Dream chasing

Dream chasing

Twelve months after he quit Sify to move to the global web giant Yahoo’s India operations, George Zacharias, 48, has quit to pursue his own entrepreneurial ambitions.

The year he spent at Yahoo was certainly mixed, with the portal getting dragged to court by Sify for allegedly forging ID cards to take illegal pictures at Lakme India Fashion Week and later earning bloggers’ ire for lifting content for its regional language portals.

At the same time, Zacharias was key in driving Yahoo’s growth in the local market in the face of strong competition from both global and local players.

While Zacharias has spoken to a handful of venture capitalists to raise monies for his technology-focussed venture, he couldn’t be reached for comment on specifics.

“Yahoo India has been growing at a robust pace and the journey has been both challenging and rewarding,” Zacharias said, a trifle predictably, in a statement.

Back to first Lowe

Dust has obviously settled as far as Balki, aka, is concerned. The national creative head of Lowe India says “all is peaceful”.

It should be—after all Balki, 43, has none less than Lowe Worldwide CEO Steve Gatfield rooting for his cause. Recently, situation at Lowe India reached a flashpoint and at stake was distribution of proceeds from Lintas India stake sale to its international partner, the Interpublic Group (IPG).

The payout of this sale has gone to Lintas Employees Welfare Trust, whose biggest beneficiary is said to be Prem Mehta, Chairman, Lowe India.

So while there’s still no tangible relief for contract employees such as Balki, all the “worthy employees will be looked after,” he says. All eyes are on Balki as he’s tipped to lead charge of the agency’s fortunes and perhaps play a bigger role within the international framework.

The suitable boy

When it comes to perfect job fits, this one seems quite apt. , 59, who was managing director of foods at Hindustan Unilever, has now joined Kishore Biyani’s Future Group as a Consultant and Executive Board Member.

He joins the ‘convergence quorum’, which will specifically look at issues that arise as a result of the overlapping of the six businesses of the Future Group.

Considering his diverse profiles at HUL, that shouldn’t be difficult for Ravindranath, who joined HLL (now HUL) in 1975 in the non-management cadre.

In his three-decade stint at HUL, he held several positions, from management accountant, corporate accountant and commercial manager (personal products) to finally the managing director of foods. Though Ravindranath refused to talk about his new innings, it’s as multi-faceted as it can get.

Fresh pursuits

After a short 18-month stint at Anand Bazaar Patrika Group (ABP) as Managing Director and CEO,  has put in his papers.

The former McKinsey partner and the former dean of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, said that with his responsibilities met, it was time to leave. At ABP, one of his last initiatives was in the digital media and entertainment space that was aimed at diversifying revenue streams.

“There is a very competent team to take things forward,” he says. While mum’s the word on future plans, Sinha, 43, wants to take a break for a couple of months and spend time with his family, travel and devote time to his family-owned Hindi literary magazine—Nai Dhara (in his family since 1949).

On going back to ISB, Sinha says that’s the long-term plan but will happen much later in life.

Indian rising

“There is no stopping India,” declares Jaspal Bindra, Regional CEO for South East and South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank. India is reaping its macro-economic and demographic dividends and the degree and the pace of growth may be the only argument, reckons Bindra.

Appointed a director to Standard Chartered Bank, the main wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Standard Chartered Plc, Bindra, 46, believes it is a tribute to India’s contribution and a statement of how important the country has become to the bank.

“I am honoured to be the face that is being rewarded,” he says rather modestly. The appointment will provide Bindra with an opportunity to get involved in decision-making across the bank. He will continue to be based out of Singapore.

Meanwhile, another Indian, Sunil Mittal, has also joined the board of the bank’s holding company, Standard Chartered Plc this month.

Crusade call

A couple of weeks into his new role and the new CMD of BSNL Kuldeep Goyal, 57, is busy putting his house in order. “The immediate task is to get the things in order so that we can continue to expand our customer base,” says Goyal.

Taking over soon after the tender controversy about 23 million new connections, Goyal asserts: “We are just trying to ensure that the equipment procurement is expedited and the new systems are operational at the earliest.” He is also keen to get 3G rolled out by the end of this year. Goyal has by and large been a man of results.

During his short tenure of 10 months as Executive Director, MTNL Mumbai, he was able to achieve a 100 per cent growth in GSM connections. For the moment, Goyal is busy mobilising all his resources to get over the connection glitch. Private sector rivals had better watch out.