Pratima Harite
Head, Asia Pacific Corporate Citizenship
Lenovo
India
Pratima Harite's journey to becoming one of Asia Pacific's most respected corporate citizenship leaders came through hard work from the ground up. She started her career as a secretary, pursuing her graduation and post-graduation entirely through distance education while working full-time. What she had was extraordinary determination and the guidance of leaders who saw her potential.
Over more than two decades, that foundation carried her from administrative roles into the heart of social impact strategy across some of Asia's most respected financial institutions, like Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Credit Suisse, where she built community investment programmes spanning financial literacy, healthcare access, and women's empowerment. At The Wadia Group, she designed village transformation through maternal and child health, scaled to 40 villages.
At Lenovo, where she has led Asia Pacific Corporate Citizenship for over six years across 13 markets, Harite has elevated the function from programme delivery to genuine thought leadership. Since 2020, her initiatives have impacted 3.91 million people. She stewarded a US$1.6 million annual CSR portfolio and invested in the AVPN STEM social investment fund across five markets. In an initiative known as ‘Work for Humankind: India Edition’ she helped over 300 Indian farmers revive eight varieties of millets.
A sought-after speaker at AVPN’s global conference and the Global AI Summit in New Delhi, Harite was recognised as a rising professional by India CSR in 2021. Her commitment to mentorship runs deep—she guides young women leaders through the iLeap programme and coaches colleagues across Lenovo's business units, drawing directly on her own non-traditional career journey to inspire them.
To Quote: “She anchors everything in dignity-first communication. Especially in CSR, where it’s easy to unintentionally create hierarchies in how stories are told, she is very conscious about ensuring every stakeholder, from internal teams to partners and communities, is represented with respect.” - Lakshana Asthana, founding partner, Tarq Foundation.
