@ndasgupta

Acknowledged as a visionary in digital media and advertising, Neena has more than 20 years of experience building organisations that lead the charge on effective and efficient communication.

The industry has recognised her leadership prowess, featuring her at No 35 in the Impact Most Influential Women 2018 list. She was also named a jury member for Social Samosa’s Social Media #Superwomen 2018.

Zirca, Neena’s brainchild, is a company she launched and built into a 130-people-strong firm. Award-winning ContentdB—Asia’s first native advertising management platform—and ContentiQ, the world's first content intelligence platform, are a result of her passion for effective communication and facilitating meaningful brand conversations.

An innovator, Neena banks on her ability to stay ahead of the curve in the digital marketing and advertising industry. For this reason, she was nicknamed ‘The Sixth Sense’ while she was at the BBC in India, where she headed advertising sales.

She has been aggressively involved in expanding and scaling Zirca’s footprint. Her track record and strong business skills have enabled Zirca to grow exponentially over the years. Her ability to engage with key clients like The Economist, Getit and the Al Jazeera group of channels is a testament to her nuanced understanding of technology, products and solutions across diverse platforms.

Neena is passionate about gender diversity and getting women, who have taken a break (because of parenthood or other reasons), back into the workforce. More than 40% of Zirca comprises women. The firm is an equal-opportunity employer, focused on quality rather than quantity; and it has introduced policies like flexi hours, and mentoring and counselling for women at work.

Neena’s dream is to retain women at the workplace and not lose them to parenthood. This is why she’s part of the mentoring committee for the next generation of women in the media space at the India chapter of the International Advertising Association.

She has an MBA degree and has also undergone an executive programme in Leadership and General Management at INSEAD. She has a son and a daughter and is passionate about cooking. Neena’s advice to professional women is: value yourself and love yourself. Don’t let others tell you who you are, what you should do, and where you should be in life. Make your own choices and be courageous to live with any outcomes they bring.