grow your business to the next level. contact yfactor for fmcg expertise in india

Company Confidential, YFactor Marketing Private Limited.2.11.14

YFactor Synergy Convergence Growth


About Us

YFactor provides Management Advisory Services focused on Business Strategy, Supply Chain, Human

Resources, Systems and Processes, Branding and Distribution. Our key target segment is Fast Moving

Consumer Goods and Consumer Facing Businesses in India and South Asia. We also work in partnership

with VC and PE funds for Private Equity Placement for the same target segment.

YFactor was established in 2009 by Debu Bhatnagar (IIT Kanpur, IIM Calcutta) and Shashi Kalathil (DCE, IIM-

Bangalore) who are both seasoned professionals in consumer oriented businesses. A brief summary of their

experience is given below:

Debu Bhatnagar

More than 30 years of General Management, Sales and Marketing experience focused on the FMCG,

Telecom and Entertainment areas in India, Sri Lanka and the UK.

14 years at Hindustan Unilever in Sales and Marketing.

9 years in Chief Executive Positions at Benckiser, ICI, RPG Group and Bajaj Corp.

7 years with Hemas Sri Lanka as Sector Head of FMCG (Hemas is the 2nd largest non-food FMCG

business in Sri Lanka with close to 30% Market Share through their own brands).

Debu is the Managing Director of YFactor.

Shashi Kalathil

Over 27 years of General Management, Sales and Marketing experience focused on the FMCG,

Telecom, Media and Entertainment areas.

12 years at Hindustan Unilever in Sales and Marketing.

3+ years with RPG Cellular (one of the early cell phone start ups) as Head of Marketing, Sales and

Customer Services.

6 years with Pepsico. Experience included role of Director, South India Operations and Executive

Director Marketing, South Asia

6 years with Tata Communications, Neo Sports and Future Group in Chief Executive Positions.

Shashi is based in Mumbai and is a Director on the Board of YFactor. He is also a partner at

Exponentia Capital Partners LLP


Our Services

Management Advisory

YFactor provides long term advisory services to companies spanning all aspects of the business cycle. Our

engagements typically cover three phases:

Diagnostic: where we interact closely with company senior management, trade and business

partners, consumers and other stake holders to identify key elements that need focus and

improvement.

Strategy Formulation: This phase includes formulation of robust Business Plans. These are backed

up with the wealth of experience that YFactor partners and advisors have in working with a wide range

of FMCG companies in India as well as relevant research and testing where required.

Implementation: This phase may encompass a very wide range of corporate activity. On the HR side

it may include recruitment of key personnel and training. In Marketing there could be relaunches of

existing brands or new product development. YFactor stays engaged with companies over a long

period as they implement strategic plans to guide, control and mentor the process.

Distribution

Effectively reaching products to India’s vast and dispersed population remains one of the greatest challenges

facing marketers. YFactor provides solutions covering the following areas:

System design and Organisation Structure: There are no ‘one size fits all’ solutions in distribution.

YFactor tailors solutions for different companies based on their specific requirements in terms of reach,

cost and intensity. Thereafter we help companies to recruit senior sales managers who will help them

to fulfill their objectives. We stay engaged till the system has stabilized and is working smoothly.

Sales Training: Sales force productivity and effectiveness are key concern areas. YFactor provides

customized sales training solutions to help companies to stay ahead in this area.

Human Resources

YFactor provides a range of HR services for our clients:

Search+: Most head hunting firms lack domain expertise in FMCG. Traditional search firms are

reluctant to deal with lower budgets and mid-level positions. Search+ from YFactor is focused on

FMCG companies. We are in a position to hire candidates for middle management to senior positions

using our internal resources.

Training: YFactor has the expertise to provide a range of training solutions ranging from mentoring of

Sales and Marketing teams to Soft Skills.

HR Systems: We can set up HR systems ranging from induction, compensation and benefits,

performance management, HR policies and so on.

Development Centres: External evaluation of employee performance is possible via development

centres conducted by our experienced personnel.

