Keshava Ram Bonanthaya

Managing Director @ Cocoguru Coconut Industries Private Limited

About

I’m Keshava Ram, founder and Managing Director of Cocoguru®, a fast-growing FMCG company manufacturing and marketing coconut oil and fried snacks from Puttur, Karnataka. With a background in engineering (BE – Computer Science) and MBA (Marketing), I returned home in 2010 to modernise our family’s traditional coconut oil business. Over the last decade, I've built Cocoguru into a brand rooted in authenticity and scale: * Integrated oil extraction and packaging facility on 78 cents of industrial land * Distribution across coastal Karnataka through a super stockist + distributor model * Retail presence in Reliance SMART Bazaar stores and hundreds of outlets * National reach via Amazon, Flipkart, and our own eCommerce store * 25+ SKUs across roasted and cold-pressed oils in bottles, pouches, and cans * Launch of a new category in fried snacks made using our own coconut oil * A digital marketing engine covering ads, SEO, packaging, and content * Adoption of software tools for pricing automation, ERP, and inventory tracking In 2023, I also launched a restaurant venture — an experiment in forward integration, using our own coconut oil to serve food. While the restaurant was short-lived, it gave us deep insights into consumer preferences, product shelf life, and branding — eventually seeding our snack food division, now a growing pillar of Cocoguru. We are currently hiring for Sales and Marketing roles to scale both oil and snack categories: * Area Sales Managers & Sales Executives (Karnataka) – to expand retail and distribution * eCommerce & Digital Marketing Executives – to grow our D2C presence * Marketing & Branding Professionals – to lead packaging, trade marketing, and campaigns * Content Creators & Designers – to build an engaging online presence If you're looking to grow with a values-driven, fast-evolving FMCG brand that offers clear goals, professional autonomy, and visibility for your work — let’s connect.

Country

India

City

Puttur

Industry

Food Production

Skill

Leadership, Negotiation, Operations Management, Team Building, Continuous Improvement, Brand Development, Digital Marketing, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Coconut Oil, Purchase Management

Experience

Managing Director

Cocoguru Coconut Industries Private Limited

2010-9 - Present · 16 yrs 1 mo

Puttur, Karnataka, India

Cocoguru Coconut Industries Private Limited are manufacturers of pure coconut oil. Different varieties of coconut oil like roasted, cold press and virgin are made. They are packed in convenient small consumer packs like pouches, bottles and cans for the purpose of using as edible oil and hair oil. Manufactured in a modernised unit at Puttur, it is available at all over coastal Karnataka districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kasaragod and Kodagu. Products are available all over India at leading e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and JioMart. Company was formed with the vision to spread the benefits of coconut to people and it has come a long way with still a long way to go.

Co-Founder

Cocoguru Adigemane

2023-1 - 2025-1 · 2 yrs 1 mo

Puttur, Karnataka, India

Cocoguru Adigemane is traditional mangalorean style vegetarian restaurant at Nehru Nagara, Puttur. Business is promoted by Suprabha and Keshava Ram from Bonanthaya family who are also promoters of Cocoguru coconut oil. Cocoguru Adigemane aims to provide affordable, healthy local food, prepared from best of ingredients by maintaining food hygiene and safety standards. Only coconut oil is used as edible oil, refined oils are not used. https://cocoguru.com/how-adigemane-started https://cocoguru.com/restaurant-closing.php

Marketing Manager

Sri Rama Industries

2009-5 - 2010-8 · 1 yr 4 mos

Puttur

Sri Rama Industries is into Coconut Oil manufacturing. Started by my father Shivashankar Bhat in 1988, younger brother Santhosh joined in 2006 and I joined in 2009 after MBA. * Launched the brand 'Cocoguru' for marketing Coconut Oil products. * Established a packaging unit for automatic pouch packing, bottle and tin filling. * Distributed coconut oil through wholesalers and retailers at Puttur. Sales have reached the threshold of existing production capacity of 1 ton oil per day. In order to scale up, new factory was setup with the new company Cocoguru Coconut Industries Private Limited

MBA Summer Intern

Flora2000

2008-5 - 2008-6 · 2 mos

Mumbai

Flora 2000 delivers premium flowers worldwide where consumers can order online at www.flora2000.com. Worked there as a summer intern for 2 months after 1st Year MBA. Participated in Marketing activities and prepared a process map for employees performance appraisal.

Senior Software Engineer

Tata Elxsi

2003-7 - 2007-5 · 3 yrs 11 mos

Bangalore

* Developed software for Digital Music Player, Photo Storage and Viewer, NAND Flash Device Driver, FAT File System on Embedded Systems with C Language * Specialised in managing NAND Flash based storage systems * Experience in all the stages of Software Development Life Cycle

Education

SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS)

Marketing

2007 - 2009 · 2 yrs

Sri Jayachamarajendra College Of Engineering

Computer Science

1999-10 - 2003-6 · 3 yrs 9 mos

1st prize, Inter-collegiate Chess Tournament, VTU, 2002. 1st prize in 'Code-Enigma' and 2nd prize in 'Byte-Might' and 'Err-Adicate' contests in IEEE’s Cyberia technical festival, 2002. Enjoyed myself applying my creativity in programming simple computer games.