Sunith Reddy is the Chief Executive Officer of Beforest, a pioneering organization dedicated to creating sustainable, community-oriented collective farms and regenerative food forests. His visionary approach seeks to harmonize ecological sustainability with economic feasibility by actively involving the community. This path illustrates a significant transition from a thriving entrepreneur in the realms of technology and finance to a passionate conservationist and proponent of sustainable living. He grew up in Hyderabad and is a graduate of the prestigious Hyderabad Public School. His early career was characterized by notable accomplishments in the technology industry, starting with a major in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Madras, where he received a fully funded government scholarship.
He started his professional career at Yahoo! R&D, where he developed the high-traffic Yahoo! Alerts platform, which catered to over 200 million active users and earned him a nomination for the prestigious Yahoo! Ratna award. His subsequent experience at the technology incubator Lime Labs introduced him to the realm of algorithmic trading. Acknowledging the ideal combination of financial engineering and computer science that this sector provided, he co-founded iRageCapital in 2009. This firm emerged as one of India’s first and largest algorithmic trading houses, achieving a daily trading turnover that surpassed $1 billion USD, showcasing its quality and entrepreneurial spirit during the legalization of Direct Market Access (DMA) in India. Afterward, he co-founded the EdTech company Quantinsti in 2011 to advance algorithmic trading education, with its flagship Executive Program in Algorithmic Trading (EPAT) now boasting alumni from over 100 countries. Additionally, he initiated RentSetGo, a peer-to-peer sharing economy startup focused on travel gear.
Despite achieving significant success as an entrepreneur, Sunith has always been a passionate wildlife lover and conservationist at heart. This profound dedication inspired his first community-driven conservation initiative, Khetiyo, which is an ecotourism project located on the northern borders of Corbett. The goal of this unique project was to fully transfer ownership and management to the host village over a span of twenty years, a concept influenced by his studies in Africa. Although the project was halted due to the expansion of park boundaries, it reinforced his dedication to achieving a balance between economic growth and ecological preservation. This journey became the primary reason why Beforest was established around 2017-2018, shortly after he stepped away from iRageCapital and RentSetGo and took on a more subdued role at Quantinsti. He identified an opportunity in food production through the concept of collective farming, recognizing once again the alignment of chance, skill, and opportunity.
As the CEO of Beforest, Sunith is leading the vision and growth strategy, working to expand collectives throughout Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. His leadership aims to demonstrate that regenerative, forest-friendly landscapes—restored and managed by a collective community—can yield both financial benefits and substantial natural and social capital, marking a new phase in his impactful career as a transformative builder of ecosystems.
Read the full story that first appeared in The Global Indian here:
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