Speakers 2023

Omnichannel marketer with an experience of 12 + years as a storyteller for brands in the O2O ecosystem. Aamir has been working with GreenHonchos for more than 2 years now spearheading the MarComm division at the company. He also works as Head of the Online Branding department at the company helping the eRetail brands drive their narrative across the online branding channels through an integrated brand-building approach for an increase in the share of voice and share of wallet for clientele.

Abhishek Ganguly is a business leader with a penchant for start-ups and sports. His business acumen coupled with a strong commercial sense makes him a strategist par excellence in the industry.

Abhishek has exposure to multiple consumer products and experience in managing various sales channels — Direct Retail, various wholesale networks and online commerce.

Before co-founding Agilitas Sports, Abhishek established PUMA India and drove its growth from scratch to success, which has been one of the biggest milestones in his  career trajectory spanning over two decades.

Mr. Adish Oswal is the Chairman of Oswal Group and is the third generation family business leader of the multifaceted conglomerate.
He is a dynamic leader with a passion for excellence. He started his career into garment business at a very young age and since 2008 has been playing a pivotal role in guiding the textile business of the Group. He leads from the front and is a driving force behind the group.With the diversification into Real Estate, he embarked on a new vision for the Group with his thrust on “Disruptive Innovation” and “Change Management”.
As an active member of YPO & EO, he is able to broaden his vision and business perspective to lead the Group to newer heights.

With his Bold & Dynamic initiative to give Ludhiana World class Real Estate Projects, Vardhman Amrante has become a true corporate brand to reckon with by delivering marquee projects such as Vardhman Park & Vardhman City Centre an ongoing project.
With a Unique Management Style, Dreams Larger Than Life & High on Self Development & Growth, Adish makes an Exemplary Leader. His spirits are driven by an Ambitious Fire to take the Family Business & Legacy built by his Forefathers to Newer Heights.
Any Recognition: A believer in lifelong learning and personal development before entering the corporate world, he attended various training programs on Managerial Finance, Strategy, Family Business, etc at top institutes like Harvard University, Boston; IIM, Ahmedabad & ISB, Hyderabad.
Times Achievers Punjab Award for Real Estate Vertical

Amit is a digital leader, brand builder, and marketer with more than 15 years of experience across e-commerce & D2C. Amit brings to the table a mix of commercial acumen, analytical rigor, creativity, and an optimization approach to ignite brands and their digital footprint. Amit is passionate about building dynamic teams that push through, bounce back, take complete ownership, displays curiosity with a great sense of humor to Go Big, Perform & Make a difference.

In his current role, Amit leads the Digital Sales & Marketing business at Fossil Group for the Asia Pacific region, which covers P&L ownership, growth, retention, consumer insights, operations, guest experience, brand marketing, and expansions.

Prior to this, Amit worked with globally recognized organizations such as Times Internet, Page Industries & Manyavar – in eCommerce Sales & Marketing, Strategy, Planning, Operations, Guest Experience, Last Mile Delivery & Project Management domains. Outside work, Amit enjoys traveling, coaching, mentoring & guiding e-commerce and digital professionals.

Ankur Damani has over 17 years’ experience in leading International & Indian brands across varied categories from athleisure, sport and fashion to golf, luggage, handbags and cookware in the Indian subcontinent. A seasoned and accomplished professional in the retail industry, he is adept in launching and scaling up consumer brands across channels with a strong exposure to global best practices and international markets.
He completed B. Com (Hons) from St Xavier’s College Kolkata, and subsequently MBA (Marketing) from IMT Ghaziabad.
He was recruited from campus by Reebok where he spent 5 years across retail operations, sales, key account management, developing new business verticals and expanding into new channels and geographies.
He then worked with Callaway Golf as Business Head where he led the Lifestyle and Corporate Sales business, successfully launching the brand in the golf channel, followed by lifestyle retail stores and E-commerce and initiated marketing collaborations with Mercedes, BMW, Hindustan Times, American Express and other leading corporates.
Currently Mr. Damani is the Country Head for the legendary French luxury cookware brand Le Creuset responsible for the Indian subcontinent, a feat that he achieved at a young age of 31 years. He launched the brand in India through FDI in retail, opening retail stores in premium Malls and expanding the brand in wholesale, e-commerce, hospitality, and corporate channels.
Mr. Damani has been a part of the Admissions Panel at IMT Ghaziabad. He has conducted retail training as a guest faculty for MBA colleges, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and part of various industry forums. He has won several accolades and very recently BW 40 Under 40 by Businessworld and Top Retail Minds – CEO award by Asia Africa GCC Retail and Shopping Centre Congress & Awards.

