ETP GROUP PTE - Key Persons
With over 32 years of experience, mainly in the retail and technology sectors, Arun Samak is an expert in strategic insights. Throughout his illustrious career, he has held key leadership positions in renowned companies such as Tata, Tesco, TCS, PT. MAP, and Americana Foods, making significant contributions to their growth and success. Arun's rich experience spans across multiple countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UK, and the US, and has helped numerous product companies develop go-to-market strategies for new products, offering invaluable guidance and expertise.
Notably, Arun has led several large-scale point-of-sale (POS) implementations, such as ETP POS for PT. MAP, Oracle Symphony for Starbucks Indonesia, and NCR Aloha for Americana, each involving over 2000 outlets. He has also spearheaded various digital commerce projects, delivering fully integrated technical solutions for web stores, omni-channel experiences, and order management systems.
One of Arun's notable achievements includes successfully launching the "Starbucks-Reward" loyalty program, which boasts over 3 million customers and is powered by a digital wallet. He has also played a pivotal role in establishing a group loyalty program, integrated with POS and mobility, featuring more than 100 international brands and 50 banners. With a passion for innovation, Arun has modernized store systems, enhanced ERP capabilities, and implemented advanced analytics through leading business intelligence tools and big data solutions. He has also been at the forefront of driving infrastructure capabilities, focusing on cloud adaptability, virtualization, security, and process-driven IT deliveries.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Arun is a devoted family man, enjoying a loving relationship with his wife, Vani, and raising two sons. He finds solace in nature and is a dedicated wildlife photography hobbyist, having captured over 900 species of birds in more than a decade. Additionally, he is an avid reader, aiming to complete 12 books in 2023 as a personal challenge.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technical Architect
Arunmoy Bose (a.k.a Arun) is Chief Technical Architect in R&D department, responsible for the technical development and innovations at ETP. As a manager, he is associated with the tools and technologies that are used in ETP widely at different stages viz. conceptualization, POC, Development, deployment etc. He is a significant contributor to the growth of the company, by bringing in advancements and automation in the software development process.
Arunmoy has done his post-graduation in Mathematics from University of Calcutta. He carries a rich experience of 17 years in different industry segments like Finance (AML), general insurance, healthcare insurance, and enterprise document management, before joining ETP.
During a tenure of over 4 years at ETP, Arunmoy has accomplished a number of feats. He has designed a number of frameworks which are used in the existing version of the application. He is also instrumental in developing numerous POCs and publishing approach whitepapers on ETP's roadmap points. More recently, he is working on ETP's vision of Hybrid Cloud solution. He is also working on the latest market trends in the retail space of harnessing Artificial Intelligence using ETP Accelerator, the promotion engine.
He is the champion in the team for doing any technical solutions, root case analysis or providing hardware sizing based on the customer's requirements. He interacts closely with team members and provides technical assistance and knowledge sharing across departments.
Arunmoy's family includes his parents, his wife and a cute, lovely daughter. He has a great passion for football and hits the ground whenever an opportunity comes his way. In his spare time, Arunmoy pursues his passion for painting and philately.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Vice President
- Cost Accountant
Bhavesh Doshi is a Chartered Accountant and a Cost Accountant by education and a retail solutions specialist by profession. Working with retailers across multiple geographies and applying technology driven solutions to business is his key area of interest.
As Vice President at ETP International, he manages the consulting, global deliveries and support for the Omni-channel Retail Solutions of ETP Group. He is also a Solution Architect, working on the future road map of ETP Vx Omni-channel Retail Solutions. Bhavesh adopts the simple approach of linking people, process and systems to successfully consult and deliver global-scale business solutions.
He has also contributed significantly to the development of ETP's renowned best practices to integrate demand and supply for retailers with an objective to improve their bottom line.
He has an illustrious record and experience of more than 17 years with ETP, working with market leaders in retail across Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East. Bhavesh firmly believes that the dynamics of retail have changed for good and delivering the right customer experience across all stores is vital to profitable growth. He is passionate about emergent technology and harnessing it further to create better solutions and improve retail business performance.
