- Bain & Company (Manager) - 82°E - a beauty brand by Bollywood icon Deepika Padukone (Employee #3)
Hi, I'm Akshata! I'm a freelance consultant, operator-for-hire and advisor based out of the United Arab Emirates and India. I enjoy engaging on problem statements of all shapes and sizes: with a proclivity for consumer products and experiences. I do this with corporates, consulting firms and investors across the globe - and so far, my independent work has included developing innovative visa products, heritage tourism experiences, setting up a creative industries incubator, retail strategy and more. Prior to this, I was a Manager at Bain & Company where I worked for 5+ years. At Bain, I advised on all things strategy for consumer/retail clients. I supported them on whom to target, where to grow, what to build, how to position their brands & experiences, and how to sell. I also helped private equity and venture capital investors assess start-ups in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific through 20+ commercial due diligences, and supported non-profits & governments on fundraising and relief mandates. In 2021, I stepped away from Bain (on secondment) for a short while to build 82°E, a brand by Bollywood icon Deepika Padukone, which today offers an excellently formulated set of skincare products globally. Outside of work: I enjoy immersive travel, playing board games and curling up with a good book.
- IIM Ahmedabad: MBA - RVCE Bangalore: Bachelors in Computer Science
Freelancing opportunities from existing/past clients, opportunities to tag-team with me on projects, my learnings from the independent consultant life, trainings in the consulting toolkit
Access to freelancing opportunities, access to fellow consultants to tag-team on complex projects, tips & tricks for the independent consultant life.
I used to run a newsletter with a friend! We curated long-form reads about life, people, and random things that caught our fancy, blew up on Reddit in 2020 and were featured on Morning Brew! You can find us on libraryofscroll.com - we are on a hiatus now, but the reads are timeless, and - even if I say so myself - it's an exceedingly fun way to spend a few hours on the web.
I quit my full-time job to alternate between work and travel meaningfully, and I've been pretty good about it! Looking forward to more of the same in 2024.
Oh, I'm really good at foosball. Which is shocking to most, as I generally display the hand-eye coordination of a two year old.
BTS! Snooze (Agust D), Dis-ease and Pied Piper are my current favourites from their discography.