Manisha Lath Gupta, Founder, Aanandaa Permaculture Project & Founder, Mojarto
Manisha is the Founder of Anandaa Permaculture Project. She is the former Chief Marketing Officer of Uber India.
Podcast
Overview
“It’s your duty to share what you earn with others and make this place a more equitable place.”
The Brand Called You brings yet another inspiring episode with Permaculturist Manisha Lath Gupta. Manisha is the Founder of Anandaa Permaculture Project. She is the former Chief Marketing Officer of Uber India. She has worked with Axis Bank, Colgate and Unilever amongst many. Manisha is also the Founder of Mojarto.
In this interview, Manisha converses about her journey from the corporate world into the world of culture and nature. She begins by listing the three key milestones of her life and career. Manisha talks about her work in the corporate world. And shares with the audience the secret of creating a successful brand. Her vast experience in working with top-notch Corporate companies like Uber and Unilever makes her a senior professional of the corporate sector.
However, Manisha believed in giving back and contributing her share to make this world a better and safer place. Along with her husband, Manisha started practising Permaculture. An innovative framework of ideas to create flourishing ecosystems and creating sustainable alternatives to our destructive practices.
Manisha has been successful in finding options that work without destroying nature. She is a strong believer of gradual change and works towards it every single day. For her, success is a lot more than fat paychecks and fame. Manisha’s ideologies are benevolent!
Profile
I am an alumnus of IIM Bangalore (1997) and hold a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. I started my career with Unilever in India as a management trainee, where I spent almost eight years (1997-2004) across different roles like Sales, Consumer Insights, Brand Management, and New Product Development. I spent six years (2004-2010) across two different roles at Colgate Palmolive. I was the Consumer Innovation Centre Head for India where I set up the innovation team and processes, to deliver new products like Colgate Active Salt, for India and regional markets. In my last role, I was the Associate Director-Marketing and responsible for delivering market share and profitability for the toothpaste business in India. In 2010, I transitioned to the banking industry as the EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank. I grew quickly beyond marketing, and got the responsibility for not only Marketing but also Electronic Banking channels such as Internet Banking/ Mobile Banking & ATMs and Retail Liabilities products & portfolio for the bank. As the CMO, I repositioned the brand with the campaign Badhti ka Naam Zindagi based on the consumer insight of a desire for continued growth. The brand got a huge facelift, with a revamp of bank branches, stationery, website, outdoors, and the sponsorship of Kaun Banega Crorepati, during that time. I also developed the new Mobile Banking app, campaign marketing infrastructure, and Axis Bank Edge Rewards loyalty program, the second pan bank loyalty program in the world. This was a very rewarding stint for me, and I felt very fulfilled professionally.
But at a personal level, I continued to be disturbed at the rich-poor divide in our country, at the state of our welfare policies, and the lack of education & health facilities in our country. So in 2014, I took a year off, to work with a political startup that was emerging in the capital. It was a political alternative that I believe this country needed badly, and I wanted to help it succeed at all costs. From the setback of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, to the success of 2015 & 2020 – I have supported their effort from behind the scenes, through fundraising, outreach, and marketing strategy. I am very proud of the achievements of the Delhi Government and continue to be a supporter. However, I do not talk about it publicly, as the political climate is vicious and getting trolled is not my favorite pastime.
