Pradeep Kumar Ojha

Results-driven Commercial Director with 20+ years of P&L; leadership in FMCG – Food, Beverage, Dairy & Brewery across Africa, Middle East & India. Proven track record managing $800M topline, 650+ Cash Van Routes, 1,400+ team members and 180 SKUs across 60,000 outlets. Expert in Route-to-Market (RTM) transformation, digital sales excellence, distributor model transition (96% business to cashless), market share growth (PET 58% to 67%), and cost-to-serve optimization. 10+ years at Senior Management/Board level in African markets.

Currently Independent Sales

Consultant (Aug 2025 – Present) advising FMCG companies on market entry and digital RTM innovation.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

FMCG Business Consultant | Independent Business Consultant | Aug 2025 – Present | Remote / Africa & Middle East

Advising FMCG businesses on market entry, GTM/RTM transformation, commercial operating models and digital execution across African markets.

· Advise companies entering or expanding in Africa on GTM design, route-to-market architecture, channel strategy, distributor selection and commercial execution.

· Lead digital RTM transformation initiatives focused on field productivity, sales-force automation, execution discipline and cost-to-serve reduction.

· Support greenfield operations, distribution redesign, P&L restructuring, profitability improvement and commercial transformation.

· Coach business leaders and professionals on career clarity, leadership transitions and high-performance leadership.

 

Business Manager / Business Head | SADAFCO — Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | Nov 2018 – Aug 2025 | Saudi Arabia / Jordan / Bahrain / Kuwait

Owned an approximately $800M topline P&L across four markets, leading 1,400 FTEs, 650 cash-van routes, 180 SKUs and 60,000 customers across Traditional Trade, Modern Trade, Wholesale and OOH.

· Owned commercial strategy, P&L delivery, revenue growth, channel execution, distributor performance and operating-cost optimization across a multi-country portfolio.

· Directed GTM/RTM strategy across direct sales, cash-van, distributor and key-account channels; improved distribution availability to 95%.

· Led RGM and pack-price architecture initiatives contributing to 220 bps gross-margin expansion despite inflationary pressures.

· Re-engineered SAR 450M trade-marketing investment, eliminating low-ROI activity and freeing SAR 90M in working capital.

· Maintained bad returns below 0.4%, inventory turns above 5.2x and credit collection cycles within 30 days.

· Led depot operations, fleet/cold-chain management, manpower planning, cost reduction and commercial productivity programs.

· Built Right Stores / Perfect Stores strategy; led trade-scheme design, distributor incentives and key-account negotiations.

· Strengthened credit, ageing, collections and FIFO inventory controls to improve cash conversion and reduce expiry risk.

· Deployed Sales Force Automation (SFA) to strengthen sales visibility, execution control, productivity and performance management.

· Set and cascaded targets across Business Managers, ASMs, supervisors and merchandising teams, embedding performance governance.

Director of Sales & Route-to-Market — West Africa | AB InBev | Feb 2016 – Aug 2018 | Lagos, Nigeria

Led the strategic sales organization for West Africa/Nigeria/Ghana with ownership of a $500M net-revenue and 8M HL volume plan across Beer, Alcohol, Malt and Water.

· Owned regional commercial delivery, customer/partner relationships and cross-functional coordination with the President, West Africa.

· Redesigned GTM around shopper-centric execution, establishing KPIs, tools and Perfect Stores / Right Stores standards across GT and MT.

· Controlled trade-spend leakage and developed brand-level trade-investment plans to protect targeted EBITA and improve ROI.

· Built distributor infrastructure and channel segmentation, including the Keke retail-expansion model using local mini-distributors.

· Led organizational restructuring and change management, building a more customer-centric, cross-functional commercial organization.

· Achieved breakeven for the Water La-Votic business within 10 months through focused operational and commercial initiatives.

· Supported deployment of SFA to improve sales-force control, visibility and execution discipline.

Head of Sales & Distribution | Pepsi — 7UP Bottling Company Plc | Feb 2012 – Feb 2016 | Lagos, Nigeria

Led sales and distribution for a $180M, 35-million-case portfolio across General Trade, Modern Trade, Institutional and Rural channels.

· Accelerated PET market share from 58% to 67% and overall share to 57% by 2015 through channel expansion, distribution excellence and double-digit volume growth.

· Transformed direct distribution into a distributor-led model, closing 16 depots and simplifying the operating model.

· Reduced credit receivables from ₦52M to ₦27M through tighter distributor credit governance and collections discipline.

· Converted 96% of business from uncontrolled credit to cashless prepayment and outsourced distribution/fleet operations.

· Built salesforce productivity scorecards, route optimization and PJP/beat-planning systems to improve numeric and weighted distribution.

· Led talent acquisition, capability building and stakeholder management across government, trade partners and corporate functions.

· Developed the Key Distributor Model to optimize growth while reducing infrastructure and operating costs.

· Created the Depot Operation Manual (DOM) and supported Pan-Nigeria operating concepts and marketing/depot planning.

Branch Manager | Channrai Group | Feb 2010 – Feb 2012 | Lagos, Nigeria

Managed a $15M branch with 50 SKUs across 15 multinational brand partners in the Nigerian Traditional Trade channel.

· Led trading operations across biscuits, beverages, fruit juice, tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, canned fish and related FMCG categories.

· Expanded portfolio through new-product introductions and developed new sales and distribution strategies.

· Maintained credit collections within 30 days and returns below 1% across the portfolio.

· Oversaw importation from other African markets, regulatory compliance and supply-chain coordination.

Sales Officer | Nestlé India Ltd | Nov 2006 – Feb 2010 | Jalandhar, India

Started career in frontline FMCG sales and distribution, building foundational expertise in customer management, territory execution and channel development.

Chief Operating Officer Programme - IIM Lucknow (2024 - 2025)

Leading with Finance - Harvard Business School (2020 - 2020)

Diploma - Financial Management - IMI Berlin, Germany (2019 - 2019)

MBA - Marketing - IPM Ghaziabad (2004 - 2006)

MA - American English Literature - Gujarat University (2002 - 2004)

PG Diploma - Office Mgmt - Gujarat University (2004 - 2004)

PG Diploma - Advt & Sales Mgmt - Gujarat University (2002 - 2002)