Fino Payments Bank - Kherikalan

Mr. PrakashIyer (60) is an independent business advisor with solid, hands-on experience in building brands, growing businesses and developing people. After spending nearly three decades in the corporate world, Mr. Prakash chose to step out and pursue his passion for helping other people unleash the leader within them. Apart from coaching CEOs, advising leadership teams and speaking to - and inspiring - large teams, Mr. Prakash also serves as an advisor to Multiples – a billion dollar PE fund. He has served as an Independent Director on the board of Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited, had joined the board before the company went public. He is also on the board of Livpure Private Limited and was earlier a director on the board of Milltec Machinery (both Multiples investee companies). Mr. Prakash has played an active role in helping these companies strengthen their sales and distribution footprint, and in devising advertising and marketing strategies. He has also served as a director on the board of Xerox India Limited. In his last role in the corporate world, Mr. Prakash was the Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark Lever. Earlier roles include Managing Director and CEO of Infomedia India Limited (formerly Tata Press) and prior to that, Executive Director at PepsiCo responsible for the company’s operations in South India and Sri Lanka. An MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, he started his career with Hindustan Lever Limited (now Hindustan Unilever Limited). Mr. Prakash’s expertise includes a deep understanding of sales and distribution systems and consumer brand marketing, having spent several years managing large sales teams, growing urban and rural distribution, understanding consumer needs and building brand marketing campaigns, and activating marketing strategies in the marketplace.

At PepsiCo, Mr. Prakash won the international ‘President’s Ring of Honor’ – an award that recognizes sales excellence globally, and also led his team to the award of the international “Market Unit of the Year”. Another recurring theme in his career has been a sharp focus on profitable growth. He was part of a core team that was instrumental in building a separate organization and low-cost business system for Unilever. At Kimberly Clark, he implemented a third party manufacturing strategy that helped significantly improve profitability, and was recognised as a best practice for developing markets globally. As CEO of Infomedia, Mr. Prakash spearheaded one of India’s first leveraged buyouts by a PE fund, and transformed an inward-looking printing business into a publishing and outsourcing powerhouse. During his watch, Infomedia divested less profitable businesses, built the Yellow Pages brand, made acquisitions in the US and UK and forged partnerships with global leaders including Alibaba and Reed Elsevier. The PE investor had a return of 2.6x when they exited after four years. A trained, CFI-certified leadership coach, Mr. Prakash has throughout his career combined strong strategic and execution skills with excellent people management capabilities to consistently build passionate, high performance, winning teams Mr. Prakash speaks and writes extensively on leadership, teamwork, execution, storytelling and winning. LinkedIn recognized Prakash as a ‘Top Voice’ – their list of 15 creators to follow in India. He is the author of four best- selling books and his latest book – How Come No One Told Me That? – was published by Penguin in 2021.