Shabana Badami is a renowned executive in the Asia Pacific region who has held leadership positions at some of the most significant technology companies in the world. Currently the Head of Performance Solutions at Google Asia Pacific in Singapore, Shabana also worked for Oracle and Google India for years, and has in all of her positions helped the largest clients of these tech juggernauts stay abreast of new tech, leading AI implementation across their marketing and advertising efforts.
While she’s always on the lookout for new opportunities and places where she can make a difference, Shabana is also working to give back to others in the industry, especially women in tech. Because of that, she’s begun advising two promising startups serving different sectors.
“I consider myself a champion of women-led ventures,” says Shabana. “I’m proud to mentor women-led startups across Asia, to which I provide end-to-end strategic support, helping founders to harness the power of AI and digital platforms for the greatest possible impact.”
A tale of two ventures
Two fledgling firms that she has taken under her wing are Toshitaa Transformation and Pinakyne.AI. Toshitaa, based in New Delhi, India, is the brainchild of Sonal Bandukar, an Indian entrepreneur. Toshitaa is a pioneering digital platform dedicated to empowering women in health, wealth, and relationships. Toshitaa also promotes female hygiene education and deals with related products.
“With Toshitaa, I advised on scaling a healthcare initiative for women through digital transformation,” remarks Shabana. She adds that her guidance supported the brand’s online transition, content optimization, and targeted digital marketing efforts. “This resulted in increased visibility,” says Shabana. “It also expanded their impact in underserved communities.”
Pinakyne.AI is a completely different kind of company. Based in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, it offers AI agents that orchestrate debt collections for financial institutions, streamlining processes, and accelerating revenue recovery. Its female cofounders, CEO Aditi Chatterji and Bhavna Taneja, met over coffee. They enlisted Shabana to help them build their company concept. “I’ve offered Bhavna and Aditi strategic input on AI product-market fit, technical validation, and business model refinement,” Shabana remarks. “My role has included helping the team build traction in the financial services domain while sharpening their go-to-market and scaling strategies.”
In addition to these specific mentorship roles, Shabana is working to help foster diverse talent in tech across Asia. She has served as a jury member for the Women of the Future Awards in Southeast Asia and speaks regularly at different women in technology forums. She’s been a champion of diversity and inclusion initiatives at Google, leading programs like Belonging@Google as well as the global Chikara women’s leadership program.
Two plus decades at the forefront
One of the reasons that Shabana is so eager to give back is that she has earned her stripes. She also entered the industry more than 25 years ago, at a time when it was arguably more difficult for women to climb the corporate ladder, perhaps more so in the Asia Pacific region.
Originally she studied Commerce and Economics, earning a Master’s in Business Administration and then later a postgraduate degree in management studies from the University of Mumbai. Upon graduating, she jumped headfirst into the industry. In her decades in the business, she held positions at Oracle, Google India, ICICI Prudential and now at Google Asia Pacific. While each position differed in responsibilities, Shabana showcased her knack for adopting new technologies and leveraging them across organizations, most recently bringing AI and Cloud-based solutions into her toolkit.
At Google Asia Pacific alone, where she has worked since 2018, she has worked to embed generative AI into digital marketing, advertising, and commerce, while supporting uptake of AI across the company. She has also led strategic engagements that have combined Google’s AI capabilities with business goals to drive performance marketing transformation across the Asia Pacific region.
“I have spent over two decades at the forefront of the critical technology and digital transformation sector, with a focus on AI-powered marketing, enterprise technology, and cloud-based solutions,” says Shabana. “My work has placed me at the epicenter of innovation, market expansion, and revenue growth in Asia’s most dynamic markets.”
She has also learned how to build competent teams in her time at all of these companies. She has been among Google’s top hiring contributors and has conducted more than 115 interviews in her time there.
Nurturing the next generation
Given all of her experience, Shabana continues to seek out new ways to foster new talent and help the industry to develop. She serves for example as a regional council member for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) SEA & India, where she contributes to shaping digital policy frameworks and fostering innovation. She also gives talks at flagship industry events such as Google Marketing Live and other high profile economic forums.
She considers supporting women-led startups and emerging leaders to be among her core responsibilities, not just at Google, but in general. “I like to focus on leadership development, helping founders,” says Shabama. She also helps to put in place resilient teams and prepare her collaborators for engaging investors.
“Through this work, I remain committed to fostering a new wave of inclusive, purpose-driven AI leadership across the region,” Shabana says.
