Kenneth D’Costa

Kenneth has an extensive ~30-years’ experience, most of it in FMCG with a consistent track record of growing revenues and profits at diverse and multi-faceted branded packaged foods businesses with reputed companies like IFFCO, ConAgra, and Wipro Consumer in the Middle East and India. These include scaling up, diversifying, building from scratch, divesting, integrating acquisitions and establishing joint-venture partnerships. He has addressed challenges on delivering growth and turnarounds by enhancing brand market shares, expanding B2B customers, supported by focused cost management programs across the value chain through a diverse team of functional experts drawn from a global talent pool. A critical thinker who is passionate and down to earth with a problem-solving orientation. His approach is collaborative while working with diverse teams He started in 1991 as a management trainee handling the sales of Shalimar Paints in a part of southern India from which he moved on to be the marketing manager for Wipro’s Consumer Products division starting his almost 27-year association with FMCG industry For almost 7 years before Barakat, Kenneth has led six business categories which include Flour, Bakery Ingredients, Frozen Bakery, Spices and Seasonings, Animal Nutrition, and Poultry Products, leading a combined turnover of $350 million across seven production sites and 1200 employees. He has delivered the business segment profit objectives by providing ‘Strategic leadership’ to the Business General Managers. His work is pivotal in strengthening brand shares in consumer flour, frozen breads and fresh poultry which enjoy leadership position, creating new revenue streams and improving current portfolio profitability with B2B customers across the business segments while ensuring YoY cost efficiencies across the value chain. He has spearheaded the establishment of large projects which included setting up a greenfield $60 million edible oil refinery in KSA, $50 million brownfield edible oil investment in the UAE and a $10 million investment "Flour Heat Treatment (FHT)" project, the first of its kind in the Middle East and South Asian region He believes in growth mindset, continuous learning, and empowering people. An avid sportsperson, his passions include crafting food as a lever for health and wellness and enjoying the occasional Barakat juice after a session in the gym!