Mr Jay Ramesh is Co-founder and non-executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Botho University (BU) & Group Institutions. BU is a leading private university with campuses in Botswana, Lesotho, eSwatini and Namibia as well as a Blended and Distance Learning Campus. Jay has also been a Managing Partner of Grant Thornton, an accounting firm currently ranked the third largest in Botswana. He became the Managing Partner at Grant Thornton in 2000 after having worked in all firm divisions where he played a lead role in forging an international affiliation for this locally established firm. Jay holds a degree in Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Madras, India in 1979, where he later qualified as a Chartered Accountant and acquired a wealth of experience in the accounting sphere. He is an alumnus of Said Business School, Oxford University where he completed a Senior Leadership Programme on Organisational Leadership and also a Fellow Chartered Accountant of the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants.
It is this vast experience and qualifications that have afforded him the opportunity to sit in various Boards and committees across government and the private sector such as chair of the Government Audit Committee from July 2016 to June 2021, Non-Executive Director of Sechaba Brewery Holdings Limited since March 2021, Member of the Board of Governors of Grant Thornton International, and past chairman of Business Botswana committee for the Trade and Industry sector of the High-Level Consultative Council (HLCC), among many others. He played a key role in strengthening the presence of Grant Thornton in the African Region from a presence in 11 countries in 2009 to being established in 24 countries by 2018, where he was the bridge between Grant Thornton International and the Firms. Jay is also playing leadership roles in social organisations involved in charitable activities for the welfare of the local community
