Aug 2022 – Apr 2023 · 8 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India · Hybrid

• 1. Built cross-border sourcing from India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Myanmar, UAE/Saudi/Iran/Tunisia/Algeria of fruits & nuts (apples, oranges, pomegranates, dates, raisins) and agro-commodities (onion, garlic, potato, ginger) for wholesale distribution in Bangladesh
• 2. Blitz scaled to a revenue of 6 mn$/mo in 8 months with positive EBITDA; led a team of 100+ across sourcing, logistics & distribution

Jan 2021 – Jul 2022 · 1 yr 6 mos · On-site

• 1. Led User & Market Research to paint a detailed target customer profile. Focused on ethnic wear for housewives who consume live shopping content on Facebook and Instagram.
• 2. Conceptualized the product and co-designed UI/UX. Introduced game changing concepts such as automatic carve out of bite-size product catalogue videos from livestreams to enable async shopping at scale.
• 3. Led a stellar team of 25+ across tech, marketing and supply.
• 4. Led fundraising efforts for the company. Took the decision to close in absence of a strong PMF, and return the committed capital.

Nov 2019 – Dec 2020 · 1 yr 1 mo · Bengaluru Area, India · On-site

• Product + Ops: Streamlined numerous processes across the inquiry-order-delivery-collection cycle and productized them. Set up the operational excellence function & the stellar team behind it.
• Key Projects:
• Revamping and driving 100% adoption of the core supply chain tracking product (ZISO)
• Net Zero Working Capital Days across business verticals (Improvements in OMS)
• Factory Management System (FMS) for Zetwerk's Own Factories
• ERP - Requirements finalization across businesses, product selection, and implementation kick off

Jul 2017 – Nov 2019 · 2 yrs 4 mos · Hyderabad, Telangana, India · On-site

Apr 2016 – Apr 2017 · 1 yr

Aug 2015 – Mar 2016 · 7 mos · Kuwait · On-site

• 1. Led Operational Excellence (OE) initiative at Gulf Trading & Refrigerating Company (FMCG Distribution Business)
• 2. Delivered Annual Savings (achieved 0.66% of Revenue vs target of 0.5%) through OE Projects
• 3. Streamlined processes that impact business performance using tech
• 4. Coached Green, Yellow and White Belts on project execution
• 5. Enabled senior leadership to select high impact OE projects in alignment with business targets

Aug 2014 – Jan 2015 · 5 mos

• Strategic Roadmap for Entry into China Market
• Worked with GIA (Global Intelligence Alliance), Shanghai on conducting feasibility analysis for ITC to approach China Market for sale of Leaf Tobacco
• The Analysis based on primary and secondary research focused on Sourcing Strategy, Purchase Behavior, Purchase Criteria & Decision Process, Supplier Landscape, Customer Needs and Gaps
• Provided recommendations on most viable route to enter Chinese Market and insights into drivers & inhibitors for Chinese domestic leaf tobacco market, Chinese Leaf Tobacco Value Chain, Tobacco Import Approval Process, and Competing Countries
• Customer Segmentation through Growth Opportunity Analysis
• Reviewed the existing segmentation and its alignment with processes in value chain
• Documented the universe of customer needs (or outcome expectations) and conducted surveys for capturing importance and satisfaction levels of different customers with respect to those needs
• Identified ‘Under Served’, ‘Served Right’, and ‘Over Served’ needs for different customers. Provided insights into approaching growth targets with different customers.
• Developed segmentation containing 3 groups (Aligned Partners, Quality Fanatics, Price Fighters) conducive for driving growth and appropriate alignment of value chain

Apr 2013 – May 2015 · 2 yrs 1 mo

• 1. Lean Six Sigma Deployment Leader at Leaf Tobacco Division (Tobacco and Spices Businesses). Was awarded Master Black Belt Certification.
• 2. Promoted on Fast Track Basis: Placed among Top 5% of Management Trainees in the cohort across ITC.
• 3. Founded Process Excellence Function to strengthen the link between strategy and operational processes. Process Excellence addressed the following pillars of organization vitality: Strategic Cost Management, Innovation, Knowledge Management, and Speed.
• a. Launched division wide flagship initiative iPIPs (ILTD Process Improvement Practices) to drive continuous improvement in internal process efficiencies
• b. Led 200 managers in 70 project teams across Procurement, Supply Chain/Logistics, Processing, HR, and Finance of Tobacco and Spices Businesses with recurring bottom line savings of 12 Cr/year
• c. Focus Areas: Product Consistency, Purchase Price Optimization, Yield Improvement, Capacity Enhancement, Manpower Rationalization, Energy Consumption
• 4. Coached and Mentored 15 Black Belts, 35 Green Belts, 80 Yellow Belts, and 70 Lean Belts to internalize Lean Six Sigma in the org culture

Jun 2011 – Mar 2013 · 1 yr 9 mos

• Key Responsibilities
• Led Lean Six Sigma projects in the division
• Apply Lean Six Sigma Tools in solving Business Problems
• Bring a culture change in the way projects are executed and improvement is approached in the division
• Provide expert help to different teams (Quality, Supply Chain, Technical) in the division on statistical front
• Key Projects
• Quality Assurance, Spices Business
• Co-established Quality Assurance Function and deployed uniform metric CMM (Capability and Maturity Model) Index to benchmark risk across the value chain and set targets for continuous improvement
• Achieved BRC (British Retailers Consortium) Certification, world’s most stringent food standard, with Grade ‘A’ for Spices Processing Facility
• Conducted Risk Analysis for the entire value chain and led the implementation of improvement measures to address Cost of Poor Quality of more than Rs 1 Cr.
• PQRS (Product Quality Rating System), CFCs (Corrugated Fiber Containers)
• Designed a robust rating scale in collaboration with Customer Factories and Supply Chain Team for measuring quality of CFCs (packing material for leaf tobacco)
• Conducted due diligence in the development of PQRS Manual, Visual Standards, and Grading Criteria through series of R&R (Repeatability & Reproducibility) experiments across the supply chain: 3 Green Leaf Threshing Factories, 4 Redried Storages, and 8 Cigarette Factories
• Incorporated PQRS into operations; Trained more than 20 officers at different locations
• Production Planning, Spices Business
• Designed algorithm for scheduling manufacturing orders to maximize OTIF (On Time In Full)
• Developed planning tool which enabled central coordination of material movement and greater capacity utilization; made it operational with Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Pre-Processing Teams
• Using the Planning Tool, OTIF improved from 30-40% to as high as 95% in 3 months which led to higher customer satisfaction and greater capacity utilization

May 2010 – Jul 2010 · 2 mos · Indian School of Business, Hyderabad

• Developed an Innovative Voice Application that acts as an information access platform bridging the gap between Opportunity Providers and Seekers
• Application increased the employer outreach from 7% to 45% of Indian population
• Conducted Pilots with Dr. Reddy’s Foundation and GMR group in Hyderabad and designed the roadmap for large scale implementation

Feb 2010 – Apr 2010 · 2 mos · Grenoble Area, France

• Fault Tolerance in Electronic Circuits: Automatic Program Transformations for VHDL