Brands
Manforce and Ashley Rebello turn fashion into HIV awareness spotlight
MUMBAI: Fashion took on a fresh purpose at the Jio World Convention Centre as Manforce Condoms joined hands with designer Ashley Rebello for a World Aids Day showcase that blended style, culture and social good. The idea was simple yet striking: use fashion to spark candid conversations on HIV prevention and safe sex.
Rebello sent bold, latex-inspired creations down the runway, playing with symbolism around protection, empowerment and ownership of one’s choices. The unconventional materials stood in for a larger message, encouraging audiences to rethink stigma and approach sexual wellness with comfort rather than caution.
Star appeal added extra shine. Malaika Arora and Sunny Leone attended the event, amplifying the call to normalise discussions around safer intimacy and to keep HIV awareness in the national spotlight.
Strengthening the effort beyond the catwalk, Manforce announced a contribution of Rs 11 lakh to Saathii, a national non-profit working across 36 states and union territories to support marginalised communities with stigma-free healthcare and social services. The brand said the donation reflects its commitment to India’s goal of ending Aids by 2030.
Mankind Pharma chairman and managing director Rajeev Juneja said the initiative grew from an understanding that young consumers respond better to messages that balance safety with appeal. He noted that flavoured condoms and the launch of Epic, the brand’s thinnest non-flavoured variant, were earlier steps in that direction. Taking the message through fashion, he said, makes responsible choices feel relevant rather than remote.
Designer Ashley Rebello added that fashion has long been a universal language and this collaboration allowed creativity to champion a cause. Turning latex into couture was his way of transforming protection into a conversation starter.
Sunny Leone, who has been associated with the brand for years, said she was proud to support an initiative that encourages people to feel confident discussing safe sex and HIV prevention. She added that fashion makes the message modern, relatable and far more likely to travel.
With the showcase, Manforce reinforced its continuing efforts to promote safe sex and support wider HIV prevention initiatives, keeping public health at the heart of its advocacy.
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
