Honasa Consumer strengthens corporate governance with 50% independent Board Members

The newly added members are: Vivek Gambhir, Namita Gupta and Subramaniam Somasundaram.

Honasa Consumer, parent company of brands such as Mamaearth, The Derma Co., Aqualogica and Ayuga, is excited to share that their board now comprises of 50% independent board members. It is likely to support independent decision-making and to moderate conflicting views and opinions by board members in favor of the shareholders.

The board of Honasa Consumer comprises of six members, namely, Ghazal Alagh, Varun Alagh, Ishaan Mittal, Vivek Gambhir, Namita Gupta and Subramaniam Somasundaram. Out of these, Ghazal and Varun Alagh are co-founders of the Company, and Ishaan Mittal is a nominee of Sequoia Capital on the board of HCL. Whereas, Vivek Gambhir, Namita Gupta and Subramaniam Somasundaram are independent board members who have decades of experience in FMCG, and ecommerce marketplace, hence the understanding, evaluation and mentoring imparted by the board on HCL’s plans, and performance are extremely pivotal in charting the way forward for the organization. These independent board members will be part of the statutory committee, audit committee, nomination and remuneration committee, stakeholder committee and other committees wherein the independent directors may constitute more than 65% to ensure compliance with all parameters of corporate governance measures like transparency, control measures et. al.

Commenting on this, Varun Alagh, co-founder and CEO, Honasa Consumer said, “An independent board is critical for any organization for unbiased decision making. In the past, we have been fortunate to have such experienced individuals on the board of Honasa Consumer. Our board members have helped keep checks and balances in place to ensure we take calculated risks and mitigate tough situations.”

Ramanpreet Sohi, CFO, Honasa Consumer, “In order to maintain governance checks and balances and ensure transparency and control measures, companies appoint independent board members. They have been instrumental in ensuring strict checkpoints through our working over the years.”

Vivek Gambhir is an independent director of our Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in arts and a bachelor’s degree of science from Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. Further, he holds a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has been associated with our Company as a director since March 24, 2021. Previously, he has worked with Bain & Company India Private Limited for a period of over 11 years where he was last associated as “Partner”, and with Godrej Consumer Products for a period of over 11 years where he was last associated as “Whole-time Director”. He has previously been the co-chair of the Confederation of Indian Industry, National FMCG Committee and served as the president of the Harvard Business School Club of India.

Subramaniam Somasundaram is an Independent Director of our Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree of commerce from University of Madras, Madras and is a chartered accountant and cost accountant. Previously, he was the chief financial officer for Titan Company for a decade. During his association with Titan Company, he was also on the board of its subsidiaries like Caratlane Trading and Titan Engineering and Automation . Currently he is also an Independent Director on the boards of Teamlease Services , Avanti Finance Private, API Holdings, Landmark Retail FZE (Dubai) and Innoviti Technologies. He has worked in the telecom industry for over 11 years as well, as the chief financial officer for BPL Mobile group and chief executive officer for BPL Mobile operations in Mumbai and chief financial officer of the telecom vertical in Essar group in its foray into Africa. He has also worked earlier in his career with I.T.C , V.S.T Industries in India and Mannai Corporation, Qatar.

Namita Gupta is an Independent Director of our Company. She holds a master’s degree of technology in mathematics and computing from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. She has been associated with our Company as a director since June 8, 2022. Previously, she has worked with Microsoft Corporation. She has also worked with Facebook Inc. for a period of over five years where she was last associated as “Partner Engineer”. Further, she has also served as an independent director on the board of directors at Zomato since March 1, 2021 and is the founder and currently on the board of directors of Airveda Technologies.