September 2006: Glam years in Marketing

After my Sales stint, I wanted to work in Marketing and soon got the opportunity to make this shift. I started with managing two new product development projects. Gradually, I took over as the brand lead for Ezee and deep dived into the detergents portfolio. I enjoyed the rush of a new product launch, working on multiple television commercials and on ground activations.

June 2009: Tricks of the trade

I went on to join the Trade Marketing team in mid-June and manage trade promotions for the company. My big challenge here was to launch two large scale loyalty programmes for the wholesale channel.

Post the GCPL integration with erstwhile Godrej Sara Lee, I got promoted to National Head for Trade Marketing. The thrill was no less than running my own startup business. I started by building a strong Trade Marketing team, which was split between central and regional teams.

April 2013: canvas

In mid 2013, I moved back to Sales as Regional Sales Manager for the Western Region. I managed a team of about 800 people and a portfolio of over INR 570 crores.

People loved the multi-disciplinary environment - we had 10 zones, including a 'baithak' seminar room, 'bodhi tree lounge' to brainstorm and ample space to showcase our products in creative ways.

July 2010: Designing premium hair colour

I then moved to GCPL. My first project here was to design a premium hair colour range. I started meeting people across various functions and realised that Design and R&D went hand-in-hand. I found that I had to understand the science behind the brand to be able to design something, which was in synch with the brand values.

We were bringing together people from different backgrounds for the first time.

This cross-pollination of disciplines was new to me, but I was strongly encouraged to pursue it. I was closely mentored by our senior team all the way.

January 2012: Launching aer, Expert Crème and Cinthol

I gradually began outlining processes and changing the status quo on how people approached Design. 2012 was a big year for us. We worked across product segments. Our aim was to use design driven thinking to create delightful products, which would break the clutter. We launched Godrej aer (a new range of home and car fresheners) and Godrej Expert Rich Hair Crème (a first time crème-in-a-sachet) and refreshed the Cinthol portfolio.

I was delighted to be offered a Marketing role in Mumbai. For the first six months, I worked on Jet, one of our household insecticide brands. Jet was a small brand and taught me a lot about working with budget constraints and how to utilise every rupee effectively.

I soon moved from Jet, which only had a regional presence, to Hit, which had a national brand. My biggest challenge then was to mobilise the Sales team to push the product. I started tracking numbers very closely and calling each Area Sales Manager on a regular basis. I do this even today and it has been immensely helpful.

In the seven years that I worked on Hit, I saw it evolve into a major contributor to our household insecticides portfolio. I have grown immensely as a marketer and I owe it to these formative years.

March 2012: Let's Change the aer!

After a successful stint with Hit, I was proud to be chosen to lead our launch in a new Air Care category. The best part about launching aer was the tremendous support I received from our senior team. We were a quirky, new brand and experimented with our brand activations. That stood us in good stead and helped us exceed targets in the first year of launch.

Today

Today, in addition to aer, I also manage our iconic personal wash brands, Cinthol, Godrej No.1 and protekt. Despite my growing responsibilities at work, I make it a point to find time for myself. As a working mother, I have always had the freedom to work from home if I needed to and taken time off when I wanted.

the most about GCPL, was that there was so much empowerment offered to someone with credibility. At that time, we were a fairly young team, but that didn't stop us from getting into debates with people ten years our senior. There was and continues to be, ample room for discussion everywhere!

April 2012: Managing a Manager!

The excitement didn't end with the integration. I worked extensively on redesigning people processes and delivering a future ready agenda. I took over a new role in Learning & Organisation Development. Even with this new role, while expectations were laid out by my manager at the beginning, I was allowed the freedom to pursue my own path. To my surprise, I even got to manage a manager at such an early stage of my career!

Today

I was very fortunate to be a part of the Godrej Fellows Programme. This one-year programme brings together young people under 30 from across Godrej businesses to work on change projects. It helped me push the boundaries of conventional thinking and allowed me a platform to showcase my ideas to our senior team.

I also got an opportunity to partner with the Marketing, Modern Trade, Trade Marketing and Design teams on engagement, succession plans, retentions and HR compliance functions.

I recently moved to Jakarta to work with Godrej Indonesia. I work with a very talented young team and am excited to see what the future holds!

support of my team, in what was an unfamiliar territory.

July 2003: Tricky North East Terrain

A cluster of a factories were being set up in Guwahati and I got an opportunity to manage the Purchase function for our manufacturing unit. Here, the challenge was to set up a supplier base in an environment, which wasn't industry friendly. Our senior team ensured that I had the freedom to work and explore my own path.

From a single factory in 1999, we gradually scaled up our processes in the North East. In addition to Purchase, I started to look into the operations of all our eight factories across the region. This included Manufacturing, Quality Control and liaisoning with internal functions.

Today

In early 2013, I shifted to a Strategic Sourcing role in Mumbai. I now handle sourcing for all our domestic operations.

In the past seventeen years, I have been able to grow, learn and explore with each opportunity. I have particularly benefitted from a robust internal feedback system that has augmented my learning from different roles.

year end. This performance was only bettered in subsequent years.

October 2006: The marketing bug bites

An opportunity to work on our pioneering household insecticide brand was too good to miss, especially since it meant helping to script Good knight's resurgence. Over the next few years, it was a privilege to lead a team of overachievers who shaped the Good knight brand from a vulnerable #2 to market leadership, and then eventually market dominance. Working on the Hit Brand was a special joy and there is a huge sense of pride as it transformed from a metro centric brand to a Major HI Player with absolute domination of the Aerosol format.

July 2010: Making life Ezee

Post the merger with GCPL, in addition

to the HI portfolio, I got the opportunity to work on a small brand that was simply brimming with potential. Working on the Ezee brand has been most satisfying, and we saw its loyal franchise of consumers grow significantly over the last three years, leading to more than doubling of the business turnover. And on the fabric care portfolio, the best was yet to come!

April 2012: Never say Dye!

In April 2012, I took on the hair care and fabric care portfolios. One big change we are trying to engender in our consumers to move the perception from the monochromatic allusion of “Godrej hair dye” to the more expressive polychromatic promise of “Godrej Hair colours”. Some product innovations, fresh new packaging and communication and the consequent

smattering of Bangla improved. A year later, I was offered the role of Area Sales Manager for Kolkata and South Bengal, a coveted metro location with ample opportunity for growth.

This was the time when we were merging GCPL with the erstwhile Godrej Sara Lee and it was a great learning ground for me. Working with and being responsible for a team of 145 people, many of who were close to twice my age, was the most challenging part.

July 2012: The African Safari!

I was keen on building on my Sales experience with a broader general management role next. With GCPL's growing emerging markets presence, the opportunity came sooner than I had expected. I was asked if I would like to be a part of the team working on the

integration of our new joint venture with the Darling Group in Africa and I grabbed the offer with both hands.