22 + years of experience in fashion retail across esteemed brands like Lacoste, Mothercare and Forever New.
Have been strategically and operationally instrumental in Forever News journey of growth and profitability for the past 4 years- handling high impact functions- Product , Planning, Ecommerce and Customer Care.

How Anubhav Dubey aka the Kulhad man of India, is helping the revival of infamous ‘Kulhad’ industry

“Kulhad” and its significance in India

Kulhad is an earthenware cup used in India since ancient times. It is a traditional vessel made of fired clay and often comes with a handle or lid. The cups are widely used for serving tea, coffee, and other hot beverages. In recent years, they have gained popularity due to their environmental friendliness and sustainability compared to plastic or paper cups. An estimated 1.2 billion clay kulhads are used in India every day. The survey found that out of these 1.2 billion kulhads, 68 percent were used for tea and other beverages, while 32 percent were used as containers for snacks like samosas and pakoras.

The use of plastic cups had replaced the traditional kulhads in India due to a number of reasons. Plastic cups were much more convenient as compared to kulhads which were made from clay. Plastic cups were lightweight, durable, and used without any worry about leakage or breakage. Due to this, the usage of kulhad declined significantly but because of the recent developments, it has come to the trend again and is being revived by various organisations and government bodies in India. The Indian Railways is attempting to make the Kulhad trend again by introducing it as a unique packaging option for tea and other items sold at railway stalls. The use of Kulhads has been implemented in select locations across the country, with the aim of making them popular among travelers once again. Furthermore, railway authorities have been encouraging vendors to switch from plastic or paper cups to Kulhads for serving beverages onboard trains and in stations. These efforts are expected to help revive the traditional practice of using clay cups while helping reduce environmental pollution caused by single-use plastics. Various states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat are running campaigns to encourage people to switch back from plastic cups and mugs to using traditional Kulhads instead.

Birth of Kulhad Man of India

Anubhav Dubey comes from a humble Indian middle-class background, and has seen the struggles of families with limited incomes since childhood. He started his education at Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Rewa and later joined Columbia Convent school in Indore where he met his now business partner and best friend Anand Nayak. Despite their ambition to start their own business, Anubhav’s family hoped he would take up a secure government job so he went to Delhi to prepare for IAS. But fate had some other plans for him and after being contacted by Anand to start their own business, Anubhav decided to take the next train back without knowing it would be life-changing – they reunited and remembered their dream but lacked funds until Anand received Rs 3 lacs from his previous cloth business which he had saved and from this they worked on the idea of selling tea in “Kulhad” cups for serving. This idea came from Anubhav which later became Chai Sutta Bar!, one of India’s most successful startups today and the largest Kulhad-tea chain in India.

Anubhav Dubey has gained recognition for his efforts in reviving the traditional kulhad chai and restoring its former glory, as he helps 400 to 500 potter families by using their Kulhads in the outlets of Chai Sutta Bar. Anubhav’s close look into the lives of potter communities gave him an understanding of the challenges they faced, such as having to wait for festivals like Diwali to sell their products and facing acute crises during other times of the year. This motivated Anubhav to help them, leading him to provide a regular source of income by selling 4.5 Lakh kulhads in Chai Sutta Bar every day. Consequently, potters’ children are now able to attend school and learn the art of pottery without worrying about their future as much as before.

Additionally, other brands have also invested in kulhads due to Chai Sutta Bar’s success, which has greatly improved the economic power of these communities and given them confidence in their future prospects. Anubhav expressed his desire that everyone should be able to experience India through its traditional handicrafts like kulhad in one form or another.

