Amrut Desai

As Managing Director of Hohenstein India - fully owned by Hohenstein Institute GmbH - Germany

• Successfully directed and controlled the Company’s operations and gave strategic guidance & direction to the Board to ensure that the Company achieves its mission and objectives.

• Successfully directed and controlled the work and resources of the Company and ensured the recruitment of and retention of the required numbers and types of well-motivated, trained and developed staff to ensure achievement of Company Vision, Mission, objectives of growth, business continuity and long term profitability Successfully built and nurtured trust with diverse teams of employees.

• Diligently established and maintained effective formal and informal links with major customers, relevant government departments and agencies, local authorities, key decision-makers and other stakeholders generally, and exchanged information and views and ensured that the Company is providing the appropriate range and quality of services.

• Effectively Oversaw the preparation of the Annual Report and Accounts of the Company and ensured their due approval by the Board. Completely ensured that all, internal, International and National, governmental, relevant professional body rules and regulations are adhered to and become totally compliant. Thus Hohenstein a foreign entity duly established as a Private Limited Company and incorporated under the Companies Act in India is always found to be 100% compliant and on the side of the law.

• Effectively represented the Company in negotiations with customers, suppliers, government departments and other key contacts to secure the most effective contract terms for the Company.

• Diligently ensured that employees at all levels move in the same strategic direction to achieve company mission. Successfully promoted the wellness of staff and implemented policies inline with labour legislation and health and safety guidelines to create a diverse and positive working environment.

• Successfully conceived, executed the restructuring plan of the organization so as to reposition our operations in the designated region for higher growth and enhanced geographical and service coverage. Achieved Company growth projections & targets in an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment

• Successfully played a key role in the company’s Internationalization project by envisaging the setting up of a world class state-of-the-art Analytical test facility to assist the Indian Textile Export Trade in the production of sustainable, environmentally friendly textiles with no banned harmful chemicals in them. I conceived the lab project for India and secured due management approval and finances for the project. The fully functioning world class textile testing laboratory enabled the company not only to have a greater foothold in the TIC world but also ensured realization of wider clientele and resultant enhanced revenue generation.

Promote, develop, and manage opportunities to market the Company's International Trade Development, sourcing, auditing and inspection services for SME clusters in India, Africa & Middle East. Identify products and potential manufacturers, perform audits of manufacturing plants. Provide supervision and training to teammates including scheduling, coaching, performance management, and performance appraisals.

Representative in India for a French company specialising in International Trade Development, sourcing, auditing and inspecting potential manufacturers, evaluating their products and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements and contractual specifications.

Overseas buyers need reliable and capable manufacturers and suppliers. Someone for e.g authentic and recognized third party entity to assure that, proper manufacturing plants are identified and evaluated for their, machinery capabilities, quality control systems in place and level of compliance with internationally acceptable ethical and humane production standards and certifications and regulatory requirements.

As a resident representative in India, I do the identification, evaluation and certification of potential suppliers by intervening to subject products to testing, inspection so as to build quality into the product that meet the specifications. I evaluate the plant and processes for their consistency to produce contracted goods for timely shipments with socially compliant labour practices and HSE compliance and adherence to local legal and workplace regulations

Both buyers and sellers benefit as Buyer's specifications are correctly interpreted for 'first time correct " production at a genuinely verified and certified plant

Spearheaded efforts across handling entire spectrum of functions pertaining to setting up the business operations and developing key accounts in Mauritius, Madagascar, South African, Kenya and the rest of Africa. Accountable for setting & achieving the top-line and bottom-line targets within the prescribed budget and time. Marketed services to Coca-Cola, Tesco, Levis, Decathlon, M&S, Trueworths, Edgers, Foschini and Pick n Pay and others throughout Africa and to renowned EU retailers and US brands sourcing under the AGOA Pact.

2005 - 2008 Country Head
* Developed new business and built and sustained strategic partnerships with clients while leading consumer goods India division, with over 400 employees across four locations. Accountable for restructuring the organisation to introduce cutting edge infrastructure with state of the art facilities for soft-line and hardline products. Managed transversal strategic projects to accelerate revenue and profit growth of the consumer goods business.

Projects & Accomplishments:
• Led the company efforts to increase revenue generation from £3.0 Mn to £5.0 Mn between 2005 and 2008 through successful revenue generation from testing streams, inspection and audit services.
• Successfully implemented a restructuring project of £2.5m from 2005 - 2006, to establish soft goods testing laboratories and analytical test facilities for hard-line goods in Bangalore and Gurgaon.
• Repositioned service offerings to meet strict requirements of overseas customers, combined with demands of Indian manufacturers and importers regarding speed and accuracy of service to achieve the status of most sought after and first choice service provider to the renowned brands around the world.
• Successfully lead teams of testing Engineers, from four manufacturing hubs in India to provide renowned American and European brands and retailers with accurate, consistent & reliable laboratory testing and hazardous chemical analytical testing services as per international standards for stringent performance and safety characteristics
• Effectively led teams of quality inspectors to provide discerning worldwide clientele with objective, impartial and truthful inspection services towards preventing receipt of faulty merchandise, quality up-gradation and root cause analysis towards achieving zero defects and enhanced productivity.
• Successfully led multiple teams across India to provide audit services for ensuring factory’s compliance with internationally acceptable social standards towards establishing overseas retailers commitment to ethical sourcing and their adherence to sourcing from legal, socially compliant manufacturing plants.

1997 - 2005 Assistant General Manager, Marketing
Provided product marketing and development roadmaps for laboratory testing, quality inspection safety and performance evaluation of soft line goods like Yarns, Fabrics, Home Textiles, Apparel, Toys, Food & Pharmaceuticals and hard goods like Footwear, Consumer Electricals/ Electronics, Furniture, Home Improvement Products, Jewelry and stationery towards servicing of the QA needs of exporters in the Indian Subcontinent countries. Generated business from various channel partners for the company while establishing healthy business relations with clients & external associates for securing repeat business & long term customer loyalty.

successfully headed the all India marketing function and by widening the customer base was able to exceed the top and bottom line figures as envisaged in the budget. recruited sales and marketing personnel and trained them to meet the organizations financial goals and customer expectations.
was part of the core team that established and enhanced the brand value of Intertek in the Indian sub-continent. Successfully organized various seminars for the exports trade.

1992 Senior Executive, AMD OVERSEAS
As the business unit head, I was responsible for successful running of the accessories manufacturing plant at the FTZ of Kandla in India
Production and revenue targets were successfully attained.
Acquired European customers and assisted in consolidating the domestic market share.

1992 - 1994 Sourcing Manager & Market Liaison Office, SONAL GARMENTS LTD

1983 - 1992 Senior Survey Officer, INTEXA INDIA

Lead a team of Quality Engineers. Recruited and trained Quality Engineers to conduct impartial and objective product inspections for exports. Inculcated the values of Honesty, Integrity and sincerity. The team was most sought after by the Textiles/ apparel and consumer goods exports Industry.

1979 - 1983 Quality Inspector, TEXTILES COMMITTEE

learnt the basics of conducting quality inspections on textiles/ apparels, made ups, handicrafts and footwear

thoroughly understood the importance of conducting objective and impartial quality inspections.

Conducted Quality Inspections on hundreds of export consignments
established and enjoyed reputation as an Inspector with unquestionable integrity and worked for the vigilance cell for investigating fraudulent consignements.