Today

I started out with managing the channel and go-to-market strategies for Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. It was a whole new category - hair extensions - in a whole new geography.

Today, in my fifth year at GCPL, I am the country lead for Nigeria. I also work on designing and executing the go-to-market strategy and setting up the innovation funnels across the Darling Group in Africa. I divide my time between our headquarters in Mumbai and extensive travel across Africa. In the last year or so, I have flown over 2,00,000 air miles and worked across Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town,

April 2012: Bihar Beckons

At the end of GALLOP, I was posted as an Area Sales Manager in Bihar, a territory considered very challenging in the FMCG sector in India. I worked with the Regional Sales Manager, to complete the integration of our urban distributors within 6 months.

It was during several such assignments that I realised that sales is actually 90% people management and 10% process. When the team is motivated, the unexpected does happen.

Today

I was recently selected to be part of the coveted Godrej Fellows Programme, which brings together people under the age of 30 from across Godrej businesses to work on change projects. This opens up so many new opportunities for me and is a great example of how we take bets on young people.

Being a part of GCPL has helped me truly explore my potential. I regularly interact with our senior team and work closely with my peers across businesses. I recently took over as Area Sales Manager of Delhi and manage a 100 crore territory.

I was thrilled when I was asked to lead the Financial Planning and Analytics portfolio. I started working very closely with the sales and marketing team, and the CEO's office. I contributed to the company strategy, beyond just number crunching and that was a big learning experience. Rarely does someone with a core finance background get an opportunity to work on tactical and long term strategy for the business.

June 2010: Growth all across

In mid-2010, we were expanding our international presence. The size of my portfolio too was growing and we needed to have a structured international business cell at the corporate office. I was given the task of representing finance and business planning in international leadership team along with my existing portfolio.

Mid 2011: When passion meets profession

What followed was one of the most memorable moments in my GCPL journey. For the first time, we created the Investor Relations team and I was asked to lead it along with my existing portfolio. My understanding of financial planning and the equity markets helped me excel in this new role.

April 2015: My BIG moment

In 2015, we enhanced the structure of our India & SAARC business. The leadership team offered me the opportunity to be the Chief Financial Officer for the cluster, in addition to my corporate role as the IR lead. My team grew ten times, as did my responsibilities. My new stakeholders included our board members and key shareholders.

first major hair colour launch with Godrej Colour Soft.

March 2000: From hair dye to hair colour

In early 2000, the hair dye market was slowly evolving into a hair colour market. Consumers were on the lookout for additional benefits from their hair colour. We worked extensively to design Renew Cream Hair Colour in seven shades.

While working on products ranging from a simple talcum powder to the more complex hair colours, grooming products for men to baby diapers, personal wash products to various forms of deodorants, I deep dived into many categories and understood the complexities involved in stabilising each of them.

June 2007: My canvas

In mid-2007, I became a Manager and for the first time I had my own team. My portfolio required me to work on technology ideas that could be future products. I was not restricted by a format or category. The possible products that we developed during this phase are now on shelves in shop. I also got the opportunity to handle the detergent category and we came up with a Bright & Soft variant for Ezee.

Today

2011 started with the re-launch of Godrej Expert Powder Hair Colour in two new variants, Advanced and Care, and a vibrant new avatar. The following year, I worked on another big project, Godrej Expert Crème Hair Colour, a first time ever crème-in-a-sachet for India.

May 2012: My Big Break

Our next step was to build focused projects on business partnering, setting up HR processes and building capability. I was also working on Learning and Organisational Development for the Sales and Marketing functions. This was a great learning.

Today

In July, 2013 I got the opportunity to work on Career Planning for our international businesses. I now manage all HR processes for our international businesses in Asia, Indonesia, Latin America and Africa. What keeps me hooked is the challenge to introduce the Godrej way of working, while retaining the individual fabric of our international businesses.

I feel immensely empowered in my work. It is very encouraging to be constantly rewarded with more responsibility, when you deliver on expectations.

leap to come.

March 2011: Transitioning to management

In late 2010, I became part of the team that would handle the relocation of our Vikhroli factory, a landmark move for the Godrej Group. And if that didn't seem enough, I was offered a pivotal role in setting up a brand new Specialty Fatty Acids facility at the Valia factory. These two opportunities opened up new horizons for me professionally.

Early 2012 to mid-2013: Creating a future-ready foundation

With competition intensifying, our focus shifted towards setting up a new oleo chemical complex at Ambernath. I took the lead in building key assets, which hold us in good stead in the niche product market.

This was also the time when our team was working on investment plans aimed at strengthening the company's position in the Specialty Fatty Acids and Fatty Alcohol segments. This was an excellent learning ground for me, offering a complete understanding of how business functions can be integrated to deliver greater results.

Today

The present marks the beginning of a new era - both for the organisation and myself – as a part of our efforts to reinvent and reimagine. I currently act as the project lead for a first-of-its-kind initiative that is expected to further strengthen our position in Specialty Fatty Acids.

May 2010: My first break

One of my first roles involved leading the surfactant production area, at a time when our surfactant business was still in its initial phase. My contribution to the team was recognised and I was offered the role of Assistant Manager. Around this time, the company decided to make a change to its strategy in surfactants. My role expanded and I was part of the new efforts, which led to big achievements for our team.

Today

In my sixth year at the company, I am entirely responsible for Sulphonation production and leading green initiatives at our Valia plant. I am constantly learning about alcohol and steric acid plants, which will equip me to take on new responsibilities. Researching and implementing new energy initiatives is a passion, which I hope to continue further.

1998-99: On to a Marketing role

A couple years later, I was asked to handle Product Management for Fatty acids and Glycerin, besides facilitating the sales and operations planning process for the business. This gave me an insight into the supply chain of the chemical product category.

With the merger of Godrej Gujarat Innovative Chemicals and Godrej Soaps, our Chemicals business acquired a Valia factory. Although our Export sales were growing gradually, we were facing a major issue obtaining an imports licence. I was assigned the responsibility of streamlining advance licence usage. This was no easy task, considering I had to interact with senior government officials. I managed to resolve the problem and also put together an efficient process for future monitoring.

2005-06: Building on an export-oriented unit

It was extremely gratifying to see a new export-oriented plant get commissioned. Faced with the challenge of selling higher capacities, I convinced my team to stick to our core competencies and strategically map how we could get into the supply chain of MNC giants by expanding our footprint to non-traditional markets such as South America, Africa, Middle East and Russia.

