A Bridge Across Nations

As the CEO of the £9.5-billion, 300-product Reckitt Benckiser, Rakesh Kapoor is part of a select club of Indians who head global MNCs. A product of Modern School, Delhi, he studied chemical engineering at BITS, Pilani, following it up with an MBA from XLRI, before joining the corporate sector. He began with a couple of start-ups and Hindustan Computers and joined Reckitt Benckiser in 1987 when it was known as Reckitt Coleman. In just 10 years, he became its global marketing director and moved to the UK. In 2011, Rakesh was the unanimous choice as the company’s CEO among several global contenders. Before his ascent, the company concentrated mostly on North America and Europe. Kapoor introduced the concept of BRICAM (Brazil, Russia, India, Africa and Middle East), and expanded its market in these countries.

As CEO, he believes the days of command and control leadership are over; a CEO has to follow a value- and strategy-led leadership with a short-, medium- and long-term vision for the company. When not at work, Rakesh is an accomplished bridge player. He’s also an avid cricket fan and must be hooked to football right now.