An Interesting fact

While being a successful entrepreneur and the co-founder of the biggest chai chain, he himself doesn’t like to drink tea. In an interview, he shared his journey to becoming the Kulhad Man of India and the impact it has had. He expressed that while personally, he may not prefer chai, many people in India do – a fact that drove him to take action and make a positive difference. His dedication and commitment to connecting with the masses are what made this possible.

Often referred to as a ‘Fashion & Tech Girl”, Anupama is known for breaking stereotypes. She is a speaker, an author, an Engineer from IIT Delhi, and a Postgraduate in Fashion Marketing from NIFT Delhi, and pursues both the streams of fashion and technology with equal zest. After having worked with Levi Strauss for 14 years, she moved out of the corporate world and jumped into entrepreneurship. As the Co-founder at SLICeR, she has built an innovative merchandising & data analytics platform, Kanvas that helps fashion companies see beyond their data and improve profitability & productivity.
A dreamer, a doer, and a connector of people, you will often find her having engaged and authentic conversations. She urges one to see beyond oneself, be unique, live a life filled with purpose, and move forward with enthusiasm.

Ashish is currently working as an Executive Vice President at 1Lattice and heads the Consumer and Retail vertical. 1Lattice is a technology-enabled business research & intelligence services firm that specializes in driving decision from on-ground insights.

Ashish has varied experience of 25+ years in management consulting, strategy and business development in consumer retail and textile sectors. He has been speaking regularly at international and Indian conferences for 15+ years. He has published various industry reports.

Ashish has worked in past with Technopak, Gherzi, Cheil, RIL, Invista. He had 3 years entrepreneurial stint and founded consulting firm Wisedge.

Ashish holds an MBA from Lancaster University, UK and B. Tech in Textiles. Ashish is a keen cricket enthusiast. He practices Buddhist philosophy and does chanting regularly.

He can be reached at [email protected]

B. S. Vishal is the Vice President of one of the legacy brands in South India, Viveks. Formerly known as Vivek & Co has a legacy of 55 years and known for its innovation in Retail of electronic and household appliances.

Viveks has always set trends in the industry to follow suit such as New year Sale, Warehouse Sale, Rush house sale, Black Friday sale, One day sale and many more.

He has shared platforms with many other Retail personalities over the Saga and Success story of Viveks. Now the business is handled by the 3rd Gen of the family who are busy adapting to the latest technologies and requirements to enhance the shopping experience of the customers.

His personal life revolves Executive Member of Loyola Alumni, Loyola College Chennai.

Vishal is a cycling enthusiast and has recently started running too.

Bipul Chandra, 48, born in Bokaro, India is the Managing Director for Ducati in India.

He holds a post graduate degree in Business Administration. His sales and marketing experience in the automobile industry has been built over two and a half decades, working with some of the most revered automobile brands of the country like Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland.

From January 2020, Bipul is the Managing Director of Ducati India and in his current role, he spearheads the business operations and market expansion for Ducati Motor Holding’s India operation.

Qualification: B.E.[Electronics][Appeared]

 

Experience: 1]Running a modern supermarket of 2000 sq.ft for last 20 years with super success

2]Director in OSIA HYPERMART RETAIL LTD having 40HYPERMARKETS 

3] Lecturer at VAMNICOM for subject RETAIL MANEGEMENT

4] Guest lecturer to management colleges.

5] Retail Consultant to major local retailers in major cities in India

 

Strength: A] Decades of experience in grocery business about quality, rates, market practices and fluctuation.

B] Running a supermarket as one of the directors with hyper efficiency – topper in the country in all efficiency parameters. 

C] Aware of intricate details of market practices in all FMCG products including markup structure.

D] Also have detail knowledge of readymade garment business as consultant of readymade garment outlets.

F] Have acquired some expertise in negotiations with vendors.

G] Computer literate with detail knowledge in stock control and accounting methods and ‘MIS’ covering tit bits of retailing.

H] Share knowledge with D-TAIL Consulting as a partner. D-TAIL Consulting provides consulting to all major supermarkets of Mumbai and major cities in INDIA except the top three national retailers.

