Bhandari has 18 years’ experience of driving growth of the Nestlé business
Nairobi, August 2022: Nestlé has appointed Arvind Bhandari as the new Cluster Head for East and Horn of Africa, which forms part of Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR). In this role Bhandari will manage operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda markets, based out of the Nestlé Kenya Office.
Bhandari joined Nestlé in 2004, as a Senior Brand Manager for Maggi Noodles at Nestlé India. He later moved over to the culinary business unit at Nestlé South Africa where he was instrumental in establishing the Maggi business in the market and driving aggressive growth in noodles. He has since made strides within the company, occupying different roles including Director: Nestlé Dairy, and Vice President and Regional Business Head Nestlé Nutrition in the South Asia region.
In his recent role, Bhandari led the Nestlé Global Category across 40 countries globally. He led exceptional growth in Wyeth Nutrition at Nestlé based in Switzerland, through consolidation of business in China, refocusing on key markets and expansion to new markets of Europe and Latin America.
In congratulating Bhandari on his appointment, Bruno Olierhoek, Chairman and Managing Director at Nestlé ESAR, said, “We are excited to work closely with Bhandari as he re-joins the East and Southern African Region to oversee our business in East Africa. His pursuit for driving growth and development has delivered exemplary results and we look forward to working with him as he continues his expansion legacy for our brands. Key to his role will be the growth of our accessible nutrition portfolio, helping the business in the region achieve its purpose of unlocking the power of food to enhance the quality of life for all.”
Bhandari is an alumni of the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, and he holds a Master of Business Administration from S P Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai, India.
He assumed the role on 01 August 2022, succeeding the previous Cluster Head, Ng’entu Njeru, who has since taken on the role of Regional Commercial Manager, Nestlé ESAR