Akash has been recognised by Business world as one of the top 40 under 40 future master of retail industry. He is a seasoned Retail and Hospitality professional with 15+ years of experience across Business Development, Retail Real Estate, Leasing, Project Management, Franchising & brands Market Entry strategy and holds a Master’s degree in Retail Management.

Akash is Currently leading Raymond brands Expansion across India in the brand’s fastest growing phase.

In his past assignment, Akash lead strategy and spearheaded expansion for Jubilant foodworks across India ( Domino’s, Dunkin Donuts, Popeye’s & Hong’s kitchen).

He brought innovation via extensive use of tech for site research & selection, Revenue prediction and process management while building Site research, PMO and Asset management verticals too.

Key achievements – opened over 700+ stores overall.

200+ stores in 2021 and 270+ in 2022 breaking global record for highest ever in Domino’s stores opening in any country in any year.

• Launched popeyes successfully in India and home grown Chinese brand – Hong’s kitchen.

Akash was instrumental in setting up and expanding Chaayos across multiple cities and formats.

Prior to Chaayos, Akash ably lead the store expansion for Tata Starbucks and YUM Brands as well.

My role is to network extensively with major real estate developers across India to procure the finest real estate for my brands.

Akash work with an entrepreneurial bent of mind, am ownership driven and have strong business acumen to lead the teams in achieving organizational objectives.

He has been an Academic Advisor with Birla Institute of Management ( BIMTECH) for their retail management program.

Akash works with National Skill development council of India ( NSDC) advising the Govt. on curriculum formulation for Retail Entrepreneurs in India.

He is the Co-founder – All India Retail Group, a network of over 1000+ Retail professionals.

He speaks regularly at various retail forums, including CII, PhD chamber of commerce, Food forums, Shopping centre forums, Institutions, UPGrad, Microsoft and various other summits. Actively engages with NRAI & RAI for industry policy making initiatives.

Awards

Reaching for the starts – badge of honour – from Mr Russel Weiner – Global CEO Domino’s,

Top retail Minds – Asia Africa GCC by Economic times – 2 times

BIMTECH – Retail Alumni Achievers

DORI – Retail Business development performer of the year

Mr. Gurnani has over 12 years of experience in Hospitality and more than 19 years in Retail and Real Estate. Prior to joining Prozone, he was working with some well-known hospitality chains around the world namely; Taj Group of Hotels, Ramada Grand Hotel, Australia Moving on he joined Piramyd the retail arm of the Piramal group in 2006 he became the CEO of the lifestyle division of Piramyd Retail Limited and was responsible for driving the aggressive growth plans of the company.

He joined Future Group as CEO- Joint venture business in 2007 and in 2008 he moved to Provogue (India) Ltd as Group President to drive the expansion of the brand business and support the new initiatives of the group.

Mr. Gurnani is currently a Whole time Director and CEO with Prozone intu Properties ltd. Prozone Intu has two operational Malls in Coimbatore and Aurangabad. Prozone with other mixed use Mall and residential projects under development in Mumbai, Coimbatore,Nagpur and Indore.

He has been instrumental in the overall growth of the company and is focused on creating value for all stakeholders. He is a on leader who works along side the team and supports their development. He is known for being a customer’s person and believes that any strategy without the customer in the middle of it is heading for disaster.

I head the expansion across the Wow Momo brand portfolio in India. In the past 5.5 years at Wow Momo from 80 operational stores have taken the brand to 450+ stores across 19 cities with inclusion of 2 new brands – Wow China and Wow Chicken – ensuring with the best of locations and high visibility across malls, high streets, IT parks, airports, railway stations etc. I have an experience of 20 years in the retail industry – have worked with brands like Shoppers Stop, Wills Lifestyle , Essar Telecom Retail Ltd (The Mobile Store), Mobiliti World, Spice Telecom.

Jonathan Yach possesses over 35 years of expertise in the commercial real estate and shopping mall domains. He is recognized as a seasoned professional in the realm of shopping malls, boasting comprehensive proficiencies in strategic, tactical, and operational management. His focus is on delivering effective solutions and tangible outcomes. Priorly, he has held key leadership responsibilities across several distinguished organizations including CBRE/Broll Property Group (Africa), Colliers, Propcare Mall Management, BlackStone, and Virtuous Retail. Through his extensive international exposure, spanning regions like South Africa, India, and Kenya, he has cultivated a profound understanding of the intricate balance required to adapt shopping malls to their perpetually evolving markets.

His contributions encompass a broad spectrum, spanning from Mall Development to Mall Management, with a significant emphasis on adeptly managing mall marketing strategies and operational aspects.

A graduate of Mumbai University with a business program from the University of Michigan and IIM-A, Najeeb has over 25 years of experience in the real estate sector with 20 years of specialisation in mixed-use retail-centric assets. He has in-depth domain knowledge of hyper-local and regional markets coupled with extensive relationships with leading developers, land owners, national retailers and financial institutions. Over the last decade, he has developed and managed large retail-centric mixed-used assets, building a strong track record in creating incremental value for the asset owners.

Najeeb continues to be driven by innovation across the retail industry and is focused on ensuring that PPZ stays ahead of the competition through the early adoption of technology, data analytics and the owning of end customers through constant engagement.  Najeeb also has been actively involved in the consummation of multiple investment advisory transactions within the retail real estate segment. Najeeb is also the Chairman of the south chapter of SCAI (Shopping Center Association of India).