Today

In its early days, GIL's fatty alcohol brand, GINOL, was relatively small and not very known. Most of our sales came from a handful of distributors in developed countries, who would sell the product either under their own brand

October 2005: Steering a cross-functional revamp

My next challenge came when I was assigned the arduous task of steering a complete cross-functional transformation for the business. As Project Manager for an assignment that touched upon all non-IT functions – Projects, Purchase, Manufacturing, Logistics, Sales & Marketing, Finance and HR – I found my motivation in Dr. Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints. I consider myself very fortunate to have got a complete overview of running a business at 35!

September 2006: Implementing SAP for GIL Chemicals

Just when I thought I had missed out on tackling the IT function during the business revamp, there came another big opportunity to lead an SAP

implementation project for GIL's Chemicals division. This was a unique chance for me - with no IT background whatsoever - to understand and exploit the power of IT!

Today

After treading familiar domestic territory, I now handle the International sales of oleochemicals and surfactants across Egypt, South Africa, Ukraine, Russia, Mauritius, Malawi, Algeria and Nigeria. I am proud that in these recessionary times, the ray of hope for world economic growth comes from the region I oversee. Somehow, I have always found myself on the right side of change, thanks to Godrej!

January 2012: Godrej Fellows Programme

I feel privileged to have been a part of the first batch of the Godrej Fellows Programme, which aims to nurture future Godrej leaders. Each year, the programme brings together a group of 10 Godrejites under the age of 30, from across companies and functions, who have unconventional ideas to change Godrej, and even the world. I highly recommend applying to this programme, given that you get an opportunity to present ideas to senior leaders and move these ideas from the drawing board to a practical business setting!

June 2012: Joining the SIGMA team

In my fourth year with the company, I got transferred from Production to the Project SIGMA team.

Project SIGMA was undoubtedly, one of the most ambitious assignments I had worked on until then – not only did it involve the development of an oleochemical complex at Ambernath right from scratch, but also the relocation of some machinery from the existing factory in Vikhroli to the new site.

Today

I currently head the Fat Splitting Plant. My core responsibility is to manage operations for the oil splitting and glycerin distillation plant within budgeted parameters. I feel obligated to give my best to the organisation that has given me so much! Although one can never be sure of what the future holds, all I can say, in true Godrej spirit, is: bring it on!

operations at Dahej port, I worked round-the-clock to get contracts and logistics in place to facilitate smooth operations. This eventually brought considerable savings on freight and logistics for our Valia plant, and helped reduce our carbon footprint significantly.

As a result of my efforts, GCPL's dependency on imported oils also reduced by nearly 50%, thereby reducing working capital cost and foreign exchange risk. My hard work was recognised in the form of a nomination to the company MD's Club.

April 2011: Complexities increase, as my portfolio expands

I was soon asked to take over GIL's Purchase function, over and above the Commodities and Imports function,

which I had been managing for the past five years. With this came the responsibility to help streamline the workflow, job rotation and processes. We successfully integrated two functions spread across two factories, besides introducing a structured financing system for local oils, which reduced working capital to such an extent that the capital went into the negative.

Today

Over the last year, I have also been involved in the expansion of commodity futures trading, taking advantage of spreads between various oils and their seasonals. GIL possesses a wealth of knowledge on vegetable oil markets, and we have been putting it to good use.

Our team is now well-equipped to

that was imported to Valia from the US.

January 2006: My big break

The scope of my portfolio was broadened. From starting off as an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) engineer, I became O&M in-charge, with the added responsibilities of maintaining all electrical installations and overseeing all project work at the power plant.

With every new assignment, I learnt new things along with my colleagues. This helped me build a robust team – I was all of 26 years old and leading a team of 28 members who were on average, twice my age.

January 2012: Venturing into Power Trading

In my eagerness to learn new things, I came across the concept of Power Trading, i.e. buying power on a daily basis. When I studied this model in detail, I realised the tremendous savings it could bring in for our business. That was when I decided to implement it for the entire Valia manufacturing unit.

After closely working with our technical experts and Finance team, I presented a case study to our Executive Committee, chaired by Mr. Nadir Godrej. He commended my work and gave his sign-off for us to go ahead. Within just a few months of our implementation, we started procuring massive savings.

In my first role, I was responsible for activities related to financial reporting such as MIS, management accounting, statutory financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, and managing the insurance portfolio.

During this time, I also coordinated a due diligence effort, associated with a sovereign wealth fund investing in our company.

Today

My next big opportunity was to head Finance for two GAVL business verticals, Oil Palm and Agri Inputs. I directly reported to the CFO and worked closely with the respective business heads for these two businesses.

Today, in my second year here, I am responsible for a broad spectrum of activities within the finance team, which inter alia involve ensuring adherence to regulatory and compliance requirements, business partnering, and managing critical finance functions.

Amit holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce from Mumbai University (1996) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

December 2010: Leading upcountry Bihar

My next move was to lead upcountry Bihar, for both poultry and cattle feed. In three years, we doubled sales growth, and market share improved significantly.

As an add-on to my sales experience, I was offered exposure to a more general management role as well. I managed the operations and production at the Patna unit and was actively involved in the stocking of raw material and ensuring efficient utilisation of available resources.

Today

In my sixth year at GAVL, I am very fortunate to have had the chance to work across geographies with an

increasing scope of work. Today, I manage poultry feed sales for Bihar and Jharkhand. In Jharkhand, I have now also worked on institutional sales, which involves a livelihood programme designed to encourage tribal women to work in poultry farming.

Amulya completed his BSc (Hons) Agriculture from CCS Haryana Agricultural University (2000) and PGDBM (Marketing) from the Birla Institute of Management Technology (2002).

to lead Sales & Marketing for Animal Feed in Uttar Pradesh. Both the territory and business were new to me, but I learnt the ropes and with the support of an excellent team, we did very well. Having a good mentor, especially when you are starting out, can work wonders. My manager during this stint was very encouraging, especially when things got rough, and that made all the difference.

Once I proved myself in this role, I was transferred to Khanna, Punjab to oversee sales of our GFFL brand for North India.

September 2008: The homecoming

I moved to Kolkata to manage Animal Feed for the East. This was special for me, because it also meant moving home. My family has always been a big

source of inspiration and support for me and this was invaluable during this period. Together with my team, I scaled up our business in the East. We expanded capacity, improved productivity and our team members increased to 150.

This was also the time when I became a father and was learning how to balance responsibilities at home with my work.

Today

Today, I lead the ACI Godrej joint venture business in Bangladesh. It is a unique and challenging opportunity to lead a joint venture, replete with its complexities and promises; one that I hope to learn from significantly.

August 2003: Time for more rounded exposure

As a next career move, I was offered a role in our Animal Feed business. I had, up till then, a background only in sales. This new role brought with it exposure to managing operations like manufacturing, purchase and nutrition.

Ours was a low margin business and working in it was a big learning experience for me. This was also a time when the external environment and rules of the game were changing, which made it more interesting.

