Malavika is a Communication Evangelist, Brand Strategist and Teacher. After her accountancy training and MBA from the IIM, Bangalore Malavika joined HMT Watches. She then ran her own interior design and packaging firm before joining Saatchi in 1993 after a stint at Mudra Communications. Malavika trained briefly at Saatchi & Saatchi in London, New Zealand and Singapore.
She has 43 years of experience in marketing, communication, and entrepreneurship. Brand Consultancy and Strategic Planning are her focus areas. In her earlier avatar she founded and ran Saatchi & Saatchi Focus in India as CEO for 25 years.
The portfolio of brands handled by Malavika include corporate, B2B, B2C, B2E and Healthcare. Brands include Abbott, AIS, Alcatel Telecom, Astra Zeneca, BASF, BPL, Bosch, Caterpillar Engines, Coats Threads, Consolidated Distilleries, Deccan Herald, Ecomaster Corporation, Essar Steel, Godrej Agrovet, Hewlett Packard, Hyundai Santro, ICICI Bank, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Infosys, Ingersoll Rand, International Instruments, JK tyres, Mead Johnson, Medybiz, Microsoft, MTR Foods, Mylan, Nandi Housing, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, P&G Pampers, Reliance Polymers, Tata Coffee, Tata Tea, TNT, Toyota Innova and Visa.
Malavika has been teaching for the last 32 years at various post graduate institutes in India and abroad. She is also very involved in Executive Education and Training and runs workshops and programs for practicing managers.
She is Resident Mentor at NSRCEL of IIMB and is actively involved in mentoring start-ups, in the profit and non-profit sectors, at NSRCEL and other incubators across the country.
She is on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institutes of Management, Bangalore and Visakhapatnam, on the Governing Council of Mount Carmel College, Chairperson of AIM IIMV Field and Independent Director of Symphony Limited. She is the Chairman of the Big Bang Awards Committee and Treasurer of the Advertising Club Bangalore.
Malavika was one of the first Gurukul Chevening Scholars, selected by the British Government for a special program at the London School of Economics. Malavika is the first woman to win the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIM Bangalore, the first woman to deliver the Founder’s Day lecture at IIMB, the first woman President of the IIMB Alumni Association and the first woman alumnus to serve on the IIMB Board in the 50 years of its existence. She is also a TEDx Speaker.