PPZ currently manages 13 operational malls, with 9 more in pipeline to be operational in the next 6 months, with an additional 13 assets in development stage, pegged to be operational over in the next 3 years.

Mr. Pramod Arora has been associated with Cinemas, Real Estate, Retail and the larger investment eco system in the industry for the last 3 decades. Since 1996, with advent of cinema multiplex development in India, he has been playing a pivotal role in development and growth of shopping centres and cinemas.

An astute, accomplished and seasoned professional, he presently leads, guides & enables growth, expansion and development strategy at PVR INOX alongside all other facets of the business. From a very humble beginning with a 4 screen multiplex cinema in Delhi in 1996 to more than 1700 screens across the country in 2023, he is widely regarded as the brain behind the growth of modern age cinema theatres & shopping centres in the country. Designing and developing the best in class, hospitality led cinemas spaces to mergers, acquisitions and financial structuring of complex deals, he has been actively involved in helping unleash the India consumption story in modern retail and cinemas.

Coming from over 20 years of professional experience, I am currently serving as the Vice President,

Business Development – India & Global at Being Human Clothing. In my current capacity, I spearhead

national and global expansion initiatives, ensuring that the brand’s ethos of sustainability, product

value, and design innovation reaches consumers worldwide.

Prior to my tenure at Being Human Clothing, I held pivotal roles at prominent fashion retail majors,

including Raymond Apparel Limited, where I served as the National Head – Business Development.

Under my leadership, renowned fashion and retail brands such as The Raymond Shop, Ethinix By

Raymond, Ready to Wear, Made to Measure, Park Avenue, Colorplus and Parx touched outstanding

topline growth and profitability numbers. My strategic acumen facilitated the opening of 50-300+

new doors while maintaining a robust bottom line. My contributions to accelerating organisational

growth and achievements in boosting market expansion were recognised numerous times by the

organisation’s top management.

During my earlier tenure at Blackberrys, I orchestrated a comprehensive expansion roadmap across

diverse market segments, scaling up the brand’s footprint from 25 to 250 stores across tier 1, 2, and

3 cities. My keen understanding of market shifts, operational efficiency, and stakeholder

management played a pivotal role in driving Blackberrys’ growth trajectory.

My journey in business development began at M&B Footwear, where I honed my skills in retail

expansion and brand management for prestigious labels such as Lee Cooper and Geox. I was

instrumental in conceptualising retail design concepts and spearheading new market initiatives,

setting the stage for subsequent successes in the industry. I oversaw the opening of 100 + stores

during my tenure at the organisation.

Beyond my corporate achievements, I am well regarded for my analytical prowess, negotiation

finesse, and commitment to excellence. I has been lauded by industry peers and recognised through

prestigious accolades and roles, including:

*Outstanding women leadership Award (Retail) ET – World HRD Congress 2019.

*Recipient of Raymond Award for Excellence 2021 – Cost-saving Initiative of the Year.

* Top Most Retail Mind Award 2023 – Asia Retail Congress (CMO Asia)

*Featured in IMAGES Retail magazine as 30 Best Retail Business Development Heads in India.

* Have been a speaker at multiple industry events over many years.

My passion for learning, coupled with my collaborative leadership style, fosters an environment of

innovation and growth within my teams. I am deeply committed to driving business success through

strategic planning, public relations, and franchise management, cementing my reputation as one of

India’s foremost business development leaders.

Lifestyle International Private Ltd, (LIPL) is part of the Dubai based retail giant Landmark Group,

which runs iconic retail stores like “Lifestyle”, “Max”, “Home Centre”, “Easybuy” apart from other

group retail formats of Landmark Group namely, “SPAR Hypermarket” “Fun City / Tridom – FEC”

etc.

Landmark Group in India operates more than 800 stores, spread over 5.0 million square feet of retail

space, and patronaged by 100s of million customers. The Group Formats have been consistently

bagged many coveted retail brand awards.

As President, GBD, Raghu is currently responsible & steering the Business expansion of all the retail

formats of LIPL.

Prior, Raghu Rajagopalan, held the position of COO for Max Fashion in India, was managing the

delivery of business productivity synergizing the Retail operations, Marketing, Supply chain and

planning functions.

With an illustrious career spanning 3 decades plus, Raghu, with double Post Graduation Degrees in

Commerce and Business Administration, has a rich and diverse experience in Commercial, Finance,

Logistics and Business management in the Consumer Durables, Luggage and Retail formats in India

Earlier he has been CEO for Smaaash Entertainment, India’s largest Family entertainment Centre’s combining amazing Food and Beverage experiences with VR, AR and other gaming concepts.

He was also instrumental in building and running Reliance Big Cinemas as Chief Operating officer to a retail entertainment business of great repute and scale across Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal& India.

Tushar has been the brand Architect for PVR Cinemas and was instrumental in evangalising and providing strong foundation of Cinema Advertising Industry in India as their CMO.

Earlier in his career he established Concierge service for Taj Group and the youngest and one of the first to adorn golden keys in India.

Tushar is a Bachelor of Arts, Hospitality Management and Post Graduate in Management from IMT Ghaziabad.

He was recognised with several awards including 2008 “Exhibitor of the year in Asia by Hollywood reporter and 2007,8,9 Retailer of the year in entertainment Industry by India Retail Forum. Most admired innovative concept of IRF 2009 for Cine Diner, Retailer of the year (leisure & entertainment), Reid Tailor Award for Retail Excellence etc.