J Brrothers hires ex-JioStar marketing chief Vishal N. Sharma to head India operations

GUJARAT: America’s cannabis industry has just found its India anchor. J Brrothers LLC, a US cannabis company, has appointed Vishal N. Sharma, who spent seven years at JioStar as marketing director, as head of its India operations, tasking him with building out the company’s next phase of global expansion from Indian soil.

Sharma brings more than two decades of marketing, branding and business strategy experience spanning media, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics and FMCG. His climb began in pharmaceuticals, with sales stints at Sun Pharma and Glenmark, before he moved into brand promotion at Johnson’s Baby and business development at Asian Media and Marketing Group, handling NRI-facing publications across the US, UK and Dubai markets. He then spent over four years at The Sandesh Ltd, cutting his teeth on OOH, print and event marketing, before shifting into telecom with Uninor, part of Norway’s Telenor Group, and later Videocon Telecommunications and Videocon Mobile Phones, where he led brand and marketing communications across Gujarat and neighbouring states. A near two-and-a-half-year stint as marketing head for Gujarat at OPPO followed, before he joined Viacom18 Media in 2019, rising from senior marketing manager to head of marketing for the Gujarati cluster, a role he held until October 2024 and which eventually folded into JioStar following the merger.

For J Brrothers, the hire is not a branding flourish, it is infrastructure. The company, founded in 2013, runs three in-house brands (Shaka, Springtime and Zone), operates 19 dispensaries including Earth’s Healing, Nature’s Medicine and Clone Canabiss, and controls more than 500,000 square feet of cultivation and processing facilities across five US states, backed by 16 industry awards for cannabis genetics and cultivation. India is being positioned as its Global Capability Center, centralising branding, marketing, inventory management, accounting, reporting and data analytics to support the US business.

“I am excited to join this dynamic US-based organisation at a pivotal stage of its growth journey. India offers exceptional talent, innovation and operational capabilities, making it an ideal hub to support our US business,” said Vishal N. Sharma. “My priority is to build a world-class organisation that seamlessly integrates branding and marketing, inventory management, finance, reporting and data analytics to deliver agility, efficiency and business impact.”

Jiger Patel, chief executive of J Brrothers LLC, welcomed the appointment in similar terms. “We are delighted to welcome Vishal as our India head. With over two decades of leadership experience in building iconic brands and driving business growth, he brings exceptional strategic vision and business expertise to our team. I am confident Vishal will build a high-performing India operations, strengthen our Global Capability Center and play a pivotal role in accelerating our global growth,” he said.

It is an unlikely pairing on paper, streaming meets cannabis, but the logic is simple: J Brrothers wants India’s operational muscle behind a very American industry, and it has just handed the job to someone who has spent twenty years building brands for a living.