Indian-origin Chawla appointed as FairPrice CEO
VIPUL CHAWLA, 54, WILL TAKE OVER FROM FAIRPRICE GROUP CEO SEAH KIAN PENG ON APRIL 5 THIS YEAR
SINGAPORE: Indian-origin business leader Vipul Chawla has been named as the group CEO of Singapore’s FairPrice Group, a union-linked supermarket food chain operator across the country with an annual revenue of nearly $3 billion.
Chawla, 54, will take over from group CEO Seah Kian Peng on April 5 this year, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a statement from FairPrice Group and and its parent group National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Enterprise.
Chawla will continue the efforts of Seah to accelerate the growth of FairPrice’s physical stores and online retail, supported by a robust supply chain strategy, the company said in a statement.
He has held leadership roles in Fortune 500 companies in the consumer goods (Unilever) and food services industries.
As president of Pizza Hut International since 2018, the US-based Chawla oversaw markets in more than 100 countries with a combined revenue of $7.5 billion, and was able to navigate the company through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chawla has been involved with the labour movement in the past as part of NTUC’s “U Circle of Friends” to promote the talent pool here. He has also worked with local food banks to assist those in need, said the statement.
He holds a postgraduate degree in management studies from S P Jain Institute of Management and Research at Bombay University.
Seah, who currently fulfils the dual role of chief executive at NTUC Enterprise and FairPrice Group, will now focus on driving growth across NTUC Enterprise’s social enterprise clusters, the statement said.
NTUC Enterprise is the holding entity and single largest shareholder of the labour movement’s social enterprises, including NTUC FairPrice, NTUC First Campus, NTUC Foodfare, Kopitiam, NTUC Health, NTUC Income and NTUC LearningHub.
In December last year, French luxury fashion house Chanel announced the appointment of Unilever’s Leena Nair as its global chief executive officer adding to a list of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. executives taking top roles at some of the world’s largest companies.
Indian-origin Nair, chief human resources officer (CHRO), at British fast moving consumer goods company Unilever Plc stepped down from her role in January. She took on the role at the luxury clothing and bags maker effective January 2022.