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Category: People

  • Prasuma strengthens its leadership ranks, promotes Lisa Suwal to CEO

    Prasuma strengthens its leadership ranks, promotes Lisa Suwal to CEO

    Mumbai: Momo brand Prasuma has announced the promotion of Lisa Suwal from chief growth officer to chief executive officer. At the helm of the company, Lisa will now oversee the fast-growing brand’s top-line, bottom-line, profitability, and overall management. 

    The daughter of Prasuma’s founder Mehendra Suwal, Lisa will also ensure that the company’s mission and vision are thoroughly implemented across its operations. 

    Having been the driving force behind the launch and resounding success of Prasuma Momos, she brings a wealth of FMCG, e-commerce, dynamic brand building experience, strategic insight, and passion to the CEO position. With strong people management skills and the ability to bring ideas to fruition, Lisa has been viewed as the right person to take the brand’s legacy forward.

    “I am thrilled and proud to pass on the mantle of my beloved business to the most capable person I could think of. Coincidentally, she happens to be my daughter,” commented Prasuma founder Mahendra Suwal. “The time is right, the business is on the verge of being ripe. I wish her nothing but the best and am sure that with her leadership this business will reach heights that it has never seen before.”

    This year, her first as CEO, Lisa looks forward to driving sales and distribution for the brand by onboarding more retail channels and partners while also unlocking strategic product diversification. In the next five years, she envisions Prasuma becoming a global food brand, bringing joy and nourishment to families, enriching lives with extraordinary food, said the statement.

    “Creating categories and launching first to market innovations have been the hallmark of our business. We were (Prasuma) the first ones to bring fresh and chilled deli meats to India and I am proud to have been able to contribute to that tradition with the launch of India’s first and most loved frozen momo Blbrand,” said Lisa Suwal. “I am grateful for this opportunity as I know how valuable it is given the value that I know we will create. I look forward to the journey ahead, more mouthwatering, high quality products, more consumers, and definitely more consumer love. This is just the beginning!”

    Launched in 2019, Prasuma Momos has an omnichannel model with distribution across 70 cities. In 2021, on the back of growing consumer demand, the brand’s distribution footprint almost tripled, increasing from 40 to 70 cities. Its retail presence went from 1000 to 5000 stores over the past year. Prasuma is available in all top modern retail chains as well as e-commerce platforms.

  • Melorra appoints Kushal Singh as head of marketing

    Melorra appoints Kushal Singh as head of marketing

    Mumbai: Melorra, a homegrown D2C brands designing BIS hallmarked and trendy fine jewellery has announced the appointment of Kushal Singh as head of marketing. Prior to this, Singh was with Domino’s India as vice president – marketing.

    In this new role, Singh will be responsible for leading the brand, marketing and growth strategy for Melorra, said the statement. “He will also help in strengthening brand communication and building capabilities that help scale Melorra’s omnichannel play,” it added.

    Singh’s vast experience with companies such as Carlsberg, Domino’s and ITC will enable him to design and execute integrated marketing programmes that are in sync with the times – something that Melorra is already focusing on.

    “Growing at 200 per cent CAGR, Melorra is one of India’s fastest growing D2C brands. With over 15500 plus designs we have the largest range of trendy fine jewellery available online globally and have become synonymous with the style statement of millennial women,” stated Melorra founder and CEO Saroja Yeramilli. “We witnessed a surge in demand even during the pandemic. As we now enter global markets, we are happy to onboard Kushal Singh to spearhead our marketing efforts. He understands the pulse of our target audience and has incredible credentials of working with renowned brands.”

    “I have always cherished working with brands that endeavour to fulfil customer expectations and market gaps through high-quality products. Melorra has grown rapidly to become one of the most loved lightweight and trendy fine jewellery brands among modern Indian women,” said Kushal Singh. “The international appeal of the designs and the out-of-the-box and highly impactful operational strategies at Melorra have been setting trends in the market. I am glad to be leading Melorra’s marketing efforts and look forward to leveraging my expertise in technology-driven brand growth.”

