Mumbai: Puma India & Southeast Asia managing director Abhishek Ganguly is all ready to step foot out of the company. As per media reports, he has plans to start his own venture in the larger sportswear space. Ganguly, who will continue to be part of the sports ecosystem, has raised capital for his next venture.
Ganguly, 45, makes this move after a nearly two-decade-long stint with the sportswear retailer. He is set to leave the retailer by the end of August. Karthik Balagopalan is set to take over from Ganguly; Balagopalan is currently the global head of e-commerce and retail for Puma globally.
Ganguly would be exiting along with two other senior Puma employees —Atul Bajaj, who is currently head of sales and operations at Puma India, and Puma India executive director and chief financial officer Amit Prabhu who are joining him in his entrepreneurial venture. Ganguly will be founder and CEO of the new venture, say reports.
Ganguly joined Puma’s India business in 2005 as director, sales and marketing. In 2014, Ganguly was named the company’s India MD. In 2020—the German sportswear maker Puma SE announced the elevation of Ganguly, then the company’s India managing director to general manager of Puma Southeast Asia expanding Ganguly’s role to key growth markets of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore.
The 2020 announcement made Ganguly—an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow—the first India-based manager to get a larger global portfolio.
Under Ganguly, Puma rolled out the retailer’s India-specific shopping app and clinched several large sports and lifestyle endorsement deals including those with cricketer Virat Kohli, boxer Mary Kom, and actors Kareena Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.
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