Movers And Shakers Of The Week [September 21-26]

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

This week, hospitality chain OYO’s founder CEO Ritesh Agarwal and Ola cofounder Bhavish Aggarwal discussed the challenges and opportunities companies with a global footprint are going to face in the backdrop of geopolitical issues.

“Geopolitics is a big risk to global companies. Various countries are enacting policies that project companies as diplomatic enablers. However, we are watching the situation closely,” Ritesh Agarwal said in the context of rising tensions between India and China.

However, Ola, co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal sees the geopolitical issues as an opportunity. “Global opportunities are increasing for Indian companies because Indians enjoy more trust and respect overseas,” Aggarwal said. 

Both the founders were speaking at the 47th National Management Convention of All India Management Association (AIMA).

Meanwhile, in a breather for Facebook India’s vice president Ajit Mohan, the Supreme Court on September 23 ordered Delhi assembly’s peace committee not to take coercive action against the social media giant’s top executive in India.

Earlier, the panel had issued the first notice to Facebook India head and sought his presence before it.

The hearing by the Assembly panel started in the backdrop of a Wall Street Journal report that claimed that a senior Facebook India policy executive had intervened in internal communication to stop a permanent ban on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker from Telangana after he allegedly shared communally-charged posts on the social media platform.

 OYO Appoints Tejal Patil

 Hospitality unicorn, OYO Hotels & Homes has appointed Tejal Patil as Senior Legal Advisor for India & South Asia. 

In her new role, Patil will be responsible for leading OYO’s legal function in the region, which includes managing regulatory, contractual and legal compliance for the company, help steer OYO’s strategic initiatives, disputes resolution, and providing senior management with actionable counsel on strategic business decisions and operational execution. She will be reporting into Rohit Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer, India & South Asia, OYO and working in conjunction with Rakesh Prusti, Global General Counsel, OYO Hotels & Homes.

With over 27 years of experience, Tejal joins OYO after a 19-year stint in the global conglomerate, GE (General Electric Company). Her last role was that of the General Counsel of GE South Asia. Her previous experience includes General Counsel, Asia Pacific roles with GE’s healthcare, consumer and industrial and aviation businesses. She has worked in Singapore and Tokyo prior to relocating to Delhi in 2012.  She is a solicitor at both the Bombay Incorporated Law Society and the Law Society of England and Wales. 

 Trell Appoints Sahil Deswal

 Homegrown lifestyle-community-commerce platform Trell has appointed Sahil Deswal as VP of growth and monetisation.

In his new role, he is set to lead the strategy and delivery of growth, marketing and monetisation for the business with a twin focus on scaling both social and commerce.

Previously, Deswal served as VP – global growth & marketing at Unilodgers and head – growth & marketing at Times Internet for news & gaming business.

With over 10 years of experience, Deswal’s expertise spans across the domains of growth, marketing, and product — including performance and brand marketing, consumer behavior, online and offline campaigns, and partnerships, analytics, and market research as well as new media planning. Prior to Times Internet, Sahil has also worked with BigBasket and Mydala.

 Avon Appoints o9 Solutions

 Avon, a direct selling beauty company has appointed o9 Solutions to facilitate Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and Control Tower (S&OE) processes to drive data-driven decision making, run scenarios in real-time and understand financial trade-offs

Avon’s Supply Chain strategy focuses on fuelling growth through service, cost efficiencies and working capital improvement.

The company chose o9 as its partner on its digital transformation journey due to the company’s unique ability to drive horizontal and vertical integration across functions and time horizons.