Akanksha Batura Pai

Executive Director at Sinoda Shipping Agency Pte Ltd

Speaker

Akanksha is the Executive Director of Sinoda Shipping Agency, the Strategy Head for Raks International and Director of Seamind Blue Ocean. In these roles, she is committed to digitizing the maritime services industry, building the talent pipeline and developing an inclusive and sustainable strategy for the companies. She is serving as the Advisor of Sailor’s Cart and assists in the strategy and implementation of this unique and heartfelt that focusses on delivering happiness to seafarers by creating an Amazon-like personal needs based shopping platform.

She is the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) Goodwill Maritime Ambassador Emerita. She sits on the Council of the Singapore Shipping Association, is a Mission To Seafarers Global Ambassador, WISTA Ambassador, a Maritime SheEO Ambassador and on the YoungShip Singapore Advisory Board. She is also part of the Singapore committees of Nautical Institute, the Mission To Seafarers and leads the Women in Logistics community at the Singapore Logistics Association (SLA). She is a mentor at PIER71 – a maritime accelerator set up in collaboration with NUS Enterprise and Maritime and Port Authority (MPA). She also led Sinoda Shipping to be the first and only FONASBA Member in Singapore; FONASBA has consultative status at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) and the World Customs Organisation (WCO). She consequently sits on FONASBA’s Education & Quality Committee as well. In these capacities she is passionate about contributing meaningfully to the advocacy of the industry, increasing the profile of maritime and drives visibility of women in maritime and logistics. Her work is validated as she led Sinoda to be awarded as the ShipTek Ship Agency of the Year 2025 in the prestigious Shiptek Awards held in Singapore in October 2025.

Beyond professional arenas, Akanksha serves as the Liaison Officer at Consulate-General of Malta to Singapore and facilities cultural and diplomatic bilateral relations. She sits on the NUS Business School Alumni Association Board of Directors and is also the NUS Campus Couples Alumni Group Chairperson.

She holds a BBA Honors , an MSc (Management) and a CEMS MIM from the National University of Singapore (NUS). She’s also an alumna of the NUS University Scholars Programme (USP) and has recently received a Professional Doctorate from the European International University. She has recently completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Maritime Management from the World Maritime University (WMU) and was awarded the Top Student prize.

She has won various awards from her alma maters and the industry that validate her work. Ms. Batura Pai was awarded the CEMS Alumni of the Year 2021, NUS Outstanding Young Alumni 2023, MCC Woman Achiever of the Year 2023, Fame Times International Excellence Award (FTIEA) 2024, Maritime SheEO Leader of The Year 2024 and Shiptek’s Rising Star Award 2025 in Dubai. She was awarded the SeaTrade 20 Under 40 during UAE Maritime Week 2025 and was awarded with the 10 Women to Watch during NorShipping 2025 in Oslo. Most recently she has won the Shiptek Woman Acheiver of the Year 2025 in Singapore. She has been featured in the Marex Media’s “India Maritime Icons 2024” List. She also debuted on the acclaimed Top 100 Women in Shipping list as Number 11 in 2024. And this year in February 2025, she topped the link by being ranked #1 globally in the prestigious Top 100 Women in Shipping list conducted annually by AllAboutShipping.

Akanksha has been most privileged and honoured to deliver the Commencement Address for the NUS Graduating Class of 2025 recently in mid-July 2025.

Akanksha is the daughter of a seafarer and resides in Singapore with her family and has two young daughters who are 4 and 1. In her spare time, she enjoys crocheting, reading, making (and drinking) cocktails and traveling to new countries (she has already hit 72 countries).