    Before coming on board at Melorra, Singh has worked with brands like Carlsberg Group, and ITC in various capacities. He has a BE in electronics and communication from Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology and a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

  • Carat India onboards Aruni Panda as VP – digital

    Carat India onboards Aruni Panda as VP – digital

    Mumbai: Carat India, from the house of dentsu India, has strengthened its leadership team for North and East. The agency has appointed Aruni Panda to lead these regions as vice president – digital.

    In his new role, Panda will lead strategic thinking and oversee agency clients on the digital front, reporting into Carat India CEO Anita Kotwani. He will work closely with the office head of the regions – Carat India executive vice president – planning Dipika Bhasin.  

    Panda brings over 15 years of experience and is an ardent practitioner of ad-tech tools, programmatic media planning & buying, social media & content marketing, digital customer experiences management, customer acquisition and web analytics. Prior to this, he was with GTB (part of WPP’s network of companies) where he held the position of AVP and senior digital media director, handling digital media planning, buying and execution.

    In his previous roles, Panda has been instrumental in helping brands and organisations develop digital marketing ecosystems by an outcome-led planning approach for the brand and the business. He has worked with brands like PepsiCo India and Ford India, to name a few across categories like FMCG, automotive, real estate, entertainment & sports, ISP & connectivity solutions, and IT-enabled executive education & training. Panda has re-positioned businesses as digital-first by setting up business-aligned digital ecosystems. He has also implemented and integrated seamless interplay between ad-tech and mar-tech stacks.  

    “With the changing dynamics of the media eco-system and a strong focus on digital across the clients of Carat, we felt it to be imperative to bring in a seasoned professional like Aruni to lead the digital mandate. His expertise across the full-funnel marketing will be an advantage that we would like to leverage across our existing and new client fold,” said Anita Kotwani, commenting on the appointment.

    Dipika Bhasin added, “Aruni’s experience will charter current and new growth with our partners. He will hold a strong commitment to driving Carat’s digital practice and the integrated media offerings of dentsu India. We are extremely happy to have him as part of the team!”

    “I am elated to embark upon this new journey with Carat India, an agency already known for its integrated approach backed by cutting-edge data tech and tools. It is critical to map, plan and build the right digital approach in this ever-evolving digital space for our clients to thrive into the future. I am looking forward to being a part of Carat’s growth story under Anita’s leadership and partnering with clients in their digital endeavour with the combination of media, data, commerce and technology,” commented Aruni Panda.

  • Pickrr brings in Vineet Budhiraja as SVP – operations

    Pickrr brings in Vineet Budhiraja as SVP – operations

    Mumbai: Pickrr, a SaaS-based logistics start-up has announced the appointment of Vineet Budhiraja as senior vice president, operations. 

    In this role, Budhiraja will supervise the company’s overall operations, curate growth-centric strategies for client onboarding, maintain customer success, and drive the force for the company’s holistic growth, said the statement.

    With over 13 years of robust experience in the industry, Budhiraja comes with in-depth expertise in operations, product management, and customer experience. He has amassed knowledge of the logistics sector, e-commerce, B2B & D2C marketplace.

    “Vineet joins us at a time when Pickrr has already set foot on the growth accelerator, and with his help, we believe Pickrr will achieve more significant milestones and solve more problems for sellers in the D2C industry,” said Pickrr co-founder and CEO Gaurav Mangla.

    Budhiraja holds an MBA from the prestigious SJMSOM- IIT Bombay and a B-Tech degree from NIT Kurukshetra. With the experience of working with top industry players, he has a clear outlook on the role of tech-driven logistics and innovative operation strategies. Prior to joining Pickrr, he was the SVP of Lime Road and has also worked with Snapdeal and Amazon.

    “Joining a team of like-minded people committed to innovation is an excellent opportunity for me to keep growing,” said Vineet Budhiraja. “I hope to add significant value to Pickrr’s inspiring journey towards revolutionising the tech-driven logistic sector by up-scaling the company operations.”

