Ankush Chatterjee, VP, Global Product Marketing, Obi Worldphone
Ankush Chatterjee is a seasoned professional with extensive global experience spanning 18 years in product marketing, product management and innovation. He is currently vice-president at Obi Mobiles where he is responsible for global product marketing, driving strategic relationships across the value chain, building core organisational capabilities, envisioning new solutions and go-to-market launch strategies. In the past, he has worked with global companies such as Samsung, Aricent and Motorola, across multiple geographies.
For Chatterjee, the immediate challenge for Obi is to remain differentiated in the market and create a niche proposition for Obi Worldphones. “Premium segment growth has eroded, making the premium mid-tier segment a hot battleground. How we win and create a challenger brand that consumers aspire to own, while reaching out at a breakneck pace to the global audience is my area of focus,” he says. In the coming year, Chatterjee sees many new technologies evolve, including smartphones with state-of-the-art features, implantable wearable devices and consumerisation of drones. Further, the sector will see sustained evolution towards better networks, adoption of big data visualisation and the emergence of smarter automotives.
For Chatterjee, all his roles have been different from each other. “Having worked with big Fortune 100 companies for most of my career, the role at Obi was of particular interest. It required someone to shape up the organisation globally, while also build up the India office. The scale and the pace that this role offered fascinated me and was an opportunity of a lifetime,” he says. He believes in management by empathy. “I trust in individuals till I am proven wrong. I believe that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary achievements with the right incentives, and as leaders, it is our responsibility to enable this. My strengths are listening to people and refusing to give up.”
Chatterjee holds a bachelors degree in electronics and telecommunications from Jadavpur University, a master’s in engineering management from Northwestern University, an MBA in marketing and finance from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and a post-MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He loves reading and writing, mostly on management and innovation, and treasures the time with his young son. His family also includes his parents, who are his source of inspiration, and his wife who, he believes, makes little miracles in life happen.