I] D-TAIL team also teaches retailing in several management institutes.

 

Exposure : 1]Have got retail exposure of fortune retailers in Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

2] Consultant to retailers in UAE, Zambia, Angola and Congo.

3] Closely observed the working of all big stores of India.

4] Associated with Emkay Global, CIMB, AMBIT CAPITAL as Retail Expert and              

    Road shows in Mumbai, Singapore and Hongkong.

Chinu Kala is an entrepreneur, socialite, model and one of the prominent women in the fashion jewellery business in India today.

Her startup Rubans Accessories, founded in 2014, is the fastest-growing fashion jewellery brand in India
A former sales and telemarketing executive and owner of Fonte Fashions India Pvt Ltd., she is passionate about making her fashion jewellery brand affordable and accessible to everyone. At an early stage she recognised her passion to be an entrepreneur and began her entrepreneurial journey with Fonte Corporate Solutions – a company that specialised in corporate merchandising

Chinu has featured in BW magazines “40 Under 40” list for women entrepreneurs, Recognized as “Women Entrepreneurs in the Spotlight’ by Makers India and Recognized as a ‘Woman Entrepreneur to Watch for’ by Yourstory

She’s a frequent speaker at forums and conferences. Chinu has appeared as a panellist on BBC Worlds work life India show and “We the women” Asia by Barkha Dutt

Chinu’s story has been published in the book “All you need is Josh” covering her journey as a female fashion jewellery entrepreneur and insight into a successful startup.

When not at work, chinu is an avid globe-trotter and a health and fitness enthusiast, who also likes to spend her spare time with her family

Dedicated and results-driven professional with over 27 years of experience. As the Chief Operating Officer at Kama Ayurveda, he leads the company’s operations encompassing Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Research and Development, Quality, Customer Care, Retail Expansion, and Projects. He oversees the specific profit and loss of a growing business vertical and also collaborates with the CEO in managing the overall profit and loss of the company. In the previous role as a Director with the Ministry of External Affairs, he gained extensive diplomatic exposure and managed projects in over 20 countries across continents. These primarily involved acquisition, construction, and leasing, as well as leading the planning, contracting, and execution of infrastructure projects of international standards, with budgets exceeding Rs. 500 crore. As a former combat engineer regiment commander in the army, he has served successfully for 20 plus years, including exposure with the United Nations. He also led a team of 30 senior managers and 1000 plus resources, overseeing and executing infrastructure projects both in New Delhi and high-altitude remote areas.

Devang Sampat is CEO at Cinépolis India & has been with the company since its inception, 15 years ago. In his leadership role, Devang focuses on Indianizing Cinépolis’s international strategies & driving development plans for the Indian environment. He has been an integral part of the team, responsible for Cinepolis’s success by leading the national expansion & consistently serving the best customer experience through new & innovative offerings to consumers.

Devang has been instrumental in growing the multiplex segment in India in the last 20 years & understands the growing demands of Indian consumers & impact on the retail industry like no other. 

Devang holds an MBA degree from ITM Mumbai & is a graduate of Mithibai college, Mumbai University.

Dhimant is an alumnus of INSEAD with over 29 years of experience in Retail and Entertainment businesses. He has worked with Organizations such as Shoppers’ Stop, Future Group, Reliance Retail and Globus.

Currently he is CEO and CMO of Imagicaa. He joined Imagicaa part of the Set up team and has been responsible for Thematic and IP led Retail Business. He grew through the ranks over 10 years in Imagicaa and recently turned around the business through garnering investors and carrying out a successful debt resolution with the Lenders; in the journey of value creation.

His interests are Education, Travelling and Sports.

Dhiren Kanwar is an F&B industry leader with over 32 years of experience. Currently, As the CEO, for Switz International, part of the $480M Switz group, he heads the frozen bakery business for the region. Also as an angel investor and advisor to various start-ups, he specializes in helping form market-entry strategy and driving innovation for start-ups and early growth companies through his accelerator, Zaad Ventures.
In the recent past, he headed the India and Middle East business and President and MD for Griffith Foods, the respected global food ingredients giant and was a member of the Global Executive Committee.
Dhiren began his career as an award-winning chef at ITC hotels, and later, Taj Hotels. Spotting an early opportunity in the industry, he dove in as an entrepreneur, founding and successfully exiting a pioneering venture focussed on a commissary business, a chain of cafes, an event company and more.

