Ola appoints former PepsiCo exec Vishal Kaul as new COO

Cab aggregator, Ola has named former PepsiCo executive, Vishal Kaul, as its chief operating officer (COO) and Pranay Jivrajka will continue to lead key strategic initiatives in a new role as founding partner, the company said.

In his new role, Kaul, who was heading PepsiCo Foods for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, will “head Ola’s operations, strengthen Ola’s market leadership, expand its reach to the nooks and corners of the country and widen the base of Ola’s customers and driver-partner fraternity,” ANI Technologies, which runs Ola, said in a press release.

Kaul who joined PepsiCo in 1999, holds a Bachelors in Engineering from Punjab Engineering College and an MBA from Symbiosis Centre for Management & HRD.

“I’m thrilled about Vishal joining Ola to lead our operations. He is a passionate and experienced business leader with a demonstrated ability to drive business towards growth and profitability. His intuitive understanding of consumer businesses, ecosystem management experience and market understanding is invaluable. I look forward to partnering with him as we expand our reach and build Ola to serve the needs of every single Indian,” Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said in a statement.

Jivrajika, also the company’s first employee, will work closely with Aggarwal to lead strategic initiatives. “Over the past 6-8 months, Pranay has been working with me closely on many key strategic initiatives and I congratulate him on his new role as a Founding Partner. This organisational change will enable him to focus on these initiatives much more sharply, Aggarwal said.

To ward off competition from Uber Technologies Inc., Ola has been strengthening its leadership team with new hires. It recently appointed former SAB Miller India executive Shalabh Seth as the chief executive of its leasing subsidiary Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd to help grow the supply of cars.