Chief Operating Officer - Baaya Design - NGO/Social/Service

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (COO), BAAYA DESIGN

Baaya Design is an organization founded by Shibani Jain, a NID Alumni. She and her husband, Vipul Jain (IIMA alumni, ex CEO and founder Accelya Kale Solutions Limited) are the promoters of the company.

Baaya has a retail store and design studio. The mission of Baaya is to conserve artisan skills and provide livelihood to them by creating products that appeal to modern sensibilities and tastes. Baaya works with artisan groups across the country to curate handmade products for interiors and gifts. This includes folk and tribal art, artifacts and furniture, home and office accessories. These are sold through its flagship store at Raghuvanshi Mills, Mumbai.

The Baaya studio works with architects/interior designers to provide bespoke art, partitions, and artifacts for homes, offices and hotel industry. These are taken up as projects to create one-of-a-kind interior styling solutions. Customers include Oberoi Group, Tata- s, TCS, Axis Bank and many hi-end residences.

Baaya has built a great brand and reputation as a place where a wide range of art and well-designed products are available. It is now in a phase of aggressive growth in both the retail operations and projects. It is building the team to enable and facilitate the exciting growth plans in both India and abroad.

ROLE / RESPONSIBILITY :

The role is that of COO - essentially as #2 to Shibani Jain. The team will report the COO in all operational matters so that Shibani can focus on the creative / design aspects and strategic growth opportunities. The functions include retail operations, merchandising, project business development and fulfillment, design, accounts, marketing, HR and Admin.

The role is a muti-facted one: It conveys the following:

- P&L management - preparing annual plans/budgets and meeting them.

- Retail operations - ensuring good merchandising, attractive display, customer experience, stock and sales control.

- Projects - Business development for retail customers as well as interior designers/architects, quotations, fulfillment, customer satisfaction

- Design - productivity, prioritization. On creative work will receive inputs directly from Shibani Jain.

- Artisan Connect - meeting new artisan. Building their capacity so that they can better support the business.

- Commercial - vendor negotiations, accounting controls, budgeting

- Marketing - coordination, ensuring that marketing is aligned to support the business. Will receive inputs from Shibani and Vipul on brand and campaigns.

- Team management - ensuring motivated, engaged and productive team.

- Strategic Initiatives - While Shibani and Vipul will focus on growth strategies, the COO has to support them with feedback and implementation of the strategies.

Experience requirements:

- Solid managerial experience and track record.

- Business development experience, particularly in B2B sales

- Alignment with Baaya's social objectives

- Experience working with creative people