Achievements:

Chief Executive Officer & Director - A Little World
Managing Director & CEO at Kerala Ayurveda Limited
Chief Officer, Customer Acquisition at Bharti Airtel Limited where he was responsible for launching the Lifetime Prepaid product

Interview:

What has been your career path post IIM Lucknow?

Asian Paints is where I landed straight from campus, where 7 years of competitive learning and a large extended family like relationship was experienced. There could not have been a better foundation to the long journey ahead with stints in Field Sales, Branch Operations, and Marketing, teaching me the basics of business in the India beyond the large cities.

Making a strategic shift in my career, I decided to learn and understand the power and value of a “ Brand” and hence switched to a MNC where “Brand “ drove the core of building value of the business. The next 5 years were in Shell and ICI Paints , where as Marketing Manager, one drove the value of powerful brands like “Dulux” with a slew of launches across India backed by innovative new “customer solutions” aimed at the end user starved for services.

Then post a 4 year stint in building the “Lubricant Business” for Caltex (now Chevron), came the most decisive shift by joining the “telecom sector”. With a stint of over 5 years in key roles as Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Officer – Customer Acquisition in Airtel, building scale and managing a 100% growth year on year easily proved to be among the most exciting times.

Post a 2 year stint as MD & CEO in a listed entity with operations in India & the US, where I got focused on P&L and building shareholder value, I moved to my current role at A Little World.

What do you think has been IIML’s contribution to your success?

The Institute’s Director, Prof Ishwar Dayal, taught me to strive for excellence in the face of very stiff challenges. Also being the 1st Batch of the Institute, we lived through the pleasures and pains of a start up organization. That learning has stood me in very good stead, while working in a “start up phase” for an organization.

Read the complete interview here