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Suryadeep Gumber, is 30 years old and has been Supply Planning Manager at NIVEA India for two years.
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Aditya Wagh, 29, is Senior Business Finance & Planning Manager and with Beiersdorf for three years. This is him in front of the famous Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai.
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Founded in 2005, NIVEA India is amongst the younger affiliates within the global Beiersdorf network. At the entrance of the Mumbai office, currently two famous Bollywood actors – who are NIVEA brand ambassadors in India – welcome employees and guests.
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Not only the affiliate itself but also the team at NIVEA India in Mumbai is rather young. Suryadeep: “Nivea India is a special working place with the spirit of a startup and the culture of a multinational.” Here you can see some colleagues doing store checks in the streets of Mumbai.
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When it comes to working culture at NIVEA India, Suryadeep describes it as: “Entrepreneurship is promoted and one is really free in the way he or she does the job. The goals are challenging yet fulfilling and there are ample opportunities to enhance your profile at every step of the way.” Aditya adds: “We have a very open culture at NIVEA India which makes it possible to discuss any issues freely and helps create an honest, constructive atmosphere”.
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About 460 people work at NIVEA India in total, but the atmosphere is still familiar. For Suraydeep and Aditya the high degree of personal interaction and cooperation at their work place is something very typical for their country. Aditya: “In India, people are generally very friendly to work with and very helpful. People go out of the way to help you if you are in need.” This picture shows a typical birthday celebration at the Mumbai office.
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Suryadeep: “To me the most special thing about living and working in India is the amount of personal bonding that is created by close interaction with peers on a daily basis.”
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This is Suryadeep’s desk at work. As Supply Planning Manager he is responsible for supplying mother hubs with stocks from the production centers across the globe and in India. For Suryadeep, a typical day in the office revolves around monitoring, sales and production, and planning stock production across the entire assortment of NIVEA India.
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Aditya does financial controlling at NIVEA India. Together with his colleagues, he is responsible for the financial reporting, planning and overall Statement of Income for the affiliate. Typical for his job is a lot of interaction with other functions like Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and HR regarding financial aspects.
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The ping-pong table provides a sportive activity at the Mumbai office. And a place for sportsmen-like competition between colleagues. Asked for challenges at his job, Suryadeep says: ”To me, the most challenging aspect at my job is the healthy competition among the talent pool across functions and at every level. This ensures good learning and perspectives, but at the same time keeps one honest by providing a barometer to measure your performance against others. Another challenging thing is the steep learning curve as NIVEA India is still a young and growing company in its organizational lifecycle.”
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Aditya sees other challenges: “The most challenging thing about my job is to handle the complexity of the NIVEA India business. India is a vast and complex place for doing business with a variety of variables like numbers of distributors, channels, states, stock keeping units and so on. Hence, to bring simplicity out of complexity is the most challenging aspect of my job.”
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This is Suryadeep after having finished a charity run for “NIVEA cares for family”. NIVEA India cooperates with the local partner Aseema for the “Mom’s Touch” initiative which supports mothers with low incomes to ensure that their children can go to school.
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In Mumbai, Juhu Beach is Aditya’s favorite place. He enjoys going there in the morning for walks or to run. “It is a great way to start your day with some clean air and healthy exercise.”
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Suryadeep’s favorite place in Mumbai is his home: “Life in Mumbai is fast paced and the city never sleeps. Having ample time for yourself on a weekday can be difficult. So I enjoy sitting on my couch in the morning and listening to good music. The music wakes me up, energizes me for the day and helps me clear my mind to plan my day better.”