KLAY appoints Abhishek Joshi as CEO to drive next phase of growth

BENGALURU: As India’s focus on early childhood education gathers momentum, KLAY has brought in a seasoned consumer business leader to steer its next chapter. The company has appointed Abhishek Joshi as chief executive officer, tasking him with expanding KLAY’s presence and strengthening its position in the country’s growing early learning and childcare sector.

Joshi joins KLAY at a time when early childhood development is becoming a key focus area under India’s evolving education framework. His mandate includes building KLAY into a comprehensive early childhood ecosystem, deepening its offerings across learning, care and parent engagement, while broadening access to quality early education for families across the country.

The appointment reflects KLAY’s ambition to move beyond incremental growth and establish itself as a benchmark for early childhood education in India. The company argues that the first six years of a child’s life are critical, citing research that nearly 90 per cent of brain development occurs before that age.

Joshi brings more than two decades of experience in building and scaling consumer-facing businesses. Over the course of his career, he has held leadership positions at Licious, Jubilant FoodWorks, Hindustan Unilever and GCMMF. His experience spans business transformation, brand building and customer-focused growth strategies.

Commenting on the appointment, Founding Years Learning Solutions chairman Sandeep Reddy said India is reaching a turning point in how it views early childhood education.

“India is at an inflection point in how it thinks about the early years. The science is settled, what happens before a child turns six shapes the rest of their life,” said Founding Years Learning Solutions chairman Sandeep Reddy. He added that Joshi’s experience in building trusted consumer brands and scaling them without compromising quality made him the right leader to take KLAY into its next phase.

For his part, KLAY chief executive officer Abhishek Joshi said the opportunity to contribute to children’s formative years was a compelling reason to take on the role.

“Few things matter more than how a child experiences the first years of life. KLAY has earned something rare, the deep, daily trust of parents,” said KLAY chief executive officer Abhishek Joshi. He added that his focus would be on extending that trust to more families while helping children build a strong foundation for the future.

KLAY’s leadership transition comes as demand for organised childcare and structured early learning programmes continues to rise in urban India. With more dual-income households seeking reliable education and care solutions, the sector is attracting increased attention from both educators and investors.

By bringing in a leader with deep experience in scaling consumer brands, KLAY is signalling that its next stage of growth will be focused not only on expanding its footprint but also on shaping how early childhood education is delivered and experienced across India.