Movers And Shakers Of The Week [11-16 June 2018]

We bring to you the latest edition of movers and shakers in the Indian startup ecosystem.

This week one of the major exits came from troubled marketplace Snapdeal, where chief investment and strategy officer, Jason Kothari, has called it quits with the company within less than two years at the company.

Jason Kothari is now set to join Ahmedabad-headquartered Infibeam as its president, leading the strategy, corporate development, international operations, and investor relations functions.

Prior to this, Kothari worked for Housing.com and earlier was CEO and Vice-Chairman of character-based entertainment company Valiant Entertainment. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School and has also been an investor.

While this one was a complete shaker for Snapdeal, let’s have a look at other movers and shakers in the Indian startup ecosystem as well.

Mashreq Bank Elevates Santhosh Mahalingam As MD Of Global Services, India

Mashreq Bank, UAE’s leading financial institution, has elevated Santhosh Mahalingam as the Managing Director of Mashreq Global Services in India, Bengaluru. He has been the Head of Retail Operations at Mashreq Bank since 2014.

Santhosh brings with him an experience of more than 22 years in the retail banking industry and his expertise spans over operations, projects, finance, process engineering, digitisation and general management.

Santhosh, a University of Calicut alumni has held several senior positions with Qatar National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank. He has also been the Head of Consumer Operations and Change Delivery at Standard Chartered Scope International. Santhosh has been a consistent champion of digitization for Mashreq Bank heading the digitization of back-office operations.

The company looks to utilize Santhosh’s experience and leadership to fuel its innovation plans in India.

Rubique Appoints Manish Ahuja As CFO

Matchmaking platform, Rubique Technologies India Pvt Ltd has appointed Manish Ahuja, as its Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Rubique, he was working as the CFO at the global information services company Experian.

A chartered accountant and an alumnus of the University of Mumbai, Manish will play a key role in the Rubique’s group level financial strategy and growth opportunities across its various marketplaces.

He will be taking over financial control and reporting along with aiding in the strategic planning, forecasting and legal. He will also oversee strengthening governance process for audits and ensure best that practices are implemented organisation wide.

Manish has a versatile and successful track record of over 15 years across corporate finance, business finance partnering, treasury operations, implementation of financial systems and control framework implementation.

Previously, he has held prominent positions at Quikr India, JPMorgan Chase and ICICI Bank, spearheading several leadership roles such as Finance Head (CFO) and Finance Business Partner in Banking & Financial Services industry.

Conduent Names Elevates Lokesh Prasad To CEO, Asia Pacific Region

New Jersey-based digital interactions company, Conduent Incorporated named Lokesh Prasad as the Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific (APAC).

Prasad joined Conduent in January 2017 as the CEO, Conduent India. Under his leadership, Conduent has grown in the market, starting operations in three new locations – Pune, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta, Lokesh has held prominent leadership roles at UnitedHealth Group and Infosys Technologies. Prasad will now oversee Conduent operations in the Philippines and Malaysia in addition to leading overall growth strategy in India. His new role will strengthen Conduent’s global service delivery model by improving focus on regions that have the right talent for the work.

The company is aiming at greater expertise to develop innovative technologies that would help them manage digital interactions for their clients.

Mobikwik Appoints Vinayak N As The Head-Lending Business

Digital financial services platform, MobiKwik has appointed Vinayak N to head its lending business.

Vinayak has over 15 years of experience with Indian Banking & Financial Services companies. He joins Mobikwik from Fullerton India Credit Company, where he was the Head of Alliances.

Prior to Fullerton, Vinayak has held diverse portfolios in risk and product domains at Bajaj Finance Limited. He has also been the Head of Business and Insurance at Capital First, where he launched the cross-sell business.

An alumnus of Annamalai University Vinayak will be responsible for kick-starting Mobikwik’s lending business. Vinayak’s role at Mobikwik will include designing relevant products to cater to the credit requirements of millions of Indians, forging relevant partnerships, launching the products in the market and ensuring a profitable and sustainable business.

MobiKwik is currently in the process of conceptualising a portfolio of lending solutions, in partnership with leading banking institutions and NBFCs.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Movers And Shakers Of The Week!