Coca-Cola crowns Kaustuv Gupta with African strategy assignment

GURUGRAM: From Gurugram to Gauteng, and from fizz to full throttle. Kaustuv Gupta has cracked open a new chapter at The Coca-Cola Co, taking charge as senior director, strategy – Africa operations, one of the beverage giant’s most sprawling and complex theatres.

Gupta’s new remit spans 54 African countries, a portfolio where demographics are young, competition is thirsty and growth is anything but flat. Based in Johannesburg, he will shape strategy for a region that Coca-Cola views as both a proving ground and a long game.

The appointment caps an eight-year run inside Coca-Cola’s strategy engine. Gupta previously led strategy for India and south-west Asia, after steering planning for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Before that, he handled strategy and insights for the India and south-west Asia business unit — the sort of internal apprenticeship that prepares executives for bigger maps and harder calls.

Before Coke, Gupta was part of Zomato’s breakout years, helping scale the business and launching Zomato Gold, the loyalty play that rewired how urban India ate out. Earlier stints include a bruising, boots-on-the-ground role as regional sales manager at Castrol India (BP group) and a brief spell in media planning at Mudra Communications — giving him a rare blend of strategy, sales and media literacy.

An alumnus of MDI Gurgaon, where he was a gold medallist in marketing, and Hindu College, Delhi University, Gupta also moonlights as a guest lecturer, teaching product management and marketing — proof that PowerPoint is not his only export.

Africa is no soft drink. It is fragmented, fast-growing and fiercely local — a continent where strategy has to travel light and execution has to sweat. Coca-Cola clearly believes Gupta has the fizz, the formula and the stamina.

From delivery bikes to bottling plants, from India to Africa, this is one career that refuses to go flat.