Monoj Chakraborty

Whole Earth Brands is the world’s largest sugar substitute company based out of the US, with internationally famous brands like Equal, Canderel and Wholesome. It is present in 86 countries and operates in diverse categories like chocolates, baking ranges, hydration & healthy snacks amongst others , all in the “no added sugar” space. • Built the CPG organization in India from zero to one • Relaunched the brand Equal and repositioned as a wellness brand after absence from the market for nearly two decades • Relaunched major international geographies in SAARC and central Asia • Developed the sales channels, grounds up - spanning alternate, retail, ecommerce and food service • Strengthened the product portfolio from 6 SKUs before I took over to over 40 during my span • Launched strategic adjacencies like calorie managed sugar, sugar free wafers and chocolates and Indian traditional sweets to broad base customer acquisition and grow portfolio margins • Increased manufacturing base from 2 factories to 6 • Created a robust product development team to fast track NPD and speed to market

● Introduced the category-country matrix approach to track and improve margins ● Completely relaunched the Philippines business after an absence of over a decade ● Launched a new partnership in Indonesia for the snacks business with a significant potential impact to the business ● New strategic consumer insights in Japan to deliver high-single digit growth first time in 5 years. ● Jointly aligned business performance with distributors KPIs to sharpen focus on tracking, reviews and delivery ● Developed the fist-ever digital assets on “We chat” & “Tik Tok” to spearhead the re-launch of fruit snacks in China ● Doubled the Haagen Dazs business in Vietnam through the first ever outdoor and cinema advertising

After my success in India, I was promoted to a newly created role to provide P&L stewardship to high growth markets comprising Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Vietnam. KPIs ● Curate the RTM (route to market) for different markets by remaining within the specific country governance ● Build a robust S&OP interface to improve order planning forecasting ● Provide strategic leadership to partner networks and stakeholders ● Build the team to execute operating, on-ground responsibilities ● Ensure uniform brand execution of global brand/category insights & adapt global shopper insights for local markets ● Make the right portfolio choices and pricing cadencing to maximise consumer value and earnings ● Drive net revenue and strategic margin improvement initiatives thru’ optimizing deal size and mix ● Move trade and shopper spends to program based and variable models to maximise ROI Achievements ● Launched new categories and recrafted channel strategies to grow business at 20%+; Myanmar quadrupling in 3 years ● Redesigned the product mix and pricing strategy, to improve margins significantly by over 500 bps ● Turned around the Cambodia business , leading to major reduction in trade inventory from 120 days to sub-60 and business growth at nearly 20%, first time in a decade ● Introduced “joint business plans” with trade partners and also established a system of measuring and reviewing their performance through the concept of “business score card”. ● Moved trade spends to program based and conditionals to maximise ROI.

Having turned around the South region business, I was asked to take over a newly created position to deliver India’s operating business plan KPIs ● Promoted to newly created position to deliver India’s operating business plan of US$120MM ● Set up the trade and shopper marketing verticals formally for the first time in India with significant P&L impact ● Creation of S&OP vertical to step change the demand planning process ● Design shopper and trade programs to deliver topline and EBIT targets ● Selection and adoption of analytic tools to track sales and marketing ROI KPIs in real time ● Work on RTM models to maximise sales productivity ● Design the correct RTM model to launch and curate international brand offerings ● Engage deployment and usage advanced automation tools like Tableau (now salesforce) ● Creating the sales strategy by iteratively evaluating (segment wise ) deal mix , deal size and Sales cycle for max revenue impact Achievements ● Successfully steered the topline growth of over 12% YoY ● Improved market share by 50 basis points by focusing on the right channel/region and optimally deploying trade inputs, packs and promos ● Launched the “perfect store” program – managed and delivered ahead of combined trade and shopper marketing budgets of 30% of net sales ● Launched global category planograms and CATMAN programs for the 1st time in India ● Pioneered an industry-first debit card based trade loyalty program – this program won the global “best channel program” contest; a first for the Indian business ● Introduced the real-time sales dashboards and worked with Capgemini to drive the MT fill rates from a low of 75% to over 95%. ● Introduced for the first time ROI based trade/shopper programs, bespoke for specific brand/category objectives

● Delivered volume and value targets, by managing transactions and relationships across 84k outlets, 168 distributors, 750 rural Stockists and 820 towns ● Delivered targeted distribution and market share for major categories Selected Highlights ● Built new brands like VEET and VANISH to boost growth and margins and developed new channels like Chemist while integrating the BOOTS healthcare division ● Maintained a CAGR of over 15% throughout the period, which was a record for the Eastern region ● Launched the "hub and spoke" model to drive rural penetration ● Led the team successfully during the first introduction of GST by Indian government ● Built the foundation for the region to top the inter-region contest for two consecutive years – a first for the eastern region and a first for any region in RB, India

Joined as area manager for Kolkata and north Bengal sales area – grew both areas in excess of 50%, within a period of less than 2 years ; was promoted to branch sales manager in two years and then to Branch manager in another two years ● First to successfully complete the splitting of distribution units across my region which remains a game-changer and was the major source of growth for the company for many years ● Integrated the major acquisition of Van Melle and successfully launched the Van Melle portfolio ● Turned around the West branch into one of the fastest growing geographies for the company