February 2008: Leading Bangladesh

When I moved on to manage country operations for Bangladesh, my entrepreneurial abilities were challenged even further.

I was working in a small company, which had just turned profit positive. It was great fun working in a whole new environment and embracing its new culture. I was fortunate to have a young and dynamic team, who executed our plans extremely well and delivered exceptional results. Under my leadership, the team size eventually grew to over 250.

Today

In my current role, I will have the opportunity to work on expanding GAVL's footprint across different countries and I am very excited about the potential that it holds.

This was the time when I worked on drafting and negotiating complex legal documents. What I enjoyed and continue to cherish the most, is the constant learning.

December 2010: Taking over the Legal and Secretarial functions as well

In 2010, we led an excellent company-wide implementation of SAP. In recognition of this, GAVL was awarded the SAP ACE award. Soon after, I was given the additional responsibility of overseeing the Legal and Secretarial function.

Today

In my role today, I am proud to have the opportunity to lead teams that will determine and drive GAVL's aggressive growth plans.

Varadaraj is a Cost Accountant (1992), a Chartered Accountant (1993), and has a Masters degree in Financial Management from Mumbai University (2003).

Each needed to first be rationalised, then have the product type clearly defined and packaging design developed. Once that was in place, we had to create a brand identity for our cattle and poultry products.

When the project was finally complete and I saw the branding for the first time, I was so proud.

January 2010: Building a national brand

In 2010, we decided that we needed to focus on increasing our presence in Type 1 Feed. We had, up till then, only a presence in the South and were completely absent in markets in the North, East and Central regions of the country.

Since then, we have introduced products across all regions.

Our brand, Bovino, has performed very well. It is now a leading national brand in the Type 1 category.

Today

When I took on the role of leading Marketing, our first priority was to support the cattle feed business. In 2011, we extended our focus to the poultry business, and then in 2014, to aqua feed.

challenging because it was a rough patch for these territories. When we turned it around sales and expanded distribution, it was my first big achievement here.

May 2005: Heading Karnataka and Kerala for Agri Inputs

When I took over the states of Karnataka and Kerala, the profile offered me the exposure of building financial and administrative expertise. I needed this to be able to grow from a Sales Head to an independent Unit Head.

I later moved to leading our business for the South. I was the youngest regional head in the Agri Inputs business and I needed to prove myself as a leader.

During this stint, I had the opportunity to work on establishing out Hitweed brand as a leader in the cotton market of Andhra Pradesh. This was a big success and the brand continues to be a key growth driver even today.

Today

I was transferred to West as regional head in 2010. Unlike the other territories I had handled, the challenge here was to keep pace with the strong growth that the region was already clocking. Since then, we have explored new opportunities, strengthened business performance and continue to grow.

years was a crucial phase in my learning curve. This was also a time when I forged a number of long-lasting relationships with colleagues and partners, who I still cherish.

August 2002: Back home, but now on work

Between 2002 and 2011, I worked out of my home states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The most satisfactory aspect of this period was that I got to experiment a lot, and went on to improve business in my native North Kerala. I like to be hands on with my work. I traveled extensively and used to clock an average of 2,000 to 3,000 kilometres every month meeting our sales team, distributors, dealers and farmers.

Today

In 2011, I took over as Regional Head, Central Region for our Animal Feed business. The first two years were very hectic for my team. We were busy setting up systems and making large-scale improvements. The team really did give this their best shot. And with help from our colleagues across India, we pulled off a turn around rather quickly, which we are still proud of.

Subash completed his Bachelors in Agricultural Engineering from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (1992) and a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad (1998).

were extremely rewarding, in terms of learning and unlearning a number of things.

Today

Today, I am based out of Erode, Tamil Nadu; primarily responsible for sustainably and profitably driving sales of GAVL cattle feed products. I also act as the Unit Manager, responsible for the smooth and efficient functioning of a state-of-the-art plant. I thoroughly enjoy the responsibility and exposure that my role offers me so early on.

Sunnu is an Automobile Engineer from the SGD College of Engineering, Jalgaon (2010). He later pursued his PGDM (Rural Management) from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (2013).

breeding team and further strengthen the R&D function across specific crops. We later succeeded in becoming a member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. In addition to this, we recruited corn and pigeonpea assistant breeders for our team. We were growing fast and this was an exciting phase for us.

April 2013: Laying the foundation

My team managed to deliver a commercial proprietary hybrid within a year, which usually takes around three years. This achievement not only saved us money, but also ensured steady turnover in the coming years.

We started experimenting with new combinations to build a strong foundation for our in-house breeding programme. We added new people with

new skill sets to the team and started expanding the scope of our impact.

Today

My aim is to help GSGL grow into an R&D driven seed company, known for innovative products. I know that we have tremendous potential, and in the years ahead, look forward to helping craft this journey.

A Doctorate in Plant breeding from CCSHAU Hisar (1992), Surendra is also a recipient of the prestigious Senior Research Fellowship from the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (1990).

In 2010, we implemented SAP-ERP in our Animal Feed business. As a part of the core team, I led the materials management module for this project. The assignment required a great deal of cross-functional engagement to implement a robust business application solution which could also accommodate future business requirements. This experience was very enriching and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

April 2011: Wearing many hats

In 2011, I took over the additional responsibility of overseeing buying for the West region. Around this time, we also started implementing crucial sourcing initiatives like bulk buying for few commodities. In parallel, I handled the materials management module in

SAP ERP support team and SAP - BIBO project to deploy various KPIs and dashboards for Sourcing and Inventory Management.

Today

In 2014, I was given the opportunity to lead the Extractions vertical for our pan-India operations. As a team, we strive to add value to the business through strategic sourcing initiatives, building better relationships with our suppliers etc. My work takes me to different parts of the country to understand crops, trades and expand our source base. I particularly enjoy working with my enthusiastic team of buyers, who have a rich experience and deep domain knowledge of the sector.

I worked very closely with our leadership team on various aspects, including CAPEX, strategy, budgeting and state wise business planning.

August 2009: My portfolio expands

In 2009, we rolled out a company-wide implementation of SAP. As the Project Manager, I was coordinating the integration for the PGV vertical. We rolled out SAP on time and successfully launched the system across all our businesses. Soon after, I was promoted to General Manager.

In 2012, I was the first Godrejite to be nominated and included in the CFO 100 Next Roll of Honour from the CFO India Institute.

July 2013: From Finance to Operations

After detailed discussions with our leadership team, my biggest role transition was set in motion. From Finance, I shifted to a business operations role and took over the responsibility of managing operations in Jharkhand. This was not an easy task, considering the political and social struggles of the territory. For the first time, I was responsible for a team of over 200 people. One of my biggest challenges was to keep them motivated and help them deliver their best.

understanding of many business aspects, in the most interesting way possible.

