The start-up bug bit Ajay even before ‘start-up’ became a buzz word. When still in college, he set up an advertising agency, Forefront. After creating an award-winning campaign for a rice brand in the US market, Ajay found his true calling: food.
Ajay Gupta then founded Capital Foods in 1996. He instinctively predicted the popularity of Chinese food in India and launched Ching’s Secret - a brand that now owns the entire Desi Chinese cuisine block. To meet the needs of Indians with global palettes, he simultaneously launched Smith & Jones.
Ajay’s unerring talent lies in finding culinary gaps between people’s ever-evolving taste buds and products available in the market. This has enabled him to create a portfolio of innovative food products.
Rakesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 3 decades of rich experience that covers roles in Accountancy, Finance, Treasury and Strategy. He kickstarted his career with the French conglomerate, St. Gobain, where he rapidly rose through the ranks across 16 years, and worked at a group head level in the India office.
Rakesh joined Capital Foods as CFO in April 2011. His strategic insights and financial expertise, combined with his diligent work ethic, has made him one of the driving forces behind the multi-fold growth and success of Capital foods. During his tenure here, Rakesh has been overseeing major shareholding changes and has been instrumental in successfully onboarding our Private Equity investors.
Rakesh is driven by a simple mantra ‘Strive to make tiny improvements every day to see remarkable results in the long run’. Outside of work, Rakesh is fond of travelling with his family and friends.
With more than 2 decades of cross-industry experience in business and operational roles, Dhiraj is a performance-driven professional with his forte being strong execution. He specializes in high volume business management, creating conducive environments and achieving extremely high productivity levels.
He draws great satisfaction from delivering business growth on the back of appropriate business models, relevant GTM strategies and the right processes, with the appropriate tracking mechanism.
He respects growth that comes on the back of meticulous planning, strong commitment, and a few failures.
Digbijoy heads consumer marketing initiatives at Capital Foods. He has more than 16 years of experience across marketing, sales and advertising, having worked with Emami, Goodricke Group, McCormick India, Contract advertising and Percept H.
By qualification he is an MBA with PG degree in Big Data Analytics. A foodie and an avid adventure seeker, he likes spending time amidst nature and visiting wildlife sanctuaries. Playing volleyball is his go to activity to unwind.
Vikas brings on board his 25+ years of experience with a rich blend of Sales, Retail Operations, Business Development and Trade Operations, along with an in-depth knowledge of Indian geography. He has worked in senior capacities at Cadbury’s, Reliance Retail, Heinz and LT foods.
He leverages expert analysis and insights to drive organizational improvements and best practices. He enthusiastically approaches challenges from many angles to deliver effective solutions with his understanding of GT, CSD, Trade Marketing and Modern Retail.
Arkadeb Chakraborty is a passionate HR professional with over 14 years of experience. A qualified Engineer with an MBA in HR, he has worked in reputed organizations such as Escorts Group , ICICI Bank , Ruchi Soya Industries and Godrej Consumer Products.
Arkadeb brings to the table his vast experience in partnering businesses to articulate HR strategy, leading large-scale culture and capability interventions as well as spearheading HR digitization.