Supply Chain

YFactor provides advisory services for:

New Product Development including formulations and packaging

Manufacturing facilities set up and finding contract manufacturing solutions

Raw and Packing materials sourcing

Logistics and Business Planning

India Entry

The growth of India’s vast consumer market has been very robust over the last decade. Most of the larger

multinational companies have already established a presence here. Smaller companies based abroad are


finding India increasingly attractive and are interested in entering as soon as possible. YFactor provides various

services that are useful for overseas companies who wish to enter India:

Market Mapping and determination of sales potential

Supply chain structure including determination of import duties and channel margins

Identification and evaluation of potential distributors and channel partners

Advise on appropriate corporate structure

Help in staffing and recruitment of key personnel

Private Equity

Family owned businesses in India have undergone rapid growth over the last ten years. This growth has led to

a requirement of funds to fuel expansion. YFactor has had an association with Sequoia Capital for close to a

year. We continue to maintain close links with leading Private Equity funds to provide capital for our clients. We

have developed a close understanding of several sub sectors in the FMCG space and have mapped the

segment thoroughly from the perspective of funds infusion and M&A.


Our Team

Along with Debu Bhatnagar and Shashi Kalathil, the key members of our team are:

Ajay Khanna

Ajay has an Honours degree in Economics from

Hindu College, Delhi University followed by an

MBA in Marketing and Finance from IIM

Ahmadabad. Ajay spent 9 years at Hindustan

Unilever where he initially worked in Detergent

Sales for East Zone, then handled Marketing for

the Paras Agribusiness portfolio, and later was

involved in the turnaround of the Footwear export

business in Chennai as Business Development

Manager. Subsequently he joined PepsiCo and

spent 9 years there, including the roles of Head of

Beverage Sales (Calcutta), I&S Manager (Internal

Change Consultants), General Manager –

Franchise, North India, Goa & Nepal, (New Delhi),

Regional Key Account Manager (Hong Kong), and

finally Franchise Director (Indonesia) for both

Beverages and Snack Foods. Ajay then spent 4

years with Electronic Arts Inc. as General Manager

for India, where he devised and executed the entry

strategy of EA in India. Ajay is uniquely a

Marketing and Sales manager with a strong

financial background. He is an expert on General

Management, Strategic/ Financial Planning, Project

Start Up/Scale Up, Financial Re-Engineering and

Business Turnaround with a focus on turning

around and scaling up small and medium sized

business. Ajay Khanna is based in Delhi and is a

Senior Advisor with YFactor.

Abhijit Sanyal

Abhijit has a degree in Mechanical Engineering

from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA in Marketing from

IIM Ahmedabad. He was initially with Hindustan

Unilever for 7 years where he worked in Sales and

Marketing in Soaps and Detergents as well as

Foods and Beverages. Subsequently, he spent

close to 6 years with Bausch and Lomb as VP

Eyewear. Abhijit has also worked with Best Foods

and UDV before joining Boots Piramal as CEO

where was involved with relaunches for several key

brands - Strepsils, Saridon, Clearasil, Polycrol and

Sweetex. Lately, he has been part of the Reliance

Retail Foods team and was involved with their

rapid expansion. He has worked as Group CEO for

a large FMCG Business in East Africa based in

Tanzania and having operations in 13 countries.

The company also had a Plastics & Metals

business. It is the leading FMCG Company in its

home country with its flagship Toothpaste brand

having a 79% market share. Abhijit Sanyal is

based in Mumbai and is a Senior Advisor with

YFactor.

Rajiv Khurana

Rajiv has a Masters in Pharmaceutical Technology

from Punjab University, Chandigarh and a

Graduate Diploma in Packaging from the Indian

Institute of Packaging and Asian Packaging

Federation. Rajiv spent 25 years with Reckitt

Benckiser in India, rising to the post of Technical

Director, South Asia. He was involved in several

global initiatives during his stint with Reckitts. He

established his own Consulting firm, Triaksha in

2006 providing end to end solutions for technology

and supply chain issues for FMCG Companies.

During this period he was involved with many

FMCG clients such as VLCC, Reckitts and Sahara

for a range of projects including New Product

Development, Vendor Development, Quality

Assurance and Regulatory Matters. Rajiv has been

associated with YFactor since 2011. He was

involved in a techno-economic feasibility study for


a US based Personal Care company who wanted

to set up a manufacturing facility in India. He is

also working on locating contract manufacturers for

the same company as well as technical and legal

matters for a UK based client. Rajiv Khurana is

based in Delhi and is a Senior Advisor with

YFactor.