December 2015: Moving ahead

In my next stint, I took on the responsibility of Sales Head and Unit Head, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, for the Cattle Feed business. I handled the B2B business, which included handling our distributor network. It was exciting to contribute to the restructuring of the team and to bring in new monitoring tools.

March 2016: A one-of-a-kind opportunity

I was offered a first-of-its-kind role, as a Product Manager in the Poultry Feed business. I worked on different assignments like Perception Analysis, Brand Equity, and on a case study on how and why a brand failed. I travelled extensively in 5 different states, interacting with diverse teams. This stint built a strong foundation for the role I was taking up next.

March 2010: My Sales stint

We launched the Godrej Garden City township in early 2010. I was part of the sales team and was thrilled to see the customers line up to buy the apartments! While handling inventory became a huge challenge, I learnt a lot about managing new launches. I also spent some time understanding all modalities of sales, from operations and inventory management to corporate and channel sales.

January 2012: Moving to Mumbai!

With GPL scaling up and adding multiple projects, I was looking forward to working on projects, right from conceptualisation to the launch phase. At the same time, I got an opportunity to join the Data Analytics and Product Development Cell in Mumbai.

I also took up the additional responsibility of managing operations for Godrej Platinum in Vikhroli.

Today

I began my journey in a Sales and Marketing role and after working across different verticals, I moved to developing new channels for generating business, including in international markets. Today, I lead the entire Middle East operations for the organisation, from our offices in Dubai.

We are focused on scaling our presence in the Middle East. I enjoy exploring countries like Doha, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi to expand our business.

January 2012: integrated product development

Engaging with my peers from across functions was instrumental to my understanding of how integral product development was for the company. It also helped me appreciate the unique role that Design has to play in the process. I had the opportunity to map, develop and institutionalise the design process for the company, define clear stage-gated workflows and associated templates. I got to lead design and product development for one of the company's marque commercial projects, Godrej BKC. We deployed a highly collaborative and co-owned design and project team led approach on this project.

March 2013: Building the Design Studio

In early 2013, we evaluated the diversity and breadth of design talent across the company and re constituted ourselves as the GPL | Design Studio. Being a part of that journey has been extremely rewarding, both personally and in terms of the value created for projects.

We prototyped the Studio approach on one of our key projects, The Trees. This involved conducting multiple stakeholder engagement workshops and design charrettes, building invested consultant relationships and aligning business plan requirements, to help me deliver the master plan for the project.

September 2012: Project Pyramid

While I was completing the design deliverables for Godrej One, I was selected to be a part of Project Pyramid, a critical initiative aimed at execution excellence across the organisation. As part of the Standardization Module, I was offered the unique opportunity of interacting with cross-functional teams across all regions to identify potential development areas in the existing design process.

February 2013: Joining the Design Team

I was later assigned a role in the newly constituted Design Team in Mumbai. Redevelopment projects were a big focus for the region, as they posed unique challenges on the regulatory and tenant-approval front. The ambiguous nature of the regulations ensured that

there was never a dull moment in any of the projects.

Today

In just over three and a half years, I have worked on several varied projects and organisational processes. Our team has set very ambitious goals for the Mumbai region and I look forward to an equally exhilarating journey ahead!

Neelam did her Bachelors in Architecture from Mumbai University - (2001)

interesting and I learnt a lot in these formative months. I was a part of the core team that launched our first project in NCR, Godrej Frontier, and was also involved in devising sales strategy for commercial projects in Chandigarh and Kolkata.

January 2011: Business Development beckons

Gradually, I got more involved with the Deal Analytics team within Business Development. I started out by understanding the key markets of Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon for infrastructure, key projects and price points and then went on to analyse specific deals across the country, with respect to risks and returns.

We also developed standard processes

and templates for deal evaluation that today form an integral part of the Business Development function.

April 2012: Leading the team

In April 2012, I was given the opportunity to lead the Deal Analytics Cell that comprised 5 young and talented managers. This was my first leadership role and together, we successfully delivered multiple key outputs. I especially enjoyed working on growth strategies for key cities.

Today

My current role has placed me in one of the most promising and complex businesses of redevelopment in Mumbai. I am responsible for adding new projects to our portfolio. My work entails sourcing new leads, shortlisting deals,

October 2011: Zero Mile - India's Centre!

I was thrilled when I was asked to lead the Sales and Marketing division of our luxury township project located in the heart of Nagpur, Godrej Anandam.

For the first time in GPL's history, the company took over an on-going project, Anandam World City. This transition was a huge learning experience as I was able to work through various challenges of the project. The Godrej Anandam team set the standards for overall positive customers experience across regions at GPL.

November 2013: Free Thinkers Platform!

The hunger to learn, improve and to be a catalyst in bringing a change motivated me to become a member of the prestigious Godrej Fellows Programme, which brings together young people from across the Godrej Group, to exchange ideas, share and learn new approaches and work on change projects.

Today

My journey at Godrej started as a Manager with just one reportee. Today, in my sixth year, I lead the Sales and Marketing vertical for Nagpur and Pune regions by collaborating with a team of over 30 talented individuals.

October 2012: Joining the International Sales bandwagon

After working for a little over a year in Ahmedabad, I got an opportunity to move back to Mumbai. I joined the international Sales and Marketing team at head office.

I worked closely with our international channel partners and also supported the direct sales team. My focus was on scaling up our business in geographies like Dubai and Australia. I particularly enjoyed overseeing international events, exhibitions and road shows, which were big spaces for us to tap an NRI database.

This was a very exciting time for our team. Our international sales numbers grew exponentially and that gave us the impetus to set the benchmark even

higher.

April 2014: The Southeast Asia challenge

After extensive research, I concluded that we needed to be in Singapore to explore opportunities to grow our business in Southeast Asia. I studied the possibility of setting up our office in Singapore. This was a new learning for me and I was very excited to set up GPL's new international office in Singapore. We successfully registered the office in January 2016 and started operations in April 2016.

an experienced web developer in my team was a big help and we finally went live with a new, platform-agnostic, sleek, feature-rich site that exceeded our wildest expectations, bagging two international awards in the process.

July 2012: Head in the Cloud

With a steadily growing team, it was time to be space-age. We figured that the best way to do that was to take GPL to the Cloud platform.

The system we chose was Salesforece.com or SFDC, and the challenge was to collaborate with our implementation partners, our company's IT department and all the stakeholders, including our sales team all over the country who would benefit from using a lead management tool.

The system is real time, runs live 24x7, and best of all, doesn't require any software!

Simultaneously, we set up a toll free number and a call centre to service the thousands of leads pouring into the system from Hyderabad. This meant quick jaunts to the city of pearls, spending long hours testing systems, hiring and training agents.

