MAM
Madhukar Sabnavis on O&M’s worldwide board
MUMBAI: There seems to be an injection of Indian blood in the senior leadership team of global agencies. Last year, Vikram Sakuja 
became Maxus global CEO and McCann‘s Prasoon Joshi entered the Commonwealth board that was created to service the GM Chevy account. Now Ogilvy & Mather has named 12 new members on its worldwide board, one of them being O&M India vice chairman and country head, discovery and planning Madhukar Sabnavis.
WPP’s global creative agency network announced that Carla Hendra will take over as the vice chairman of its Worldwide Board.
The other new members on the board include Nelly Andersen, Executive Vice President of Global Brands, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Lou Aversano, Chief Operating Officer of Ogilvy East, Brandon Berger, Worldwide Chief Digital Officer, Shenan Chuang, CEO of O&M Greater China, Annette King, CEO of OgilvyOne EAME and Chairman of OgilvyOne London, Paul Matheson, Regional President Strategy and Planning of O&M Asia Pacific, Jaime Prieto, President of Global Brand Management, Ben Richards, Worldwide Head of Integrated Strategy, Gunther Schumacher, Worldwide Chief Operating Officer of OgilvyOne Worldwide, Steve Simpson, Chief Creative Officer of O&M North America and Paul Smith, Regional Creative Director EAME.
O&M board chairman and CEO Miles Young remarked, “These additions represent a wonderful range of our key talent and inject a significant infusion of new blood. Our Board will now be significantly more diverse, and I believe, will be reflective of and useful for many of the debates about content which need to happen at the heart of our business. I am so very pleased to announce that Carla has been elected to the role of Vice Chairman. Carla’s contribution over the years has been enormous, not least recently as the founder and driver of OgilvyRED. As our Board continues to grow, we will need someone with Carla’s laser focus and drive to help harness the diverse talents and viewpoints within our Board to the advantage of the entire agency.”
Brands
Dabur buys minority stake in Ras Beauty for Rs 60 crore
Dabur Ventures deal backs fast-growing luxury skincare brand
MUMBAI: Dabur India Limited has dipped into the world of luxury skincare, signing a definitive agreement to acquire a minority stake in Ras Beauty Private Limited for Rs 60 crore. The investment marks the first bet from Dabur Ventures, the FMCG major’s Rs 500 crore platform set up in October 2025 to back high-potential, new-age direct-to-consumer brands.
Founded in Raipur by Shubhika Jain, her sister Suramya Jain and their mother Sangeeta Jain, Ras Beauty has grown from a family-led passion project into a fast-scaling “Farm-to-Face” skincare label. Its range of face elixirs, serums and moisturisers blends essential oils with nature-derived actives, striking a balance between botanical purity and laboratory precision.
The numbers tell their own story. Ras has clocked a three-year Cagr of around 75 per cent and an annual run rate of approximately Rs 100 crore, all while maintaining strong gross margins. That growth has been fuelled by a digital-first approach, in-house R&D and manufacturing, and a sharp focus on clean, sustainable sourcing.
Dabur India executive director and group head corporate strategy Abhinav Dhall, said the company was drawn to Ras’s distinct positioning at the intersection of nature, science and luxury. He added that the premium beauty segment is poised for robust expansion over the coming decade, and that Ras is well placed to capture that opportunity.
For Ras, the partnership is as much about scale as it is about shared philosophy. Co-founder and CEO Shubhika Jain said Dabur’s 141-year legacy of building trusted, purpose-led brands makes it a natural ally. The capital infusion, she noted, will help accelerate the brand’s omnichannel footprint, deepen research capabilities and invest in team and brand building, with an eye on establishing Ras as a leading Indian luxury skincare name both domestically and overseas.
With this move, Dabur is not just investing in a skincare label. It is placing an early wager on India’s growing appetite for premium, conscious beauty, and signalling that heritage FMCG players are ready to play in the new-age D2C arena.
