Brands
McKinsey pro makes atomic leap into venture capital
MUMBAI: Manish Jain has joined Atomic Capital as partner, swapping spreadsheets for seed rounds after nearly a decade at McKinsey & Co. The former associate partner at the blue-chip consulting firm will now hunt for high-conviction investments across India’s burgeoning startup landscape.
At McKinsey Jain spent nearly four years as associate partner, following stints as engagement manager and associate. During his consultancy career, he advised leading conglomerates and high-growth businesses across logistics, e-commerce, industrials and technology sectors—experience that should prove valuable in his new venture capital role.
Before donning the consultant’s hat, Jain cut his teeth at ITC, where he gained operational experience as assistant manager at the company’s second-largest food factory. There, he led a team of five functional heads managing a workforce of over 1,200 employees—reportedly becoming the firm’s youngest plant head.
His relationship with ITC began during a summer internship in 2009, where he designed custom automation solutions that increased workforce productivity by 20 per cent at the company’s “ready-to-eat” food plant. The project impressed enough to secure him a pre-placement job offer.
At Atomic Capital, Jain joins a firm that prides itself on backing founders “not just with capital—but with conviction, clarity, and company-building muscle.”
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