Devi Muthu Bhatnagar

Devi has a degree in Physics from Madras

University followed by an MBA in Marketing and

HR from IIM Kolkata. Her experience spans both

the Market Research and HR fields. She has

worked with AC Nielsen in their Mumbai, Chennai

and Delhi Offices and has been involved with

FMCG and Media Research. As a consultant, she

has handled market entry strategies for Fruit Juice,

Garden Furniture, Detergent Powders, Packaged

Foods, Bread and Kitchen Knives. In the HR area,

Devi has worked with HMT, Eicher Motors and

Corn Products. She was the head of HR for KLG

Systel. At present, she is an associate with Right

Management since 2005, initially based in Sri

Lanka and subsequently in India. She has worked

on site with Clients for developing and

implementing HR systems and leadership

development of Middle to Senior Management.

She has worked in individual Development Centers

with several of the leading companies in Sri Lanka

and India. Devi Muthu Bhatnagar is based in Delhi

and is a Senior Advisor with YFactor.

Seema Seth

Seema is a Post Graduate in IR & PM, with 25

years of experience in the corporate world. She is

an HR professional and has done extensive work

in that function, which includes recruitment,

performance management, employee engagement,

mentoring and counseling. She has worked in

organizations like Eicher, Benckiser, HCL and

American Express. She has been working as an

independent consultant since the past 5 years and

has been engaged in free lance HR assignments

and corporate training. She has partnered with

companies for managing their HR processes,

which include designing/customizing policies,

recruitment, employee retention programs. She

can design training programs and has facilitated

many training programs for organizations like

Nestle, Vodafone, and Hewitt, to name a few. She

has done competency mapping for organizations

and is an assessor for Development Centers for

companies like Vodafone, Tata Sky, Pernod

Ricard, Frito Lays, etc. Seema is based in Delhi

and is a Senior Advisor, HR with YFactor.

Bodhisatwa (Bodhi) Banerjee

Bodhi has an Honours degree in Chemistry from

Calcutta University. He has also attended short

management courses with reputed institutes during

his professional career. He gained his initial

experience at Hindustan Unilever where he spent

15 years in Sales. He has handled entire East

Zone for Sales and Distribution at the middle

management level. After Unilever, Bodhi moved

on to Zonal Manager roles in Benckiser, and

Senior Manager Roles in the RPG Group and ICI

Paints. At Benckiser, he launched the MNC in the

Eastern part of India and worked for 2 years. At

RPG he was involved with setting up the

distribution and channel network of one of the early


Cellular Phone networks in Madhya Pradesh and

Chattisgarh for 3 years. Bodhi then spent 6 years

with ICI Paints, as Regional Sales Manager - East

for their Decorative Paints Business. Bodhi then

handled Sales and Behavioral training

independently for company’s e.g., Hindustan

Unilever, Nepal Unilever, ICI Paints, Hemas – Sri

Lanka, GSK, ABP – Telegraph and Bharti Airtel for

3 years. Bodhi then worked for the Bharti group as

a training manager in their North East & Kolkata

circles till 2011. Bodhisatwa Banerjee is based in

Kolkata and is a Senior Advisor, Sales &

Distribution with YFactor.


Some Examples of our Work

Management Advisory

Non Food

We have had an over 6 month’s engagement with a North Indian company involved in contract

manufacture and packaging. The work involved development of an FMCG launch strategy including

product development, packaging, advertising and setting up of a distribution system leading upto a market

launch.

Comprehensive Diagnostic study covering Branding, Promotion and Distribution conducted for Sri Lanka’s

second largest Personal Care Company with a view to accelerating market share growth.

40 year old OTC Pharmaceuticals Company based in Delhi who wishes to enter the FMCG market. The

work has involved development of FMCG brands and setting up of a new division. A business plan has

been evolved and key personnel recruited. The scope of YFactor’s engagement was widened to include

the OTC Business. A full Diagnostic study covering all aspects of the company’s working has been

conducted and a strategic plan has been formulated.

Market Entry Strategy for a Kolkata based group who want to enter the home care market in East India.

Revamp of ‘Go to Market’ Strategy for a leading paper manufacturer covering all aspects of Brand

Architecture, Distribution System and Organization Structure. The study has been followed by evaluation of

the attractiveness of the Stationery business for the same company.

