Hemant Bakshi and Sandeep Kohli: Two Unilever execs return to take up CEO roles in India

Hemant Bakshi, who was the executive vice president - Unilever marketplace and chairman - Unilever Indonesia, has joined Ola as the chief executive officer. Bakshi will be stepping into the shoes of Bhavish Aggarwal.

Bakshi had joined Ola in his new role four months ago, reports stated. As the Global Head and Executive Vice President of Unilever Marketplace, Bakshi has built a digitally native eB2B business that connected directly with more than 250,000 traditional trade stores across 12 markets in Latam, Asia and Middle-East.

In his previous role, Bakshi led the transformation of Unilever Indonesia, aligned to the changing Muslim culture in the country and also digitized the Route to Market. Bakshi is known for building a diverse, fully gender-balanced leadership team of local talent while delivering profitable growth.

Aditya Birla Group (ABG) has appointed Sandeep Kohli as the CEO of Novel Jewels, according to industry sources.

As per reports, Kohli will take up the new role in April 2024. He had handled different mandates at Unilever (UL), the latest being the General Manager and Beauty & Wellbeing Director at Unilever Indonesia. He has also been a board member in the UL board in markets such as India, Indonesia and also North Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia region. He joined the company in 1993 as a sales and marketing management trainee at HUL and eventually took on mandates in London and several regions across Asia.