Brands
The Body Shop India joins hands with Plan International to support female empowerment this Christmas
MUMBAI: Known to be a feminist brand standing for female empowerment and gender equality, The Body Shop recently announced its partnership with Plan International, a global non-profit organisation that is leading the movement to campaign for the rights of young women and girls, to take their fight against gender inequality a step further.
The announcement was made at an event in Delhi where the brand took to the platform a panel of 5 successful women from different walks of life that chose to break the stereotype and fulfil their dreams. An open-ended conversation with The Body Shop India vice president, marketing, merchandising and e-commerce Harmeet Singh and panellists Plan International India executive director Anuja Bansal, Professional Super Biker Niharika Yadav, first female police superintendent of Tihar men’s jail Anju Mangla, and the first female DTC bus driver Vankadarath Saritha, led to unfolding of inspirational stories of their struggles and success.
The Body Shop India VP marketing, merchandising e-commerce Harmeet Singh said, “In a corporate career spanning 20+ years, I have seen numerous instances of disparity between men and women – women are often disadvantaged to succeed despite being as capable and more. Self-belief has played a big role in my journey and I truly hope young girls everywhere believe in themselves and have the support of their family and community to achieve what they want to be. I am an advocate for gender equality and my dream for a better world is one where men and women are treated equally.”
For the past 40 years, The Body Shop has been a quintessential beauty brand with its foundations in women empowerment. They have shown that being environmentally sustainable, people-centred and profitable can go hand in hand. From creating opportunities for people to improve their lives to giving back to local communities and nature, it has established its position as an environment-friendly, cruelty-free and sustainable brand.
PLAN International India executive director Anuja Bansal said, "The commitment to achieve sustainable social goals is non-negotiable and inclusion of girls and women in all SDGS is a must. I have committed myself to the cause of social development of women and children. Having worked across several organisations, I have made my humble contribution to helping children and women realize their potential. Presently at Plan India, as the executive director, I envision our organisation reaching out to communities and societies at large, with strong gender-transformative programmers for children and girls so that they all can learn, lead, decide and thrive.”
The Body Shop India is also urging its customers to contribute towards the initiative by making small voluntary donation on the transactions at The Body Shop stores and online from December 2019 -January 2020 proceeds which will go towards to Plan International's India project Saksham-an initiative to enable disadvantaged young women, to escape poverty and become economically secure by equipping them with essential life and market-oriented vocational skills.
Brands
Tessolve lands a semiconductor veteran to drive its next big push
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, who started his career at ISRO and has spent 35 years building chips and companies, joins the Bengaluru-based firm as president and chief operating officer
BENGALURU: Tessolve has never been shy about its ambitions. The Bengaluru-based engineering services firm already counts 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies among its clients, employs more than 3,500 engineers across 12 countries, and last year pocketed a $150m investment from TPG. Now it has hired the executive it believes can turn those assets into something bigger. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, a 35-year semiconductor veteran who once built satellite payloads for ISRO and has since scaled engineering organisations across three continents, joins as president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.
THE MAN AND THE MANDATE
The appointment is, by any measure, a serious hire. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu comes to Tessolve after senior leadership stints at HCL Technologies, Altran and Wipro, where he managed large profit-and-loss portfolios and oversaw cross-regional teams. Over the course of his career, he has been instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new products to market across the high-tech, energy and manufacturing verticals. Before the private sector claimed him, he began his working life as a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, contributing to research and development in charge-coupled device technology and satellite payloads, a foundation that shaped everything that followed.
In his new role, he will lead Tessolve’s global growth strategy: expanding its engineering capabilities, deepening customer relationships and accelerating innovation across semiconductor and high-performance computing domains. The brief is broad, but the context is specific. Tessolve operates in the $550 billion global semiconductor market, and its recent moves, the acquisition of Germany’s Dream Chip Technologies and the TPG funding round, have sharpened both its reach and its expectations.
Srini Chinamilli, co-founder and chief executive of Tessolve, is characteristically direct about why Ravi Kumar Chirugudu was the choice:
“As we scale our global semiconductor and system engineering capabilities, Ravi’s appointment marks an important step forward. As global semiconductor demand continues to accelerate across industries, it is creating significant opportunities across the semiconductor lifecycle, from design, packaging, validation and systems integration. Ravi’s deep knowledge and leadership in this ecosystem brings the right mix of industry expertise, customer connect and execution capability, which will play a key role in strengthening our position as a trusted global engineering partner and reinforcing our market leadership.”
THE NEW ARRIVAL SPEAKS
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, for his part, frames the move in terms of timing and culture, two factors that veteran executives tend to weigh as heavily as title or compensation:
“I am happy to join Tessolve at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving towards more complex, AI-driven systems. What stands out to me is its strong people-first culture and its commitment to bringing value to its customers. The strength of its global team, combined with its deep expertise in semiconductor innovation and next-generation product engineering, creates a solid foundation to build differentiated, scalable solutions. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive strategic growth and strengthen its role in shaping the global semiconductor ecosystem.”
The reference to AI-driven systems is not incidental. The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a structural reshaping, driven by the insatiable compute demands of artificial intelligence. For engineering services firms like Tessolve, which offers end-to-end capabilities from silicon design to packaged parts and invests in high-performance computing, high-speed interfaces, photonics and 5G, the moment is both an opportunity and a test. The company says it is well positioned to capture the next wave of industry growth. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu is now the person who has to prove it.
He came in from outer space, literally, and spent three decades learning how the semiconductor industry works from the inside out. Now Tessolve is betting that accumulated knowledge can help it cross the next frontier. In the $550 billion global chip market, the gap between ambition and execution is measured in engineering hours and leadership quality. Tessolve has just gone shopping for both.
