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Sanjiv Mehta
Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever Limited; President, Unilever South Asia; Member, Unilever Leadership Executive
Professional Background
Sanjiv Mehta is a luminary in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, best known for his extensive and impactful career with Unilever, a global leader in consumer goods. As of now, he serves as the Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a position that has established him as one of the most influential figures in the Indian business landscape. His role also encompasses the prestigious position of President of Unilever South Asia, where he skillfully navigates the complexities of the region's diverse markets while leading strategic initiatives to ensure Unilever's continued growth and relevance.
With a career spanning over three decades at Unilever, Sanjiv has held several prominent positions that showcase his expertise in managing large-scale operations and driving business success. Before his current roles, he served as the Executive Vice President for Unilever South Asia, where he was instrumental in overseeing significant business transitions and developing key market strategies that contributed immensely to Unilever's performance across the subcontinent. His leadership also extends to being the Chairman of Unilever North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the CEO of Unilever Philippines and Managing Director for Unilever Bangladesh. These experiences have finely honed his skills in navigating diverse business climates, understanding cultural nuances, and creating comprehensive strategies that are sensitive to local market demands.
Sanjiv also boasts a substantial background in commercial management. He has served as Commercial Director at Unilever, and prior to that, he made his mark as Group Commercial Manager and Head of the Home & Personal Care (HPC) sector within the company. His rich history at Unilever was preceded by a successful stint at Union Carbide India Limited, where he held various roles in business analysis, corporate accounting, finance, and sales management. This early groundwork not only established his financial acumen but also provided him with a robust foundation in strategic business management, which he has carried forward into his impressive Unilever career.
Education and Achievements
Sanjiv Mehta's academic credentials underscore his commitment to personal and professional growth. He completed the Advanced Management Program at the prestigious Harvard Business School, equipping him with critical leadership insights and strategic thinking abilities necessary for steering large organizations towards sustainable success. This prestigious program is known for shaping some of the most influential business leaders globally, and Sanjiv has utilized the knowledge gained from Harvard to fuel his strategic vision at Unilever.
Additionally, he is a proud alumnus of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, where he developed a solid grounding in finance and accounting. This educational background is invaluable in his operational roles, facilitating informed decision-making and sustainable financial practices. With a blend of theoretical knowledge and extensive practical experience, Sanjiv stands as a beacon of leadership in the corporate world.
Achievements
Sanjiv Mehta's tenure at Unilever is marked by remarkable achievements that resonate throughout the FMCG sector. Under his guidance, Hindustan Unilever has seen a transformational journey, adapting to the fast-changing consumer landscape while maintaining robust growth. Demonstrating adeptness in crisis management, he has successfully steered the company through various challenges, reinforcing its position as a market leader in India.
His leadership style is characterized by an unwavering commitment to sustainable business practices. Sanjiv has been a champion of projects aimed at enhancing sustainability within Unilever's operations, aligning with the company's global focus on reducing environmental impact while delivering exceptional value to consumers. By promoting eco-friendly products and practices, he has not only improved the company's market standing but has also contributed positively to the broader societal context of the regions in which the company operates.
Furthermore, his ability to forge strong relationships with stakeholders, including suppliers, consumers, and regulatory bodies, has been a cornerstone of his successful career. Sanjiv's approach is to build partnerships that foster mutual growth and benefit, ensuring that Hindustan Unilever continues to thrive in any economic climate.
In addition to his corporate achievements, Sanjiv is also recognized for his contributions to industry forums and discussions on economic growth, sustainability, and the future of FMCG. He actively engages with the community and other business leaders to share insights and shape the discourse around pivotal industry challenges, benefiting from his extensive experience and strategic foresight.
Highlights
State of Indian Economy: Some of the noteworthy aspects of our current state of affairs are:
- 8.2% real GDP growth in fiscal year ending Mar 24. Three consecutive years of +8% growth. Indexed to pre COVID levels India and China are the only two big economies where the GDP at constant prices is at 120. France and UK are at 102, US at 108 and Thailand is at 100.
- As against 8.2% growth of India, the Developing and Emerging world is estimated to grow at 4.3% only
- India’s current account deficit is at 0.7%, Gross NPA of banks has come down below 3%, Capital adequacy of banks is at healthy levels, Private sector Balance Sheet is in pristine condition having deleveraged and India’s forex reserves are +$650 billion. The core inflation is now close to the targeted 4% level. The fiscal deficit is contained and is on the glide path. All these indices indicate astute handling of the economy.
- The concern is the long term structural issue of 60-45-17. 60% of India lives in rural areas, 45% of working population is engaged in agriculture and allied activities and agriculture constitutes only 17% of GDP and is growing at half the national GDP rate on a long term basis and at 1.4% in the last fiscal. The other area is slow growth in Private consumption.
Keeping the above in perspective the nine priorities as highlighted in the budget are in my opinion in the right direction. In some cases the government will be the prime mover and in some it will act as a catalyst. In the link below please see my thoughts as shared in the CNBC panel on the day of the budget.
https://lnkd.in/d4T2yhan
- Could Virat Kohli have played his last T20 World Cup without making a difference to his team ?
- Could Rohit Sharma have led India to three consecutive ICC finals and not lifted the cup even once ?
- Could Rahul Dravid have left the high pressure job of coaching team India without the team winning an ICC championship?
- Could without doubt, Bumrah the best bowler in the championship not helped his team cross the line when it mattered most ?
- Could Surya at crunch time have left the cup slip from his hands?
Thank god No!!! God has been kind. What a game, what emotions, thank you ‘Team India’ for giving so much joy to 1.4 billion hearts.
As we justifiably celebrate and dance with joy, a thought for the Proteas … you made your country proud !!
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.