  • Madhur Acharya joins Lenskart as VP of e-commerce

    Madhur Acharya joins Lenskart as VP of e-commerce

    Mumbai: Wow Skin Science’s former executive Madhur Acharya has joined Lenskart as vice president of e-commerce. 

    Acharya quit the personal care brand as vice president of marketing after a three-year stint. He announced the move in a LinkedIn post.

    “Super stoked to announce my next stint as I join, Lenskart.com the brand that revolutionised the eyewear category in India. Elated to join this community of change-makers as I look forward to building and taking the brand’s vision to various marketplaces in India & International. Special thanks to India’s favourite Shark Peyush Bansal for this opportunity and not just inspiring me and millions of India’s youth, but also actively helping them achieve their dreams,” Acharya said in the post.

    Acharya joined Wow Skin Science in August 2019 as a senior business development manager, he was made its head of marketing in December 2020 and as its VP of marketing in July 2021.

    In his 12-year career, he has worked at places like Forest Essentials, Cobrapost, Postergully, Freecultr, iEntergizer, and Justdial.

  • Kaizzen appoints Soumya Dev as chief strategy officer

    Kaizzen appoints Soumya Dev as chief strategy officer

    Mumbai: PR agency Kaizzen has further strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Soumya Dev as Chief Strategy Officer. 

    In this role, Dev will be working closely with Kaizzen founder and CEO Vineet Handa in driving the organisational strategy for the company, including new service offerings, footprint expansion, acquisitions and partnerships.

    Dev brings with him close to two decades of experience in the full mix of communications, spanning digital marketing, content marketing, public relations and multimedia production. He is a seasoned communications professional, having worked at Fortune 500 corporates in international roles as well as at best-of-breed communications agencies in India. Most recently, Dev was leading the digital mandate for PepsiCo’s Asia, Middle-East and North Africa operations.

    “Soumya is highly experienced and is credited for driving successful campaigns at the intersection of technology, data-science and compelling storytelling. Having him on board further strengthens our aspirations to transform Kaizzen into a knowledge-based and data-led communications consultancy,” said Vineet Handa. “We are investing significantly to add highly specialised expertise into our client offerings such as insights, integrated communications and advocacy, as well as toward expanding our domestic and international market footprint.” 

    “I am excited to join Kaizzen at a very exciting juncture of its growth journey. Kaizzen has a tremendous talent pool and a host of successful client relationships across sectors. It presents exciting possibilities to bring value to our clients and in driving the growth story of the company,” said Soumya Dev.

  • Anuj Jain named as Kansai Nerolac Paints MD

    Anuj Jain named as Kansai Nerolac Paints MD

    Mumbai: Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd (KNPL) has announced the appointment of Anuj Jain as the managing director, effective from 1 April. Jain succeeds H M Bharuka, who will be superannuating on 31 March.

    Jain joined KNPL in 1990 as a management trainee. In his tenure of over 30 years at the company, he has worked in various capacities across various functions and brings a wealth of experience. He has been on the board of KNPL in the capacity of executive director since 2018. 

    “I am deeply grateful to the board and Kansai Paints, Japan for giving me an opportunity to not just be a part but lead this esteemed organisation,” said Anuj Jain. “I look forward to continuing the rich history of this company and build on the legacy of Mr Bharuka to take the company to greater heights.

    Bharuka joined KNPL in 1985, becoming its managing director in April 2001. He featured amongst India’s Top 50 CEOs and was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Indian Chemical Industry. He served as the first non-Japanese director on the board of Kansai Paints, Japan. He is also credited for leading KNPL’s expansion into the Indian subcontinent.

    “Bharuka was known for his visionary and bold leadership style which led to many firsts in the Indian paint industry. Under his leadership, KNPL won numerous accolades in a variety of areas notably the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance, Best Managed Company by Business Today, Great Place to Work by GPTW and recognition as an ESG leader in India by CRISIL,” said the company in a statement. 

  • CupShup promotes Nikshit Patani to VP – growth

    CupShup promotes Nikshit Patani to VP – growth

    Mumbai: CupShup, a full-service agency has promoted Nikshit Patani to the position of VP – growth. He has been associated with CupShup for over five years at different levels.

