December 2021 has already seen two Indians take the centrestage of global fashion world. While Harnaaz Sandhu won the coveted Miss Universe title and brought home the honours after 21 years, the icing on the cake was to see Leena Nair become the global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the French luxury fashion group Chanel.
But then, in hindsight, it hasn’t evoked much surprise either considering the way Indians have dominated the global scene in last two decades predominantly in the IT and consumer sector and lately in apparel fashion. So, while Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella have already been recognised globally for their intellect and leadership, many others like Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks have been spearheading global roles in some of the largest IT conglomerates across continents. And the numbers are only growing….
However, it is no longer about IT! The global apparel and fashion world too has witnessed appointment of several high-profile Indian and Indian-origin big shots in recent times. Leena Nair is one such high-profile Indian honcho that the world of fashion retail is talking about these days – and why not! With an experience of over 30 years at Unilever, Leena is the newest global CEO at Chanel.
Chanel couldn’t have asked for anyone better than Leena. Even during her stint as Unilever’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Leena undertook notable initiatives such as formulating a four-pillar Wellbeing Framework so as to address the physical, mental, emotional and purposeful well-being for employees.
For someone, who believes that employee’s well-being is at the heart of any organisation’s success, Leena had once said, “If you want to support your people, you need to understand how the business works, and you need to be visible within the business. So get out there and make some waves!” Leena was recently awarded the Great British Businesswoman Role Model of the Year.
Leena also had the enviable distinction of being the first female, first Asian and youngest-ever CHRO at FMCG major Unilever and with fashion world changing fast, there couldn’t have been a better time than now for Chanel to hire the talent of Leena, who will now be succeeding Co-owner and Chairman Alain Wertheimer.
The exuberance over Leena’s appointment was quite much the same when one saw Deepika Rana being promoted by Li & Fung as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) earlier this year. Ever since her appointment to the coveted post, she has been instrumental in leveraging Li & Fung’s scale and integrating its diverse services to set up a continually focused customer-centric offering. Besides, she has also been accountable for defining strategic goals in addition to managing profit and loss of the firm and driving its business growth.
Deepika, who holds a Master of Arts degree in Business Economics from the University of Delhi, is also core to championing innovative solutions and value-added business strategies at Li & Fung, thereby enhancing value at the Hong Kong-based firm’s esteemed clients and customers. Back in 2014, when Deepika was promoted as an Executive Director – Indian Subcontinent & Sub Saharan Africa, she had overseen turnover worth US $ 2.2 billion across nine production countries. She has only been growing since then.
Following her appointment as COO at Li & Fung, Deepika had said in one of her LinkedIn posts “I’m excited to take on the role of COO at Li & Fung where I will be leading our Account Management teams and Sourcing Production Platform to drive operational excellence for our apparel customers. I will also be championing our strategic initiatives including the Denim Lab, Costing and Fabric COE, Global Vendor Management and Operations Excellence.”
Li & Fung, the globally renowned supply chain management firm, therefore couldn’t have had too many choices to go with for the post of COO, other than Deepika, considering her rich experience in strategic sourcing and operations.
Then there’s Sonia Syngal, the ever-smiling India-born American-Canadian businesswoman, who has been serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer at American fashion retailer Gap since March 2020. Prior to taking Gap to the path of success and glory, Sonia had held senior posts in non-apparel sectors too – whether it was at Ford Motor Co. or Sun Microsystems.
For a lady with an Engineering background, the growth hasn’t come as a surprise. Sonia became a part of Gap in 2004 and served as a Managing Director of Gap Inc. Europe before taking on Old Navy – the reputed American clothing firm owned by Gap Inc. – to greater heights.
In fact, during her stint at Old Navy as the CEO, the company was, reportedly, named a Great Place to Work for three consecutive years (2016, 2017 and 2018). Sonia has today become the face of Gap and is also one of the few female CEOs in the Fortune 500. She also said, as per media reports, that the company increased its known customer file by 14 per cent last year to over 183 million, while also making it easier to shop with buy online, pick up in store options, curbside pick-up and new payment methods.
There haven’t been many who have received a salary of US $ 1.2 million, an incentive pay of US $ 1.8 million and US $ 168,054 in other compensation – not to mention US $ 94,679 in personal use of the company airplane. Sonia is amongst the few who can boast of the same today.
It’s not just been about women! October 2021 saw Levi Strauss & Co. promote Sanjeev Mohanty as the head of US and Canada’s commercial operations. Notably, Sanjeev became the first Indian executive in the fashion sector to bag this global role – thereby joining the group of fast-growing number of Indians in tech and consumer sectors who are heading the operations worldwide.
Before being promoted, Sanjeev served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of South Asia-Middle East and Africa for Levi Strauss & Co., wherein his dynamism and leadership skills helped the US denim giant attain immeasurable success.
It was during this time, Levi’s introduced a company-operated e-commerce platform in India, which brought in a new set of customers for the retailer in India. Also worth mentioning is that the clothing retailer saw its global direct-to-consumer (DTC) business go up by 12 per cent in the third quarter of 2018 – a double-digit growth for 15 successive quarters. Within that, Levi’s e-commerce business rose by 21 per cent, with increased traffic in the Americas, Europe and Asia. That says it all about Sanjeev!
Substantiating on Sanjeev’s contribution, Seth Ellison, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Levi Strauss & Co., averred, “Sanjeev has strengthened our business and our teams in South Asia, where some of our most important markets are located, to deliver industry-leading results.”
However, it’s not about fashion retail alone; Indians have been making a significant mark in other sectors too, including furniture and grocery. Farooq Kathwari is one such person, who runs Ethan Allen, a furniture manufacturer and retailer that has a market value of US $ 613 million. Under Farooq’s leadership, Ethan Allen has been transformed into a leading manufacturer and retailer of home furnishings in the United States.
Once Farooq moved to the US, back in 1960s, he worked as a bookkeeper and soon unveiled his maiden entrepreneurial venture by selling Kashmiri crafts out of his Brooklyn apartment. It was just a matter of time before Farooq became a known name in the world of furniture.
Albertsons Companies, Inc., the second largest supermarket chain in North America after Kroger, also has an Indian as the CEO – that’s Vivek Sankaran. Vivek has been instrumental in the success of the 82-year-old firm that today has around 2,300 stores with a market value of US $ 14 billion.
The success of Leena, Deepika, Sonia, Sanjeev, Farooq and Vivek in this fast-growing fashion and retail world has inspired many such Indian-origin men and women to never put a limit to their dreams. After all, hadn’t Napoleon Hill once said “Do not wait: The time will never be just right!”
