MAM
Kia shifts gears with new chiefs steering sales and business in India
MUMBAI: Kia India is switching lanes in style and it’s bringing two seasoned drivers to the wheel. The carmaker has announced a leadership shuffle, appointing Sunhack Park as chief sales officer (CSO) and Joonsu Cho as chief business officer (CBO), signalling a bold new lap in its India journey. Park, who brings 28 years of global automotive experience, has worked across South Korea, the Middle East & Africa, and India, and now takes charge of Kia India’s sales strategy. His focus? Sustainable growth, tighter operational efficiency, and expanding Kia’s footprint in one of the world’s most competitive car markets.
Cho, with over 32 years of leadership experience spanning Australia, the UK, and Europe, will steer business strategy, production planning, exports, and alliances as CBO. His role puts him squarely in the pit crew for Kia India’s next phase of expansion, ensuring the brand accelerates with precision and consistency.
“This is an exciting phase for the brand as we continue to expand our presence in a dynamic and evolving market,” said Park, underscoring his intent to boost dealer networks and sharpen Kia’s sales edge.
Cho added: “Kia India has made remarkable strides in the market, and my priority will be to develop and execute robust business strategies that support sustainable growth and operational excellence.”
The appointments reinforce Kia’s long-term commitment to India, where the brand has quickly carved out a premium niche since entering in 2019. With Park and Cho in the cockpit, Kia seems ready to keep the pedal pressed on innovation and growth in the fast-changing Indian auto landscape.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