Today

With the industry flooded with launches and marketing activations, breaking the clutter is very important. To start with, we decided to make GPL one of the most tech-savvy companies by introducing custom-built multi-touch screens and interactive iPad apps. We added IP-based calling and a live chat feature on

projects. As I familiarised myself with the businesses, I managed to deliver on both aspects of my role.

November 2013: Right up front!

My first project, touted as one of the most ambitious projects in the Group, was on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the corporate centre. Within a few months of joining the organisation, I was presenting my recommendations to the Godrej heads of businesses. As I dealt with multiple stakeholders across businesses and departments, I understood the challenges of implementing something on the ground, which now holds me in good stead.

February 2014: From the board room to maize farms

One of the biggest advantages of working at Godrej is that you have the flexibility to chart out your canvas. While I was still in the final stages of a few projects, I got the opportunity to work with the Godrej Agrovet team to define the strategy for their seeds business. I soon found myself driving through the villages of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, interviewing dealers, distributors and farmers to figure out the way forward.

Today

It feels great to have worked on such diverse projects within such a short span of time. My next project is likely to take me to Africa where I will work on identifying cost optimisation

April 2014: Running an Online Business

Being the youngest member of the team hasn't stopped me from getting plum assignments. I run and strengthen a nascent online business in a dynamic and growing vertical like food retail, which brings its own set of challenges and immense learnings across different functions - marketing, operations, technology and analytics.

I am responsible for driving top-line and enhancing user experience by understanding online consumer behavior, purchasing patterns and category performance.

From managing backend stability, updating content and design to devising online marketing strategy and ensuring alignment of offline and online stores -

I enjoy the rush of being on top of things 24 x 7.

May 2014: Musician at Work!

I was interested in working on brand activation and understanding online strategy to build brand awareness. After attending focus groups and analysing branded online content, I got the opportunity to conceptualise videos on Brand Godrej for online media. I worked extensively with film experts and music artists. As a professional vocalist and flautist, this was a wonderful experience as it allowed me to bring my passion for music to the workplace!

Today

Today, I work extensively on building robust processes to tap the full potential of e-commerce in our

litigations at various levels. During this time, GCPL acquired a lot of businesses and I got the opportunity to work on these mergers and acquisitions as well. I learnt a lot in particular, while working on due diligence of IP assets of the acquiring company.

April 2011: Venturing into Personal Care

There was always so much to learn. Within two years, I began to oversee legal matters related to our personal care business and also catered to all issues arising from procurement, manufacturing and after-sales services for GCPL. I travelled to our businesses in Nigeria, South Africa and Bangladesh to resolve legal issues and started coordinating with the South Africa business for managing counterfeits.At the time, when the erstwhile Godrej

Sara Lee merged with GCPL, I deep-dived into the complex Household Insecticide business, especially with respect to compliance and competition.

April 2013: Managing Compliance

As my role expanded, I started working on initiatives involving tracking competition and challenging and defending advertisements before the Advertising Standards Council of India.
On the compliance front, I ensured the roll-out of self-operating procedures related to household insecticide storage. I also made sure that there is no unnecessary litigation and business stoppage pertaining to non-compliance of licensing issues.

Today

Today, I manage over 2,500 trademarks

the Lakme Fashion Week have amplified our impact on Godrej and India at large. We have 3 rules for everything we do - it is free and open to all - within Godrej and outside, it is put up on our website (http://indiaculturelab.org) as a free knowledge resource, and it is followed by great food! Some of our popular Friday Funda talks, like that with MIT professor Abhijeet Banerjee have attracted attendees from even other cities!

July 2012: The LOUD dream

It felt great to be part of the team that conceived and executed our Godrej LOUD campus challenge. LOUD stands for Live Out Ur Dream. We asked business school students to share their one big personal dream. We offered winners sponsorship towards making their dream a reality and a chance to

intern with Godrej. As we travelled from campus to campus in the midst of a heavy monsoon, we were met with giant waves of love and appreciation from the students. The feeling of making a difference to people's lives was incredible.

Today

Through the collaborative group wide Viva Vikhroli project, I am dreaming of re-imagining our Godrej headquarters in Vikhroli into an open-source sandbox for artists, technologists, entrepreneurs, hackers and students. I am also helping re-imagine Godrej's human capital as a mentor to our high-potential Godrej Fellows young leadership program. Through the Godrej India Culture Lab, I am able to tap into changing demographic or lifestyle trends for the Godrej Group, such as facilitating the

management in our operations. To do this, it was essential for me to get to know the businesses. I travelled to Malanpur, Valia, and Baddi to explore the green regimes of our manufacturing units and met my colleagues from across businesses and functions. This helped me understand our business operations better and also establish key priorities.

March 2014: My Big Break

I worked extensively across the Group's 65 facilities to understand the reporting and monitoring dynamics of the five pillars of our Greener India goals. As a team, we felt the need for a robust data capturing mechanism to have a uniform reporting and representation structure. With the help of the business teams, I successfully implemented a sustainability performance

management system in quick time across our operations. This helped us calibrate our baseline, have a uniform reporting and monitoring structure, eliminate human errors in calculations and ensure accountability of goal achievement across the five pillars.

Additionally, I extended the scope of the project to capture data from sourcing raw materials to delivering finished goods. We now know the environmental footprint of a complete product life cycle.

Today

Today, I spend a lot of my time formulating strategies to meet the Greener India goals by 2020. From carbon sequestration studies and due diligence watershed management programmes, to assessing Green Power

marketing subjects. This included roles from youngest and newest marketing employees to business heads across our companies.

April 2013: Ideas That Make Life Brighter starring Aamir Khan!

As a team, our first big project was to conceive a single brand campaign that would do justice to the breadth and quality of Godrej's portfolio and align interests across our businesses. For the first time, we decided to bring a Group brand ambassador on board. The challenge was to find one person who could endorse all our brands, values and culture.

Aamir Khan fit the bill perfectly and we were glad to partner with someone who had a cult following was respected unanimously not just as a Bollywood

actor, but as a social activist too. Our next step was to script, shoot and air a campaign that both satisfied our strategic positioning and met Aamir's artistic yardstick. The campaign, 'Ideas That Make Life Better', covered 18 different Godrej divisions and was launched on TV, print, outdoor, digital, events and exhibitions. It drove not just overall Godrej brand measures, but also had an impact on the participating businesses' revenue, share and profits - truly making our consumers and our shareholders lives brighter.

Today

Today I lead the Strategic Marketing Group's vision of building a stronger Godrej brand, driving group wide marketing excellence at all levels, and providing business teams with solutions to a variety of strategic questions and

February 2012: The Big Move

I was exploring a new challenge and with it, the move to a new team. In December 2011, I interviewed for a role in our HR IT team through an internal job posting. This was a whole new team, business and function and I was delighted that Godrej was offering me the opportunity to experiment. I soon made the switch and started working on rolling out SuccessFactors, a new technology platform for all HR processes. Moving to the corporate center was a big step. My role now required me to interact with all our businesses and work on different IT projects, which include system administration for talent processes like performance management, goal management, 360 degree feedback, succession planning and talent management.