YFactor is involved with distribution strategy development for a major Ayurvedic medicines manufacturer.

The project involves evaluation and recommendations for their direct dealer programme followed by

implementation. It includes restructuring of marketing strategy; sales personnel contact and development

of an IT based information system.

YFactor has been appointed to revamp the full ‘Go to Market’ strategy for India’s leading manufacturer of

Automobile Fluids. The project encompasses a relook at the product line up, distribution system,

organisation structure and advertising and sales promotion.

Packaged Food

We were engaged with a well established Mumbai based contract manufacturing organisation that is

negotiating a JV with a leading Italian packaged foods company. YFactor has been involved in Business

Planning and all aspects of structuring the JV.

India’s largest wheat milling business that has also diversified into snack foods. YFactor has been involved

in organisation structure and recruitment. We are also advising the company on the optimum distribution

system to be followed for wheat products.

North India based company involved in innovative potato based ready to cook products. The company is

already well represented in the institutional segment and is looking for growth and acceptance in the

consumer market.

New Product Development, marketing and distribution set up for a well-established dairy company based

in Delhi. The first product (flavoured milk) was launched in May 2013. An entry into branded pouched milk

has been accomplished in March 2014.

India’s largest manufacturer and exporter of honey who intends to launch a brand in the domestic market.

Advise on Business Planning and Marketing for a milk collection business based in Bangalore that wishes

to enter the consumer space. Milk in various packaging options – Tetrapack, Finopack and Poly Pouches

has been launched in Bangalore.

Involved with a health based breakfast cereals company to restructure their operations.

Operational efficiency improvement for a Delhi based catering company.

Set up of operations for a Hyderabad based dairy who wish to launch premium, organic cow’s milk. The

product has been launched in May 2014.


Distribution

YFactor has been advising a US based company who are involved in setting up a path breaking rural

distribution network in India. The pilot project has been set up in Jaipur, Rajasthan and the company is now

engaged in rolling out after raising funds. The company uses an innovative cell phone interface for booking

orders from rural retailers.

Specific solutions for different requirements have been crafted in the following areas:

o OTC distribution through Chemist outlets for a leading brand of painkillers.

o Innovative distribution strategy for a wheat milling company who need to differentiate between

institutional and retail buyers.

Sales Training: YFactor has entered into an association with Learning Facilitators for customised Sales

Training solutions for their clients. Programmes have been successfully implemented with one of Sri

Lanka’s largest packaged foods businesses and a large Personal Care company.

India Entry

YFactor is associated with Amritt Inc. for providing India Entry services to US companies. Some examples

of the work we have done include:

o Technology partnership structured for a $5Bn US based MNC with an Indian FMCG company for

product development.

o Product and Brand Market Research for Jamaica based Foods Company interested in entering

the Indian Market.

o Market mapping for a US based outdoor furniture company who is exploring a market entry into

India

o Techno-commercial feasibility for a US based Personal Care Company who wanted to set up a

manufacturing facility in India.

o Marketing strategy formulation and search for suitable distribution channel partners for a leading

US based Vitamin supplements and Omega 3 Company.

o Location of suitable contract manufacturers for a US based company who wish to manufacture

and market OTC and Personal Care products in India.

We are advising a UK based company on a Go to Market strategy for a break through hand sanitation

project. Regulatory matters are currently under review.

We are working with the world’s leading sports nutrition company to help them restructure their Indian

Distribution system and Marketing Strategy.

Private Equity

Indian FMCG SME sector fully mapped from an M&A/PE Infusion perspective.

A body of work has been created with respect to creating a category and company attractiveness

matrix from an investment perspective. Some examples of specific investigations are in the areas of:

o Snack Foods

o Male Grooming

o Multi level marketing – focused on OTC


YFactor Synergy Convergence Growth

YFactor Marketing Private Limited 1176 Sector A, Pocket A; Vasant Kunj

New Delhi 110 070; INDIA Tel: +91 81300 88375

Divyaroop (Debu) Bhatnagar: +91 97177 74290; [email protected] www.yfactor.in, http://www.facebook.com/YFactorMarketing

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grow your business to the next level. contact yfactor for fmcg expertise in india

Leadership & Management