Our exclusive cover story this month features Marcelo Stefani, Global Chief Procurement Officer, who discusses the strategies, philosophy, and goals of swapping from PepsiCo’s localised approach to a global one…
Procurement’s importance within the business landscape has scarcely been clearer than now. Unprecedented levels of disruption to global supply chains via the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, aberrant weather events and international trade uncertainties have centralised procurement as not just a strategic enabler, but a functional imperative.
Gone are the days where procurement operated in the background; now it’s a fundamental component of top-level strategy. For a complex multinational like PepsiCo, the depth of value offered by a robust, technologically enabled and strategically versatile procurement organisation is abundantly clear.
Marcelo Stefani, Global Chief Procurement Officer at PepsiCo, took charge of the food and drink giant’s worldwide procurement efforts in 2023. For Marcelo, taking the reins at the top of PepsiCo’s procurement function meant re-examining the fundamental principles governing its supply chain operations. Read the full story here!
Elida Beauty: Reviving iconic brands through procurement transformation
Riteesh Padhi, Chief Procurement & Supply Officer at Elida Beauty, tells us all about the company’s independence from Unilever, and how this has given 23 neglected brands the revival they needed…
It’s a rare gift to be able to shape a business’s procurement function from its very beginnings. Elida Beauty started life as an offshoot of Unilever, gathering together 23 brands formerly under the Unilever umbrella, and giving them a new lease on life. Three senior leaders at Unilever were tasked with figuring out how to bring together a set of geographically spread brands across multiple sub-categories, and turn them into a single, unified business.
As Elida Beauty has gradually extricated itself from Unilever – now a fully independent company owned by Boston-based PE firm Yellow Wood Partners – those previously neglected brands are beginning to thrive once more.
One of the first to join the new team was Riteesh Padhi, Chief Procurement & Supply Officer at Elida Beauty. He was formerly the Global Supply Chain Transformation Director at Unilever, and jumped at the opportunity to tackle the challenge Elida presented.
Padhi is at the helm of the company’s strategic vision and the operational delivery of a fully outsourced, cost-competitive, agile supply network. Elida Beauty is composed of 23 well-known beauty and healthcare brands, across Skin Cleansing, Skin Care, Deodorants, Hair Care & Styling, and Baby & Cotton, and operating in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Padhi takes care of each of them, and that’s a challenge – but one he’s more than equipped for. Read the full story here!
