Kavish Bijawat

Highlights
• Instrumental in establishing the Research and Data Analytics (R&DA) division from scratch, developed a vision and operating model, and introduced best practices to keep SALIC at the forefront of future developments.
• Accredited by the CEO for transforming SALIC, making sense of untapped data sources to drive better business choices, make advanced analytics a competitive advantage for SALIC
• Fostered a culture of using systematic approaches for business decision-making backed with research, insights and data - new generation oil, one of the most important natural resources on the earth.
• Flexed intellectual muscles and enchanted internal stakeholders by securing a higher customer satisfaction score (CSAT) of 9.1 (out of 10, which improved from 4.8 in previous years).
• Championed knowledge management system across the organization. Articulated, set, and rolled out an in-house research library platform.
• Drove technology requirements and investments that make analytics a strategic weapon for the company
• Served as a thought leader and trusted consultant who influences decisions at the highest levels of the company.
Key Responsibilities
• Providing scholarly leadership for conducting leading-edge research, setting the departmental vision and culture and championing the use of data in making key business decisions.
• Delivering success through market insights, developing hypotheses on future market opportunities and identifying lucrative opportunities.
• Establishing policies and procedures, research frameworks and innovative methodologies for the Research Department. Commanding research projects, responsible for intelligence gathering and insight generation, including research design and analysis and data analysis.
• Harnessing the latest innovations - digital, data & analytics, and BI platforms to make data accessible to the stakeholders.
• Bridging the existing knowledge gap between the SALIC management and its strategic markets & commodities by articulating a vision.
• Building an integrated source of information/ a digital library containing all the research reports, analysis, dashboards, news, market updates, and core knowledge from global sources like USDA, FAO, World Bank, and IMF.
• Nurturing a lean team of world-class Researchers committed to driving innovation and growth within the evolving agri-food ecosystem.

Designation Chronology:
• December 2019 - June 2021: Marketing Services Manager
• August 2017 - November 2019: Market Research Manager
• September 2013 - July 2017: Senior Market Research Executive

Highlights
• Provided thought leadership for the development of the research & insights agenda of standards and capabilities.
• Commended by the CEO, for predicting financial metrics and empowering the business to achieve top-line growth.
• Steered digitalization of historical research reports and archives by launching a semi-supervised, AI (Artificial Intelligence) enabled platform to retrieve queries and insights from existing reports, called AlmaraiQuest which resulted in delights from CMO.
• Partnered with the CMO on populating key performance indicators and trends of the business for the products that account for 95% of revenue.
• Conducted periodic local and global studies and successfully projected exponential growth in the market size of red meat, beef, aquaculture, eggs, and fresh poultry business.
Key Responsibilities
• Headed market research and intelligence-related projects for long-life dairy (UHT, Powder milk), foods (Cheese, Butter, Cream), and poultry (Fresh Chicken) businesses. Converted data into storyboarded insights by connecting dots & developed a big-picture narrative which aided in formulating market strategies and on-the-ground implementation.
• Expert in measuring and optimizing success levers in market analysis with the goal to generate clear business recommendations that drive category performance. Generated market share reports & trends for the C-suite management of all Almarai products for KSA and other Gulf regions.
• Curator of new-age capabilities based on AI, and digitization. Led project to digitalize/ automate business insights generated. Successfully launched an online portal to make insights searchable in a few clicks.
• Brains and brawn behind building successful marketing strategies/ great ideas. Circulated key milestones and project updates to the senior marketing leadership.

Key Responsibilities
• Employed research insights & market vision to fuel decisions that accelerate profitable growth & create success roadmap by identifying need gaps.
• Played a stellar role in developing new and existing businesses for Nielsen retail measurement vertical.
• Reported share gain/loss, distribution opportunities and competitive landscape by reviewing the market trends.
• Liaised with the CMI & Marketing Leadership for pitching proposal and end delivery of the quarterly category analysis presentation.
• Collated information about new launches by rolling out and incorporating the best practices.
• Significantly contributed to the Retail Audit Client Service team.

Early Career
• Jul’10 - Apr’11: Senior Analyst, WNS Global Services, Bangalore, India
Acclaimed the Star Silver Orion award received for on-time delivery of a complex project, meeting all SLAs.
• Dec’08 - Jun’10: Senior Analyst, Nielsen US, Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore, India
Accredited with the TCS Star Performance award for error-free project delivery.
Received the Nielsen on the Spot prize for high accuracy levels in a quick and urgent deliverable.
• Jun’08 - Nov’08: Research Executive, Feedback Business Consulting, Chennai, India
• Jul’04 - Jun’07: Research Associate, MBM Engineering College, Jodhpur, India