Anurag Dikshit

Anurag Dikshit
Born	Anurag Dikshit
Occupation	Businessman

Anurag Dikshit (/ˈdɪksɪt/;is an Indian origin businessman and philanthropist. Together with his wife, Dr.Soma Pujari, he founded The Kusuma Trust, a charitable trust set up to improve the lives of the disadvantaged in society, primarily in India, by funding projects on education, at risk children, community support and health care. Anurag currently lives in Gibraltar with his family, where they are both involved in philanthropic projects with their local community through The Kusuma Trust (Gibraltar). Born in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, Dikshit graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1994. He completed schooling at De Nobii School, FRI. Following graduation, Dikshit worked at CMC and later as a software developer in the United States, as a systems analyst for Websci and as a consultant for AT&T.

1998- PartyGaming

At age 26, Dikshit was asked by PartyGaming founder, American Ruth Parasol, to write the company's betting software. His program enabled gamblers around the world to play one another in poker. After seeing first hand Anurag's impressive skills with programming he was given a large number of shares in the company to continue working with PartyGaming.

2000- Party Poker

In the year 2000 Anurag hired a friend by the name of Vikrant Bhargava to begin working on Party Poker with him and others. In May 2006, Dikshit stepped down from PartyGaming's board of directors to develop new products as head of the company's research and special projects and left PartyGaming completely in November 2006. Despite PartyGaming being one of the first online gaming companies to pull out of the US market, in December 2008, Dikshit agreed to co-operate with the US Justice Department in an investigation of PartyGaming. Dikshit entered a plea to one count of online gambling in violation of the Federal Wire Act and agreed to forfeit $300 million. He no longer owns any shares in the company, with the proceeds of the share sales completed in January 2010 having been donated to The Kusuma Trust.

2007- The Kusuma Trust

The Kusuma Trust (Gibraltar) is a charitable trust which was founded by Dr. Soma Pujari and her husband Anurag Dikshit in the beginning of 2007 in order the structure their previously unorganised charitable efforts to achieve higher impact. The Trust is a registered charity in Gibraltar [Registration Number 196] and is as such subject to the control of the Gibraltar Charities Commission. The Kusuma Trust (Gibraltar) provides financial backing to a broad range of pioneering humanitarian and educational projects primarily based in Gibraltar and India. In 2008 the family also set up The Kusuma Trust UK which is a registered charity in the UK and is regulated by the UK Charities Commission [Registration number 1126983]. This was done with the intention of dedicating The Kusuma Trust (Gibraltar) to Gibraltar related initiatives while The Kusuma Trust (UK) will take over projects in India and elsewhere.

Anurag Dikshit and Dr Soma Pujari both come from modest backgrounds in India, but both are now successful entrepreneurs. Their sense of social responsibility has driven them to take steps towards changing the fortunes of society's underprivileged. Currently dividing their time between India and Gibraltar, the couple have been generous benefactors to a wide scope of charities for a number of years and have now decided to scale up their efforts via The Kusuma Trust. Dr. Soma Pujari is not only a founder of The Kusuma Trust, but is also actively involved in its affairs as a member of the advisory board. She has always believed in a dedicated approach to education and parental support as key catalysts for devlopment. Dr Pujari's strategic vision ensured that the founding principles of support for education and underprivileged children remain at the forefront of The Kusuma Trusts doctrine.

Since 2007, Anurag has been active working with business start ups as well as investing in technology focused companies.