August 2013: Project Paperless

I was thrilled to be selected for the coveted Godrej Fellows Programme Class of 2014. This is a unique yearlong fellowship, where a small group of young Godrejites come together to ideate and bring about impactful changes. My project focused on reducing paper usage in our offices by redesigning processes, actively measuring individual usage and reconfiguration of the IT hardware.

The fellowship gave me a deeper understanding of the Godrej group, a chance to work with my peers from across businesses and most importantly, pitch ideas that I was passionate about to the senior team. It was both very interesting and hectic, as I had to balance my everyday responsibilities along with the fellowship activities.

December 2012: At breakneck speed

My focus then was on the Group's Vision 2020 of strengthening our leadership pipeline. We were either redesigning or conceptualising processes. Some of the key projects deployed during this time were the Godrej Fellows Programme (a unique yearlong fellowship, where a small group of young Godrejites come together to ideate and bring about impactful changes) and critical level change processes. Both these solutions came as Group wide movements, with senior leaders spending quality time with talent to enable their career growth and development.

Nurturing talent and building a strong pipeline for the future is a critical focus for senior leaders at Godrej. This made my job both challenging as well as very enriching. Working with senior teams

early on helped lay the base for my later projects.

August 2013: Anchoring L&D!

The best part of being at Godrej is the flexibility of your role. If you are passionate about something, people really go out of their way to help make it happen. I was keen on pursuing the Learning function and the first opportunity I got to anchor a core Learning & Development programme, I grabbed it. This program was conceptualized in collaboration with Harvard Business School Publishing for our mid management leaders. Anchoring this program end to end - from conducting an exhaustive diagnostic, design, deployment to completion of post program effectiveness measures - was very gratifying.

brand through magazine features, film production, fashion shows and even our own TV show. In 2010, I beat Arjun Rampal in a cartwheel competition... but that's another story for another website.

June 2011: BBLUNT & Godrej unite

After a couple of fascinating meetings, the Godrej - BBLUNT partnership was set in motion. The mission? To create India's greatest hair care and styling product range. Not just by fulfilling the burgeoning middle class' desire for premium-mass products, but to disrupt, delight and dazzle a nation! Early interactions from team Godrej were more than we could have hoped for: they consistently pushed the boundaries on design and range whilst the BBLUNT hairdressers consistently pushed product quality through the

roof.

February 2013: Godrej UK

After returning to the UK, I was approached by a recruitment firm. They asked me if I'd heard of an Indian company called Godrej. Fate, I thought to myself! I joined Godrej UK as the Business General Manager for Bio-Oil (a distributed brand). A brilliant year ensued whilst this powerhouse of a brand (the second largest selling skin care product in the UK) enjoyed unprecedented growth. Working with our distributor partner, Union Swiss, also meant a couple of fascinating trips to South Africa. Discussing the future of skin care whilst watching a lioness and her pride eat lunch is something that particularly stands out.

formats of aerosols, liquid vapourisers, mats and liquid pumps. I became Brand Manager for the non-aerosol formats.

I also had the opportunity to spend six months in Key Account Management, overseeing 10 supermarket and hypermarket accounts for our business. This was important, given that a majority of our business comes from modern trade.

In March 2009, I moved back to Marketing as Brand Manager for our Hit, Klinpak, Shock, Wonder Fuel, Biosol, Proclin, Polytex and Cap Gajah brands.

What I have enjoyed most about my roles is the wide range of learning they offer. There is never a dull moment!

April 2011: Innovation becomes a focus

The merger of PT Megasari Makmur with Godrej had a significant impact on the way we approached our business as part of an emerging markets multinational. My role too became more strategic. It was around this time that we were able to make Hit a market leader in its category, an achievement that I am particularly proud of.

Innovation became a critical growth driver for us and we started investing very heavily to back our new product launches. One of our major innovations is Hit Magic, a revolutionary paper-based mosquito repellent, which we introduced for the first time in the Indonesian market. It has been a runaway success.

September 2010: Godrej comes on board

Godrej acquired PT Megasari Makmur in 2010. Becoming a part of a large emerging markets multinational brought about a big change, not only in the way we did business, but also in the way we planned for it. This also coincided with my move to managing additional key accounts for our business. Modern Trade comprises a majority of our business in Indonesia. Distribution and listing were a big focus. Some of my key accounts now moved from being laggards, to being a part of the top five accounts for our business going ahead. This changed the scale and perspective of my role and offered me much more exposure.

March 2012: Carrefour comes calling!

2012 was a year of much learning. Expectations were rising and we were constantly encouraged to push our personal boundaries. Up till now, I had been working with supermarkets and minimarkets. I now moved on to hypermarkets as well, which brought with it, its own set of complexities and learning. Carrefour, which got added to my portfolio, was one of the most important accounts for our company.

and unique opportunity where I understood cross-functional work between local and international teams with different cultural dynamics.

March 2012: Managing the Cosmética Nacional joint venture

In 2012, given my background in M&A, I got the opportunity to contribute to the due diligence pre work that we did on our upcoming joint venture with Cosmética Nacional in Chile. My new role was to oversee the integration of the local business with our Head Office in India, by acting as a liaison between the two countries. During this amazing work year, the biggest challenge was the strong competition we faced in the market. I remember this frenetic time as challenging and exciting, where I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the business, people-business relations and

different cultures.

August 2013: Project Iceberg

Back in Godrej Argentina, I was keen to work on a cost efficiency project aimed to tackle the high margin pressures that our business was dealing with. We named this initiative ‘Project Iceberg' (we only see the tip of it). A few months later, this initiative scaled up and became a corporate project, supported by Head Office and with a redefined scope. A few months on, we have launched Iceberg as a transformation plan for Godrej Argentina, aiming to build a great platform for the future growth.

Today

With the fantastic experience of my last three years with Godrej, I now have the

lean, agent dependent sales structure that I had inherited. With the mammoth task to grow the business well ahead of market expectation, I realised our business would require a stronger focus on customer development, which our existing structure did not allow. To address the need for improved focus on both existing and new customers, we required a new sales structure with the added need for a phased introduction of new staff. Getting approval for an increased headcount is always difficult, but I was so pleasantly surprised by the response of Godrej senior management. They understood the business case and gave the full buy in - we truly have visionaries at the helm.

The support from all departments, especially HR, is very encouraging, and we welcomed a new manager and field sales manager in less than two months

from the proposal. This gives our team the boost it needs and we indeed have all the variables for a brighter future!

