Sundip Patel is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AVANA Companies, the holding company for private credit platform serving entrepreneurs and investors since 2002. In addition to being on the board of AVANA Bank (a Federal reserve bank in USA), AVANA CUSO (credit union service organization), Sundip oversees the LendThrive™ and EqualSeat™ platforms for lending and investment, respectively, focused on supporting sustainable growth in communities. LendThrive™ was created to provide frictionless capital to small businesses in America while EqualSeat™ was created to offer fractional participation in small business loans. Prior to founding AVANA, Sundip created the popular tech startup Huddle247.com, providing online business services for workgroup collaboration, and which PC Magazine rated among the top virtual workplace solutions in 2000. He also founded SOFTECT, a California-based technology training start-up. Sundip earned a MSc in Social Business and Entrepreneurship from London School of Economics & Political Science. He also earned his MBA from the University of California, Irvine in 1998 and bachelors’ degrees in economics, finance, and accounting from California State University at Fullerton in 1990. He holds both a CPA and CMA licenses in California, USA. Sundip splits his time between the headquarters in Bahrain, Middle East , Saudi Arabia and Phoenix, Arizona, USA. With his passion for helping others, he founded the Giggle Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides funding towards basic health, education, and empowerment for underprivileged people in the USA, Africa, and India. Sundip is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (Bahrain and San Francisco Gold), the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO) and the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL). Sundip is a frequent speaker on investing, lending, ESG, Fintech and technology.