Brands
Marico buys S. Africa’s ethnic hair-styling leader Isoplus
MUMBAI: Marico South Africa Pty. Limited (MSA), a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Marico Limited, has announced the acquisition of business including related intellectual property rights of Isoplus, a leading hair styling brand in South Africa from JM Products SA Pty. Limited (JM Products) and Mary L Harris, its owner, for a consideration of 75 million South African Rand (around Rs 360 million) at a revenue multiple of 1.2. This strategic buyout will enable MSA to become a full spectrum ethnic hair care company in South Africa.
The acquisition comprises purchase of manufacturing facilities, working capital and all intellectual property rights owned by JM Products and Ms. Mary L Harris. The acquisition is expected to be fully consummated by mid-Q3 FY18.
Founded in 1995, JM Products is one of the largest African-American owned companies that manufactures hair care products in South Africa. The business operates in styling products, the second fastest growing segment within ethnic hair care. With a value market share of 27%, Isoplus is the leader in the styling segment, with oil sheens and styling gels being the main contributors to the brand’s top line. In 2016, J M Products clocked a sales turnover of 62 million South African Rand (circa Rs 300 million).
Marico is currently present in South Africa through brands like Caivil, Black Chic, Just for Kids, Hercules and Medi-Pac and is amongst the key players in the aftercare maintenance, chemical treatments and hair colour segments. This acquisition of the styling business of JM Products makes Marico’s portfolio in ethnic hair care complete.
Commenting on the acquisition, Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO, Marico Limited, said “This bolt-on acquisition plugs a critical gap in Marico’s portfolio in the ethnic hair care space in South Africa. Isoplus has a strong consumer franchise and I am confident that the team will leverage its strengths and expertise to further grow the business.”
John Mason, Managing Director and Business Head, MSA commented, “I am excited with this acquisition. The strength of the brand Isoplus coupled with years of sales and marketing expertise developed within will enable us to grow both, the category and our presence in the category in the long run.”
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.