Today

As the Head of Sub Saharan Sales, I have to back our sales department to deliver on our very ambitious company objectives in the present, medium and long-term. That will include, among other initiatives, team development and optimal resourcing.

It is also my objective to harness relationships with cross-functional teams and ensure continuous alignment to guarantee that, as a business, we win in the long-term.

Another critical challenge at hand is to develop our exports market. Watch this space for more!

August 2015: Let's Do This

After an exciting summer at Godrej, I joined GAVL as a Management Trainee. Within a few months, I got an opportunity to work on a cost optimisation project. I worked very closely with our senior leadership team. From collating data to actually implementing ideas on the ground, I worked with many different stakeholders on issues of multiple complexities. This served as an excellent learning ground for me.

Today

I now handle Shrimp Feed Division Sales for Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa markets of our Aqua Feed business. This is a fast growing territory and holds immense growth potential for us. I enjoy the challenge of working in the shrimp culture industry, which is largely dominated by people with highly specialised technical backgrounds.

Going ahead, I want to build a sustainable channel for our products and gain market share. I enjoy my work and look forward to each day on the field!

November 2014: The Take off

I was posted as Manager, Sales for our Cattle feed business in Uttar Pradesh, a coveted territory with immense potential for growth. For the first time, I was handling a team of 30 people and most of them had much more work experience than me. With several such challenges, I was finally able to understand the unique dynamics of the region and the nature and scope of the business. Working with and motivating my team to deliver more than promised was immensely fulfilling.

Today

Moving from the rustic plains of Uttar Pradesh to the majestic hills of Uttrakhand, today I work on developing and managing the cattle feed business in territories of Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand with my base in Lucknow.

exploring growth levers, forging new relations and synergies across the organisation and building my team.

My goal was to research new projects that can add long-term value to the business. For example, we are exploring efficient ways to recycle the palm oil biomass. Through such projects, we want to make GAVL one of the largest value creators in Indian agriculture.

November 2014: A year of action at many fronts!

From collaborating with leading scientists to working with bankers on inorganic growth opportunity, 2015 was an action packed year. We analysed our investments and identified new attractive markets for growth. I was a part of the core team that led the

acquisition of Astec LifeSciences and brought majority stake in Creamline Dairy. The cross-functional role helped me understand the nuances of businesses in our portfolio.

On field, my experience widened and I had a firsthand understanding of drought on rural India and its effect on our sector. As a result, going ahead, our Good & Green initiatives will have a key focus on water harvesting.

Today

I have a very exciting role today, as I lead the post-merger integration across two different verticals of Agri Chemicals and Dairy. Our focus is to ensure that we add significant value to the businesses that we've acquired. In parallel, I am also

professionally. Gradually, the landscape changed from a barren land to a 3-storeyed school building. During the course of the construction, I learnt a lot, including the value of patience. Along with this, many other projects like snagging of flats, planning of 40 buildings in ASTA and handling customer issues came my way and I welcomed them with open arms.

March 2014: A successful handover

By March 2014, the drawings on paper had become a reality and 150 students were enrolled in the school. We completed the project in time and handed it over to the client. Another major achievement during this period for me was the work on the ASTA server. I successfully made schedules of all buildings in GGC and brought them live on the server.

Today

From being a trainee at the site, my role has changed from execution and handling customer rectifications to being a planner. My current role demands planning and monitoring of the Garden City Project, consisting of 60 residential towers, retail buildings and related infrastructure. This role has widened my horizon of work to include numerous aspects of planning. This implies working on a project right from the stage of construction, cash flow, work completion, resource requirements, to annual cost planning for the project and monitoring of customer milestones. The current role has given me excellent insights into how the industry works.

March 2013: Pushed to the corner, time to rise!

Following the super successful launch, was a super difficult year wherein the real estate market had taken a stick and customer sentiment reached an all-time low. I was handed over the sole responsibility of turning around sales in my region - this was my first big break! I worked on a unique and compelling customer value proposition, which was the first-of-its kind in the market and rolled it out with 360 degree marketing efforts. And it clicked! The project was back and buzzing again. After a dismal 15% sales target achievement in the first 3 quarters, we achieved an astounding 350% target in the last quarter. All records were broken! I was literally living a dream in broad daylight.

March 2014: An iconic journey

What was to follow the last quarter turnaround were 2 back-to-back launches with phenomenal success, which took GPL to a position of market leadership in Gurgaon. This was a feat which no one thought would be possible, so early. To cap it up was the launch of Godrej Icon, which went on to become the most revered and talked about launch in NCR. While the market was declining every month, we were gaining market share quarter on quarter. We recorded another bumper launch in the next 2 quarters and GPL consolidated its position as the market leader in Gurgaon!

Today

My earlier stints helped me get a fantastic exposure to sales across verticals including direct sales, channel

July 2016: Forging ahead on the new frontier - the Omni-channel world

I was entrusted with leading one of our key initiatives in the offline retail format - to revamp the inventory and bill processing cycle. In this role, I managed a cross-functional & cross-regional team by collaborating with Store Operations, Category, Finance and Technology teams. During this tenure, one of the biggest challenges I faced was the complete adaptability of the process at the ground level. This was a major point in my growth curve and I learnt a lot about retail business operations and people-business relations.

Today

Today, I feel very fortunate to have been assigned a pivotal role in leading the operations for the Online and Home Delivery business of Nature's Basket. I also lead the new process initiatives at our stores. I am truly excited about the journey ahead and am looking forward, along with my team, to fulfill our ambitious growth aspirations.

2005 to 2008: Getting my hands dirty

The three years with the Corporate Legal team were extremely exciting. During this time, I got to work firsthand in over 7 acquisitions, restructuring projects and negotiations for GCPL and GAVL. This gave me my first inkling that I needed more than just a deep understanding of law if I was to make the most of a corporate career. Post discussions with my manager and some of the business heads in GIL and GCPL, I went on to do a post-graduation in business management.

2008 to 2013: More than just a lawyer

My whole career perspective changed on my return from ISB. During my first stint as the Executive Assistant to Adi Godrej and the two years thereafter that I spent in Corporate Strategy, I got to work with the brightest minds I have

ever encountered. I got perspectives on business and strategy that will forever shape my thought process as a manager. Post these 2 very interesting stints, I decided to move to an SBU.

2013 to 2015: My own department

In 2013, I got the opportunity to move to Godrej Properties and set up the strategy vertical for the business. This was an interesting challenge for me in two ways; first, this was a completely new business for me and second, I had never led a vertical in a company. GPL was then at a breakout phase of growth and I got to lead a company-wide exercise along with Bain to prepare the foundations for GPL to achieve its vision of 10 times growth in 10 years.

2015 onwards: A new challenge

After two years in strategy, GPL gave me