Previous to his tenure at ETP, he had established a long-standing reputation as a Consultant with A. F. Ferguson & Co. His personal leadership style makes him a beloved mentor and a source of inspiration to all working with and for him.
When not poring over projects, Bhavesh usually unwinds playing racket sports or watching them court-side. He also enjoys traveling and immersing himself in the different local cultures and values.
Dhananjay Gundewar, DJ as he is known, is Vice President, responsible for the Research & Development of innovative software solutions at ETP. As a management team member, DJ has successfully executed different roles at ETP such as Implementation Consultant and Project Manager in addition to heading the R&D & ERP divisions. He has contributed significantly to the overall growth of ETP.
DJ has studied Mechanical Engineering and done his post-graduation in Industrial Engineering from the prestigious B-school, NITIE in Mumbai. He has earlier worked in Pal Peugeot Ltd. for 3 years, prior to joining ETP. He was responsible for the localization of Peugeot 309 components in India. He is certified by APICS for CPIM - Basics of Supply Chain module.
During a rich tenure of over 17 years at ETP, DJ has accomplished numerous large scale enterprise system implementation projects in several countries across Asia and the Middle East. Heading the R&D team, he is currently looking after the functional requirements of ETP's various retail products. He determinedly strives to develop products that are user friendly, proactive and intuitive, and to ensure that the ETP Product Roadmap is suitably aligned with the present as well as future trends and requirements of the retail industry. He interacts with customers, project teams, prospects and other retail ecosystem players to make sure that the ETP products create the expected value for retailers and become a differentiator for them.
DJ firmly believes in management by review. His thoroughness in preparing for a project, strong resilience, methodological approach and candid communication skills make him a successful leader.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Principal of the Kewalram Chanrai Group
Jagdish Chanrai is a Principal of the Kewalram Chanrai Group, serving on the management board of the holding company. Founded in 1860, the Group is family-owned and professionally managed. It has interests in supply-chain management, textiles, real-estate, agriculture, environmentally friendly products and waste water treatment. The businesses span several countries and are mainly focused in emerging markets.
Job Titles:
- Business Consultant
- Director
Jayendra is an accomplished business consultant and a Chartered Accountant, with over 30 years of experience. His areas of expertise include:
1. Financial Advisory, Mergers and Acquisitions and corporate restructurings
2. Adding value to companies through strategic planning and management oversight
3. Active and passive negotiation strategies for investments and divestment
He is also the co-founder of Trans Continental Capital Advisors Private Limited, a bouquet of investment advisors focused on special situations and private equity investments in mid-sized companies in India. His extensive strategic knowledge and operational experience enables organisations in achieving their market potential. He has established a track record of delivering value to clients and driving growth.
He serves as an advisor and independent Director on the Boards of various companies.
He has a Bachelor's degree in Arts (Economics) from the Mumbai University and is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981.
Naresh Ahuja - CEO, Chairman, Founder
Naresh is the Founder and Chairman of ETP Group. He leads the company with a sharp focus on bringing enduring value to its customers through high-performance, stable, and robust software platforms for commerce. With 30 years of focus in software product development for the retail domain, ETP has built a strong customer base of market leaders in more than 24 countries across the Asia Pacific, India, and the Middle East.
Naresh first studied science at Bombay University and then joined the National Institute of Information Technology, after which he worked for a while with the family home furnishing & retail business, Shyam Ahuja Limited where he was involved with the retail and distribution operations. With this experience and a passion for technology, he founded ETP Group in 1988, a software company focusing on retail and distribution. At first, Naresh partnered with Indian companies to develop packaged software solutions. In 1994, he partnered with IBM and scaled the solution on the IBM i-series platform. This helped cater to larger customers with better technology and led to him winning the prestigious IBM All-Star Award. In 1997, he forged a successful alliance with the global ERP firm, Intentia (which was later acquired by Lawson and then Infor), and developed a service delivery organisation for Intentia worldwide, with offices in London, New York, and Singapore. This service delivery business was later acquired by a US PE firm.
