Movers And Shakers Of The Week [Nov 18-23]

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

While young graduates are finding it difficult to get jobs, Gurugram-based proptech startup Square Yards has planned to hire around 1,500 fresh graduates from over 100 college and university campuses this year to lead the next leg of growth for the company. Square Yards says has added multiple layers to the candidate screening process to keep it high on engagement while at the same time, helping it identify the right talent across the country.

Here’s a look at the other important movers and shakers of the week

Ola Appoints Hemant Kaul To Ola Money’s Board of Directors

Cab-aggregator major, Ola has appointed Hemant Kaul to the Board of Directors of its financial services arm, Ola Financial Services (OlaMoney). Previously, Kaul was part of the initial startup team of Axis Bank, previously known as UTI Bank. He was instrumental in setting up the retail banking function at Axis Bank. He was an executive director at Axis Bank until 2009.

Thereafter, he was the MD and CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance until 2012. Hemant is a veteran in India’s financial services space with over four decades of experience. At his new role in Ola, kaul will work closely with the company’s founder Bhavish Agarwal, Nitin Gupta, CEO of Ola Money and the OlaMoney team and build innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of consumers.

Uber’s Chief Product Officer Manik Gupta Takes An Exit

US-based cab aggregator giant, Uber has witnessed an exit of its chief product officer, Manik Gupta from the company. Gupta had joined Uber in 2015 where his journey at the company started with leading the Maps and then Marketplace teams.

As chief product officer, Gupta helped Uber in building many products across the whole stack, from backend platforms to frontend consumer experiences. After quitting Uber, Gupta plans to take a break and will take some time before he starts again exploring jobs for himself.

OYO Hotels & Homes Announces Appointment of Betsy Atkins As An Independent Director

OYO Hotels & Homes today has appointed of Betsy Atkins, CEO and founder of Baja Corporation, as an independent director on the company’s board of directors. As an independent member of the Board, Betsy will play a supervisory role and provide guidance to OYO’s founder Ritesh Aggarwal and the management on key business decisions.

She will join the board that has industry experts like Mark Schwartz, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, Munish Varma, managing partner, SoftBank Vision Fund, Bejul Somaia, partner, Lightspeed India Partners Advisors, among others.

Edtech CollegeDekho Appoints Tarun Aggarwal As Chief Business Officer

Education technology startup CollegeDekho has announced the appointment of Tarun Aggarwal as the chief business officer (CBO). In his new role, Tarun will be responsible for leading new initiatives for CollegeDekho and spearhead the next phase of growth and expansion.

With over two decades of experience, Tarun has worked with Infoedge, HT Media, Tech Mahindra and HCL, across sales, business development and operations domains. He has completed his engineering from the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.

LendingKart Announces Senior Executive Appointments As Part Of Its Ongoing Growth Strategy

Ahmedabad-based fintech startup LendingKart has appointed two key officials as part of its continuing strategy to grow services and outreach – Mohit Bajaj as the chief financial officer for its NBFC arm, LendingKart Finance Ltd and Bharat Aggarwal as the senior vice president – operations.

With industry understanding and past experiences, Bajaj and Aggarwal will further aid in expanding LendingKart’s geographical footprint, leadership team and enabling financial inclusion for MSMEs across India.

Bajaj who joins LendingKart as CFO has spent a considerable time at Media Guru as their group CFO. With an experience of over 17 years, Bajaj has also worked with Religare Macquarie Wealth Management Ltd, Fullerton Securities & Wealth Advisors Ltd, Actis Global Services, Fortis Healthcare, and Dixon in varying capacities.

Additionally, Aggarwal who joins LendingKart as the senior VP, operations, brings in over 15 years of experience of working across consumer, banking and financial services industry. Prior to Lendingkart, Aggarwal has worked as national manager, business Loans with Bajaj Finance, managed credit and operations for the fintech division of Bajaj Finserv – Bajaj Finserv Direct Limited.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Movers and Shakers of the week!

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