Hires & Promotions: Byju’s, StashFin, Lowe Lintas, Shopify, Usha International

Byju’s Appoints Mukut Deepak As Head Of Business 

Byju’s has appointed Mukut Deepak as Head of Business to lead its class 4 to 10 school segment. 

In his role, Mukut will be responsible for expanding and leading the flagship business for the class 4 to 10 segment. Working in conjunction with the product, marketing, and sales teams, Mukut will forecast, build and propose strategies for the growth of his vertical and establish systems and operations to optimize the company's goals. He will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer of BYJU’S, Mrinal Mohit.

Pravin Prakash, Chief People Officer, Byju’s, said, “Mukut’s strong expertise in developing businesses for various corporations will help scale the offerings of brand Byju’s for classes 4 to 10. We are confident that under his able leadership the business will further strengthen and we look forward to extending all the support in his journey with us.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mukut Deepak said, “I am delighted to be associated with the vertical that formed the bedrock of BYJU’S foundation. I am looking forward to further building and scaling the business and making Byju’s the most preferred after-school destination for students across the country.”

Before joining BYJU’S, Mukut was the Chief Business Development Officer at Tata Sky Limited and a Director for Tata Sky’s Digital venture. A business leader with over two decades of experience in varied sectors, he brings on board his expertise in envisioning and building new-age digital businesses, entrepreneurship, sales, strategy, service excellence, and more. He has been an entrepreneur twice over, once as a founder of a distribution venture focussed on retailing innovative financial services products called Distribution 2.0 and then as a Director and Head of advisory for a logistics start-up called Thinklink Supply Chain Services.

Mukut spent nearly a decade in management consulting across Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company working with CEOs and board members across a host of topics. He started his career in the sales and marketing function at Unilever (India), often cited as the school for CEOs. He has won several awards and accolades during his professional career in various domains such as consumer goods and services, IT, media, telecom, and private equity.

Mukut holds a degree in business administration from India Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

StashFin Appoints Gaurav Nijhawan As VP Marketing, Brand & Communication

Neobanking's startup StashFin has appointed Gaurav Nijhawan as Vice President of Marketing, Brand and Communication. Nijhawan, a versatile marketer, has extensive experience in building brands and will be responsible for leading the marketing, brand and communication function for StashFin. 

Nijhawan brings more than 12 years of marketing expertise, working across industries such as BFSI, FMCG, Consulting, Liquor, Technology, etc. Nijhawan, who has worked for some of the largest brands, brings a broad and diverse set of marketing and communication expertise to StashFin. In his last stint, Nijhawan was leading brand marketing for the cards and lending division at Citi. He also holds an MBA from the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad. Gaurav Nijhawan’s appointment will play a key role in scripting StashFin’s growth story. His experience and expertise will enable StashFin to expand its brand narratives to reach the right audience across demographics.

“Nijhawan is an outstanding addition to our team, as he brings a deep blend of brand and digital expertise and has extensive experience in building brands,” said Tushar Aggarwal, CEO and Founder of StashFin. “Gaurav’s marketing acumen and his strong background in building top marketing and communication teams will accelerate StashFin’s growth. We are thrilled to have him on board!” stated Tushar Aggarwal. 

Speaking about his role at StashFin, Gaurav Nijhawan added, “I am very excited to join the StashFin team and look forward to leveraging my expertise in driving growth for the brand. StashFin is one of the most innovative players in the Fintech space and this is a unique opportunity for me to combine all my experience into propelling StashFin as the preferred brand amongst consumers.”  

Vasudha Misra Appointed Lowe Lintas' Creative Officer Of Delhi Region

Lowe Lintas has appointed Vasudha Misra as its Regional Creative Officer, strengthening the creative leadership at their Delhi office. Misra was working with BBH India, prior to joining Lowe Lintas. 

“She is a rare mix known to bring the understanding of ‘cool’, and maturity and experience of a hard-nosed veteran. In her new role, she will work on the brands from the agency’s Delhi office,” the agency said.

Speaking about Misra’s appointment Prateek Bhardwaj, CCO, Lowe Lintas commented, “Vasudha and Lowe Lintas were simply meant to be. Over the years, she has built a body of work that would sit perfectly in a Lowe Lintas greatest hits reel – strategically powerful, creatively brilliant. With a cool, new-age edge. Borrowing a line from one of her campaigns, I’d say this really feels like the start of something epic.”

Misra, a mass communications graduate, started her advertising career with FCB Ulka, and went on to become one of the youngest women creative heads at the agency. Over the past 19+ years, she has worked on several successful brand campaigns, including Naukri.com, Jeevansathi, 99acres and Tata Docomo. 

Commenting on her new role, Vasudha Misra said, “I am very excited to be a part of Lowe Lintas. Over the years, I have watched several iconic campaigns that Lowe has done, with great admiration. And I look forward to helping Prateek take this incredible legacy forward.”

Shopify Appoints Bharati Balakrishnan To Spearhead India Market Growth 

Shopify has appointed Bharati Balakrishnan as Country Head and Director, India, to spearhead its business in the world’s fastest-growing eCommerce market of 2021 (eMarketer).

Balakrishnan will be leading a growing team that will continue to focus on supporting made in India companies of all sizes and flavours on their journey to becoming leading global DTC brands. Balakrishnan also intends to draw on her deep ties with the Indian ecommerce and start-up communities to strengthen Shopify’s robust ecosystem of partners and developers as a key source of tailored apps and tools to help merchants start, scale, grow and manage their businesses. 

Bharati joins Shopify with more than 15 years of experience in various roles at global management and tech firms, including Alibaba, Bain & Co, Future Group and Paytm. Her deep operating experience in building national brands from the ground-up, coupled with broad expertise straddling brick-and-mortar, distribution, eCommerce, and India’s burgeoning start-up ecosystem, will help drive Shopify India’s continued growth. 

On her appointment, Balakrishnan shared, “I have 3 simple goals: reinforce Shopify’s position as the go-to commerce platform for Indian businesses of all sizes; further reinforce our reputation as a merchant-first platform and grow Shopify’s key merchant and partner relationships.”

“Shopify is here to make commerce better for everyone as your eCommerce partner of choice. Whether you are starting an online store from scratch, preparing to expand globally, or thinking of how to deliver to your first Chandigarh customer from Kolkata, come collaborate with Shopify. There are more entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMBs emerging all across India than ever before, and Shopify is here to help them grow” emphasized Balakrishnan

Usha International Appoints Anshuman Chakravarty As VP-Marketing

Usha International has appointed Anshuman Chakravarty as Vice President, Marketing of the Home Appliances Business of Usha. Anshuman was working with Orient Electrics as the head of marketing, brand & Corporate communications, prior to joining Usha, as per the media reports.

Anshuman will be reporting to Krisna Shriram, Executive Chairman & CMO at Usha International.