A father of three, Naresh loves scuba diving, playing golf, reading, and watching science fiction movies. His most valued personal time is when he gets the opportunity to go on vacations with his family "doing something new". He is passionate about software technology and enjoys deep diving into research and development. ‘How technology changes lives' is one of his favourite interests and he is an avid reader of futurology.
Pranay's prime responsibility at ETP and area of expertise is delivering ETP's Omni-channel retail solution offerings and Consulting on projects to valued customers. In a span of over 24 years, Pranay has successfully executed different roles at ETP of a Business Consultant, Presales & Solution Architect, Business Architect of the product and Product Development.
A first class Commerce graduate from Mumbai University with an affinity for Mathematics and Analytical thinking, Pranay has a background in Chartered Accountancy and holds an Accounting Technician certification from the institute, followed by a certification in Oracle Financials ERP & D2K to strengthen his skills in the IT domain. He started his career doing Corporate audits of Companies in several industries and verticals and then moved into the ERP Consulting space. He holds experience of multiple ERP & Enterprise class applications. He has done his CSM certification as well to add to his skills for managing the product developments and project deliveries.
Pranay is extremely passionate about everything that he does, particularly while delivering enduring business value to ETP's customers through stable and scalable retail solutions. Retail has been his foray for more than 20 years now and he has travelled extensively across the globe while working on projects, gaining valuable experience in diverse markets of ASEAN, US & Europe. Pranay firmly believes that one should always love and follow their passion; the rest will become an enabler in the realisation of the desired outcome. This philosophy has been the backbone behind the success of the projects that he has consulted several of ETP's customers on and in building ETP product offerings.
A doting husband to a doctor wife and a father of two, Pranay loves watching good movies, playing sports, long-drives and listening to music in order to unwind.
Rajkumar Jagasia, Raj as he is known, is the Executive Director at ETP, responsible for Sales and Business Development - Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East. He has played a major role in building and leading a distinguished Sales & Support team across continents. He has significantly contributed to the development of ETP's market and customer engagements in Asia, India and the Middle East.
Job Titles:
- Vice President - Finance, Accounts & Administration
Ravindra Koli, Ravi as he is known, is a qualified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has an overall experience of 16 years, working in the fields of Finance, Accounts, Taxation and Statutory compliances.
Sapana Biswas is a seasoned Human Resource professional with over 20 years of experience in managing the human resource function including Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Strategic HR intervention, Culture Transformation, and Organisational Development. Over the years, Sapana has worked closely with the operating business units and thereby the organisation to help each of them achieve their goals. Since the technology industry is driven by people, this is a KPI for every operational group.
Sapana is a Science Graduate with a Post Graduate Degree in Business Administration from the University of Nagpur. She started her carrier as a software developer and developed various applications for 3 years before she found the human resources field to be more exciting and started her journey as an HR professional. She has implemented several HR best practices at ETP and is working to make ETP a preferred place to work by employees.
Sapana believes in simple living and high thinking. She also believes that every person has some amazing qualities and she seeks to nurture those. She enjoys reading and loves to play badminton in her leisure time. Sapana Biswas's family includes her husband and son. When she is not at work, she prefers to cook, sing and socialise. Sapana likes to spend her vacations travelling to different places with her family.
Tan Cheong Hwa (aka Victor Tan) is ETP's Regional Director responsible for ETP's growth in Greater China, Singapore and Malaysia. Since joining ETP in September 2016, Victor has won several new labels; closing deals with the largest sports retailer in Malaysia, the largest distributor of beauty products in Singapore and the fastest growing company in the history of the world, for their outlets in Korea. He is now nurturing his fast growing team with and ambition for exceptional performance and growth.
In May 1997, Victor graduated from University of Oklahoma with Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. Upon graduation, he immediately returned home to start a career as an industrial engineer. Realizing he was not made for desk job, he took up sales engineering later that year serving the semiconductor and high technology manufacturing industry until 2009. It was during that difficult time of economic crisis that pushed Victor to take the leap of faith into exploring hardware and software solution sales; serving MNCs, Enterprise and SME retailers ever since.