Media Release

Abu Dhabi, Feb 28: Yogish Prabhu K has been elected the new president of Abu Dhabi’s prestigious India Social and Cultural Centre (ISC), and will serve for the period 2020-2021. ISC’s annual general body meeting and election for 2020 were held on Thursday, February 27 and the results of the keenly contested election were announced during the early hours of Friday, February 28.

A compassionate leader and a dynamic personality, Prabhu belongs to a well-known Gouda Saraswat Brahmin family of KV Prabhu Coconut Oil Mill in Karkala in Udupi district of Karnataka. He is the eldest son of the late Rtn Krishna Prabhu and Rtn Bharati Prabhu. His father and grandfather were freedom fighters who left a profound impression on him and their motto 'Serving people is like worshipping God' (Jana seveye Janardhana seve) has inspired and guided his life throughout. Hailing from a humble background, he has never shied away from setting and achieving challenging goals.

Prabhu has been a privileged member of ISC since 2003 and has been actively involved in ISC activities throughout. His relationship with ISC spans over two decades during which he has immensely contributed in many ways to ISC and the Indian community at large. A banker by profession, Yogish Prabhu is currently working as vice-president, group finance and treasury, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).

With some new initiatives in his mind, Prabhu wants to creatively improve the quality of ISC’s services, its humanitarian impact as well as the diversity of its membership.

His intentions are always to help everyone irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language or status. As a newly elected president of ISC, Prabhu’s main objective is to strategically plan and implement his vision through his ABC five year plan:

A - Accountability and transparency,
B - Build a sound financial plan and
C - Compassion and affection for the needy so that ISC is recognized not just in UAE, but worldwide as a mascot of the great Indian community.

Prabhu believes that "As individuals, we can do only so much but with the support of the elected ISC Committee members and when all the ISC members come together, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and in the process, we can truly transform the ISC."

He proudly says, "I have a strong treasury management experience in ISC as well as in the bank which we need now more than ever."

With his dynamic leadership, sheer dedication and ambition, ISC will definitely scale new heights of glory and prestige in Abu Dhabi and beyond. His humble nature, leadership qualities coupled with his rich administrative experience will surely help boost ISC’s popularity and meet its challenging goals and can serve people in a better way and contribute to the Indian community at large.

Yogish Prabhu has been married for 28 years. His wife Chethana Prabhu from Kasaragod has been equally active in ISC and continuously supporting and participating in various sports, entertainment and literary committees throughout these years. She became ISC Women’s Forum convener in 2016-2017. Their daughter, Aarti Prabhu is an IT engineer from NITK Suratkal, working in Bengaluru. Their son, Ajith Prabhu obtained his masters in mechanical engineering and management in industrial design from Queens University, Belfast in Northern Ireland, UK and is at present doing his internship there. Both Aarti and Ajith are alumni of Abu Dhabi Indian School and both have represented their school in national-level CBSE badminton meet. Also, Aarti was a gold medalist in the school for scoring 100 in mathematics in SSLC.

Following are a few of Yogish Prabhu's contributions and achievements:

• Hon assistant treasurer of ISC for consecutive years from 2005 till 2007
• Hon treasurer of ISC in 2011.
• Member of Finance Committee of ISC new infrastructure and premises from approval till completion.
• In 2016, initiated the participation of ISC members as officials for International Yoga Day organized by Indian Embassy
• In 2017, initiated the participation of children as officials to help the organizers so that children could learn their social responsibility and become good citizens.
• In 2012, initiated ladies throwball tournament in ISC and now it is extended to men too.
• Member of IPEF since its inception in 2014. Also served as its governing board member in the same year.
• Founder member of ‘UAE GSB group’ since its formation in 2004
• Committee member of ‘Gandhi Sahitya Vedi’ Abu Dhabi, treasurer of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha
• Head of finance and member of other committees of ‘World Tulu Convention’ held in Dubai - 2018

The election was held for other posts too. The other office-bearers elected to the present committee are:

Vice-president: George Varghese
General secretary: Jojo J Ambooken
Asst general secretary: C George Varghese
Treasurer: Shijil Kumar N K
Entertainment secretary: Jayapradeep K P
Literary secretary: Elias Padavetty
Sports secretary: Freddi J. Fernandes
Secretary southern region: Raja Srinivasa Rao Aita
Auditor: G N Sasikumar