Ola appoints Kaul as COO replacing incumbent Jivrajka

Indian online transportation network company Ola on Monday announced the appointment of Vishal Kaul as its Chief Operating Officer (COO). In a statement, the company said the PepsiCo veteran who has been with the company since the start of his career in 1999, will head Ola’s operations and strengthen Ola’s market leadership.

The company expects that Kaul will further expand Ola’s market reach across the country and widen the base of customers  and driver-partner fraternity. Ola states that it is in line with its mission to  build mobility for a billion Indians. Commenting on the development, Ola CEO and Co-Founder Bhavish Aggarwal said 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,” adds Aggarwal.

Kaul, who will be replacing Pranay Jivrajka as the COO, was most recently the General Manager of PepsiCo Foods for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. “I am delighted to join Ola and be part of solving for the mobility needs for a billion Indians,” Kaul said.

Jivrajka, who has been focusing on leading key strategic initiatives in recent months and Ola’s first employee, has been appointed as Founding Partner and will continue to work closely with Aggarwal. Besides serving 102 cities, and touching the lives of around 500 cities with its outstation services, Ola has, over the last one year got over 12 different categories on the platform.

“We have been driving innovation in the transport sector with a strong focus on shared mobility and local innovation, which help us create a better customer experience, driver experience and disruption in the travel habits across the country. I am doubtful that our competitor has done anything meaningful in this regard,” said Jivrajka.