Siddharth Jayakumar is currently working as Manager (Got promoted in 2013) with IndusInd Bank Ltd in the Trade Operations Department at Chennai. He has been with IndusInd Bank since 2010 and prior to that he was with RBS (previously ABN Amro) in the Trade Finance Division for more than 5 years.
Siddharth is a person with Cerebral Palsy, post a jaundice attack when he was few days old which significantly impacted his body movement and speech clarity. This has consequential impact on his ability to write and general reaction time. Having said the above, Siddharth has never let this condition as an impediment to his achievements and goals. While he went to a “special school” earlier, soon got into the main stream and since then leads a life in a society which make things extremely difficult and challenging for him.
From an academic point of view, after passing out from a regular school he completed his graduation in Commerce and went on to do his masters in Economics with great scores. Professionally, he is a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist from Institute of Financial Services-UK and has been awarded multiple certificates in the domain of Trade Finance, KYC (Know Your Customer) norms and Anti Money Laundering.
Apart from the above, given the inspirational life Siddharth has lived, he is an avid speaker on motivational, HR and multiple topics among many organizations like TedX, TCS, Scope, World Bank, Wipro, Sap Labs, to name a few. Siddharth is on the board of Vidya Sagar since 1999 and has been on the Board of Trustee of Skill Share International, a UK based NGO. Given his exemplary work in the overall field of building awareness and helping people with “special needs” he has been even awarded National award by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as “Best Employee with Cerebral Palsy” given by the honorable Vice President of India. He has been recongnized by many organization for his outstanding work and some of the recognition he has received are:
• Npedp – Shell – Helen Keller Award
• Ascendas Excellence Award’ in Academics
•“Lala Kailashpat Singhania Award” from National Society for Equal Opportunities for Handicapped, in December 2007
• Outstanding student award for year 1998-99 from his school
• NIIT award for academic proficiency in 1997
• Received “The Vocational Service award” From Rotary club of Chennai
• Won Award for excellence in Corporate employment from ADAPT (SSI) on the eve of World cerebral palsy day in October 2013
One of his key association is with ex-President of India, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam who has quoted him in various forums and they share a relationship of mutual admiration. Given his work he has been very well known in the media circles.
On personal front, he lives in Chennai with his parents, wife and his son.