Unilever Bangladesh Ltd has appointed Zaved Akhtar as its chief executive officer and managing director -- the second Bangladeshi to lead the unit.
Zaved Akhtar, who is currently serving as the vice president of Digital Transformation and Growth, South Asia, based in India, will also join the Unilever South Asia leadership team, the company said in a statement on Thursday. His new appointment will be effective from July 1, bdnews24.com reports.
He will succeed Kedar Lele, who served as the CEO and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh since January 2018 and subsequently became chairman in addition to managing director in 2020.
A career marketer and business leader, Zaved Akhtar began his career with British American Tobacco and then joined Unilever as senior brand manager for its Oral Care business in 2000. He is a graduate of the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University.
With 24 years of professional experience across South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia, he has “rich expertise” in consumer centricity, design thinking and innovation management.
Sanjiv Mehta, president of Unilever South Asia, said: “I would like to thank Kedar for his outstanding leadership of the Bangladesh business and laud his efforts towards strengthening Customer Development execution, transforming the company’s end-to-end supply chain, developing talent and improving diversity in UBL.”
“I am delighted to welcome Zaved as the CEO and MD of Unilever Bangladesh, and to the South Asia Leadership Team. His contribution towards crafting Unilever’s Five Fundamentals of Growth and driving the Reimagine HUL agenda in India has been tremendous. I am certain that he will lead the Bangladesh business to greater heights.”