    In his new role, Patani will be reporting to Cupshup co-founder Sourav Kumar and will be accountable for the overall growth of the agency and will be responsible for client relationship, retention programming, planning expansion strategy and more importantly people & process building across the organisation, said the statement.

    “We are happy to have Nikshit in this new role. He deserves every bit of it, his passion and enthusiasm were palpable at the first meeting and is still intact till today,” said Sourav Kumar. “His vast experience of working across different ecosystems and his agency acumen will bring in better efficiency and add to the creative talent we have in the team.”

    Patani joined CupShup in the year 2017 as an operations manager. He rose through the ranks strengthening operations, client servicing and account management.

    He has expertise in BTL activations and offline advertising for 100+ brands and worked for industries that include FMCG, BFSI, fintech startups, consumer tech, ed-tech, med-tech and many more.

    “I am thankful for Sourav’s trust in my abilities and vision,” said Nikshit Patani. “The journey has been phenomenal from an Ops Manager to now VP growth – CupShup has played a key role in my career graph, and I look forward to adding more to their growth as a company.”

  • Upstox onboards Harish Narayanan as chief growth officer

    Upstox onboards Harish Narayanan as chief growth officer

    Mumbai: Investment platform Upstox has announced the addition of three senior executives to its leadership team. The company has appointed former Myntra CMO Harish Narayanan as chief growth officer, Saurabh Agarwal as vice president – new initiatives, and Jayant Chauhan as senior vice president – finance.

    “It gives us great pleasure to welcome Harish, Saurabh, and Jayant to Upstox’s leadership team,” said Upstox co-founder and CEO Ravi Kumar. “They bring with them immense experience and expertise. I’m confident that with them onboard, we will succeed in our endeavor to take Upstox’s products and services to the next level and fulfill our drive of encouraging equity participation across the nation.”

    Harish Narayanan will be responsible for driving full-funnel business growth, marketing, operational excellence, and strategic collaborations. Prior to joining Upstox, Narayanan served as the chief marketing officer at Myntra for almost three years before stepping down from the e-commerce marketplace in November 2021. He was responsible for all aspects of marketing and was also leading the brand solutions and creative teams as part of his responsibilities at Myntra.

  • Mathangi Sri joins CredAvenue as chief data officer

    Mathangi Sri joins CredAvenue as chief data officer

    Mumbai: CredAvenue, a debt product suite and marketplace has announced the appointment of Mathangi Sri as its chief data officer. 

    She joins CredAvenue from Gojek, an integrated technology group based in Southeast Asia, where she served as the head of data organisation for GoFood – Gojek’s food business. She has rich experience building high-impact, data science solutions and products at scale across large enterprises and high-velocity start-ups.

    “Mathangi’s exceptional experience in data science will help us shape CredAvenue’s journey towards becoming a more futuristic company. We plan to invest significantly in our data platform and empower our customers to manage their transactions actively,” said CredAvenue founder and CEO Gaurav Kumar. “Data is at the core of every operation at CredAvenue, and with an agile data science team under Mathangi’s leadership, we will ensure a rapid expansion in our product portfolio through the intelligent, data-oriented decision making and building deeper integration among our multiple sub-platforms.”

    As a data leader, Sri has generated substantial intellectual property by publishing 20 global patents in the area of data science and machine learning. She has headed data science functions of several reputed companies such as PhonePe, Citibank and 7.ai.  As one of the top 50 AI leaders in the country, Sri has also been recognised as ‘The Phenomenal SHE’ by Indian National Bar Association in 2019 and as ‘AI Changemaker Leader’ by 3AI Association in 2022.

    “I am very excited to be part of CredAvenue’s journey to transform the Indian fintech space,” stated Mathangi Sri. “Data science and AI will positively disrupt India’s lending and investment space while also helping the elimination of information asymmetry. I am particularly looking forward to working with an energetic and enthusiastic team at CredAvenue and being part of building the largest lending marketplace with such a fast-growing company.”