MAM
ELSA Corp India appoints cricketer Ajinkya Rahane as brand ambassador for India, Middle East, ANZ & SAARC
MUMBAI: ELSA Corp India, a global Edu-tech company, has today announced the appointment of Indian cricket test team vice captain Ajinkya Rahane as its brand ambassador for India, Middle East, ANZ and SAARC. ELSA Speak is a Mobile App, which uses speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to help language learners improve their English pronunciation.
The announcement was made through a web conference in the presence of Rahane along with ELSA Corp country head India Manit Parikh.
Rahane will be endorsing the brand’s mobile application. This association aims to popularise ELSA Speak amongst Indian individuals who want to better their English pronunciation.
Commenting on the announcement ELSA Corp country head India Manit Parikh said, “Ajinkya Rahane is a self-made man and is revered to be one of the most influential cricketers of our times. He is the perfect example of an individual who has worked hard not only on his core craft, but also on his personality, his confidence and how he carries himself on the field and off the ground. At ELSA,we have created an ecosystem of learning where individuals can master spoken English and become confident speakers, thereby helping them excel in the field of their choice. Ajinkya is the perfect embodiment of the ‘ELSA way of life’ and therefore he is the best fit. We are looking forward to a great partnership with him.”
Rahane said, “Communication on the field is very vital in the sport of cricket and playing the sport at a professional, international level, we need to be equipped to communicate effectively with key stakeholders – international colleagues, fans and media. Since English is a language commonly used in international cricket circles, it becomes very useful to be able to understand and speak the language. ELSA is a great communication tool that equips individuals by helping them learn the right pronunciation of words. I have used the app for a while now and I believe it can be a great resource to many who have not learnt English as their first language."
ELSA Speak is an AI-powered app aimed at an estimated 1.5 billion language learners in the world to learn to speak English more fluently, thereby changing their careers and lives. ELSA uses proprietary speech technology with deep learning and AI to detect people's pronunciation mistakes with 95 per cent+ accuracy. The app listens to the way language learners pronounce words, sentences or conversations to pinpoint exact errors and provide real-time feedback on pronunciation mistakes with specific suggestions on how to improve.
ELSA Speak is used by BPO/KPO, hospitality, aviation, retail, banking, call centres, schools, colleges, vocational training institutions and more in India and internationally. ELSA is the first startup in Asia to be funded by Google’s Gradient Ventures.
In the midst of Covid2019 and supporting PM Narendra Modi, ELSA announced a subscription grant worth Rs 56 crore for students in India.
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Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
