Kreol Group names Vishwanath Iyer as Chief Operating Officer

Kreol Group has named Vishwanath Iyer as Chief Operating Officer, a role in which he will lead operational strategy and execution with an immediate focus on the travel retail channel, B2B apparel and lifestyle, plus ecommerce.

Kreol is a diversified business group with interests across consumer goods channels, including travel retail.

Iyer brings over two decades of leadership experience in FMCG, beverages and travel retail. Before joining Kreol Group, he held senior roles at Beam Suntory, Diageo and PepsiCo, where he handled account management, operations, supply chain and commercial strategy across international markets.

He also served as Head of Buying & Supply Chain at Delhi Duty Free (GMR Group), managing category buying and vendor management for one of India’s largest airport retail businesses.

Kreol Group Chief Executive Officer Lal Arakulath said, “We’re delighted to have Vishwanath join the Kreol Group family. His leadership comes at an important time as we scale our business to new heights.”

Executive Director Kreol Arakulath commented: “At this juncture of our growth journey, it was important that whoever we took on board had both brand-side and retailer-side experience across multiple categories in order to match our ambitions for operational excellence and high-performance team-building.

“Vishwanath brings both these perspectives to the table, as a celebrated addition to our organisation.”

Iyer said, “I’m excited to join Kreol Group at this pivotal stage. With my background in global brand houses and travel retail operators, I see tremendous opportunity to strengthen operations across our travel retail markets, B2B apparel & lifestyle business, and ecommerce. I look forward to working with Lal, Kreol and the team to build efficient systems and deliver more value for partners and customers.”

Kreol Group’s Modern Trade division serves hypermarket retailers across the GCC, supplying groups such as Lulu, Carrefour, Hypermax, Nesto Cooperatives and others.

Kreol Group’s Travel Retail division operates across the value chain. As a distributor, the group is best known for its multi-category distribution across the Middle East and Indian duty free markets. As a retailer, Kreol is joint-venture partner with Avolta at Cochin International Airport. ✈