Roberto-Venn graduate Ankit Yogi is the third generation family member to carry on the business of exporting rosewood parts for musical instruments, from his homeland India to various guitar makers, guitar making companies, and other musical instrument building companies around the world.

“Our company, Overseas Traders, was started by my grandfather, Jyotindra Yogi in 1975,” Ankit reported.  “He passed on his unique traits of business from one generation to the next.  I have learned and picked up many of the ways of doing the wood business from my father and grandfather.”

“We had always been a supplier of wood for musical instruments and then I had the vision to start learning how to build guitars in order to better understand our clients and also to be a part of that journey of building guitars which is an experience difficult to put into words. I hope to keep the guitar building process ongoing throughout my life.  My experience at the Roberto-Venn school has been really wonderful and it was one of the best teachings that really connected me to what I was doing and wanted to do in terms of my career.”

“I am also very active with the sustainability of the rosewood species in India. I have been actively participating in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild fauna and flora) events in Geneva, Switzerland and also one in Russia. We are also currently conducting a study on Dalbergia Latifolia – East Indian Rosewood specie in India and we will get to know about the population status of this specie in the two main regions in India and also the regeneration status of this specie, this will then help us identify issues regarding the sustainability of this specie for generations to come.”