MAM
Metro Brands Ltd appoints Mohit Dhanjal as COO
Mumbai: Metro Brands Ltd, an Indian footwear retailer, has announced the appointment of Mohit Dhanjal as chief operating officer (COO), effective on 1 August 2024. Dhanjal brings a wealth of retail experience and a proven track record of leading strategic growth in the industry.
In his new role, Mohit Dhanjal will be driving operational excellence and process improvements to support the company’s growth initiatives. He will have a profound impact on shaping the strategic direction of the company and overseeing day-to-day operations.
“We are thrilled to welcome Mohit Dhanjal to our executive team,” said Metro Brands Ltd CEO Nissan Joseph. “Mohit’s extensive experience in Fashion and Lifestyle Retail, coupled with his visionary approach to cater the new-age customer, makes him a great fit to lead MBL’s operational strategy. We are confident that he will play a key role in accelerating our innovation and enhancing our competitive edge.”
Mohit joins Metro Brands Ltd from Reliance Retail, where he served as chief revenue officer for Tira Beauty & led the group’s foray into multi-brand beauty retailing in the prestige & luxury space in India. With over 30 years of experience in the retail sector, Dhanjal has held various leadership positions at Sephora (Arvind Fashions Ltd), Raymond Ltd, and Hindustan Unilever, where he demonstrated strong abilities to build and scale high-performing teams and deliver cutting-edge solutions.
“I am excited to join Metro Brands Ltd at such a pivotal time in its growth journey,” said Dhanjal. “I look forward to working with the multi-talented team here to help accelerate Metro’s strategic priorities and deliver exceptional value to our customers.”
MAM
Kiran Mani quits JioStar to lead OpenAI’s Asia Pacific push
The American AI giant poaches one of India’s most seasoned technology executives to drive its ambitions in the region, as India cements its place as a critical growth market
MUMBAI: Kiran Mani, the founding chief executive of JioHotstar and one of India’s most seasoned technology executives, has quit JioStar to become OpenAI’s managing director for Asia Pacific, a newly created role that signals how seriously the San Francisco-based AI company is betting on the region.
Mani, who stepped down as chief executive, digital at JioStar, will take up the position in June, relocating from Mumbai to Singapore. He will report directly to Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, sources privy to the development told ET.
The appointment is a coup for OpenAI. Mani spent more than 13 years at Google, where he ran the Android and Google Play business across Asia Pacific and Japan, and before that oversaw more than $5bn in advertising revenue as managing director of US retail, a role that also made him head of Google’s global retail practice. Earlier stints at Microsoft, IBM and Ogilvy & Mather round out a career that spans brand-building, P&L management and digital transformation across three continents.
At JioStar, he architected the merger of Viacom18 with Star India to create India’s largest media and entertainment platform, no small feat in a market notorious for its complexity.
The hire underscores a simple commercial reality: India is OpenAI’s second-largest global user base, and the broader Asia Pacific region is growing faster than almost anywhere else. Mani will lead regional strategy and operations from Singapore, inheriting a market that has become, as one source put it, a key growth engine for the company.
For OpenAI, the race to dominate Asian AI adoption is on. With Mani in the chair, it has found someone who knows exactly how to run hard.