He has since served in multiple corporate engagements, including heading the F&B investment advisory business at Future Capital, now Everstone Capital. He contributed to the market entry strategy for brands like Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin Donuts, Subway, Barista, Café Coffee Day, Blue foods and Inox.

At Puratos, the Belgian ingredient major, Dhiren drove the establishment of the India/South Asia operations for the second-largest manufacturer of bakery ingredients worldwide. He set up the production and R&D centre, defined the sales strategy and implemented the network, achieving triple digit growth over multiple years.

As President of the All-India Ingredient Manufacturers association, he has led several delegations to represent the industry with the India government and contributes in policy making for food regulatory affairs.
He is an avid cyclist and runs marathons to burn the calories he gathers on his food travels.

She started the company single handedly by identifying manufacturers to fabric suppliers and made her first few samples in the basement of a factory in Gurgaon. Prior to SALT Attire, Dipti worked as a Consultant working on Financial Risk in New York. She has also worked with HSBC as a software developer for their OTC Derivatives Platform. Dipti has completed her Engineering from Pune University and has a Master’s in Operations Research & Financial Engineering from Columbia University, New York.

ABOUT MYSELF :

A Dynamic Professional with Rich Experience in Business Development Expansions portfolio, Retail Strategist & New Store Roll Out in Top malls & High Street markets with over 2 decades of Successful Journey in Retail Industry in BD portfolio across all retail Models, Formats & Sizes – COCO, FOFO, FOCO Pan India having opened 4000 offline-stores / Retail footprints. Created benchmark in Retail Industry, recognized among Top 30 BD’S in the Country.

RETAIL CATALYST :

RETAIL LEASING / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTBRANDS EXPANSIONSPECIALIST – Top Line Expansion Pan India Successfully Opened 4000 Retail Footprints across all formats in retail in Pan India Capacity in my past 20 years of Retail BD Journey across all top Malls / Top High End High Street Locations.

Career Achievements : 

1. One of the known Top 30 BDs of the Country for Retail Expansion.
2. 100% Successful stores opened which are still operational as on today beside 20% might have closed.
3.Awarded the Best BD Expansion professional by Many Brands I have worked as consistent best stores in terms of Locations & Rentals.

Special Projects handled:

I am Being Part of Many Premium Developers in my past old days during associated with DLF – DT, MEG & GRAND Mall Leasing in MG – Road Gurgaon, K-Raheja – For In orbit Malad Mall -Mumbai Projects and have delivered 100 % Retail Leasing as per Zoning Matrix. Post that I was with Many Top Brands Like Bata India, NumeroUno Jeans, Alok Retail, Voylla Fashions, Hind ware – Evok Home & Décor, Limeroad.com on their Expansion projects as Head Business Development Pan India with 100% achievement of the premium stores across Nation.

Gerard (Jerry) is an E-Commerce & Omnichannel expert with 18+ years of offline retail &
technology experience. He specializes in enabling businesses to achieve goals by aligning
people, policies and tech stacks. Jerry has worked with majors such as Arvind, Aditya Birla
Group, Hinduja Group & ITC.

Hariharan Iyer a hands-on technologist, speaker, writer, and futurist who helps disseminating future technology trends that assist individuals, forums, organizations, and industries to have an effective strategic plan to future and protect themselves today. Having developed, owned & monetized more than 17 IPs in the field of AI, ML, DL, IOT, AM, Alternative energy propulsion & harvesting systems, he has a vast varied experience of real-world innovation from idea to industrialization.
He has been in leadership profiles for the past 24 years and currently leads Raymond enterprise as their Group CIO. He is a marked outdoorsman, a survival specialist, an Everester, licensed PPL pilot, and a DIY tinkerer who loves to takes a daily risk and enjoy each day as an adventure.
That sums him up….a nonconformist adventurer of life.