Dhruv Bhatia

Background

About Dhruv Bhatia

I am a Senior Commercial Business Leader with significant exposure across APAC and international markets, working in future-focused and ambitious B2B food and beverage enterprises to drive impactful, cost-effective and profitable transformation and growth. Over the past 17 years, I have ascended through leadership roles at Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading B2B manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products. These have included Managing Director for India and Subcontinent, Vice President Corporate Accounts – Asia Pacific and, currently, as Managing Director for Japan and Korea, APAC’s biggest EBIT contributor. I am also a Board Member of the Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan. During my career, I have gained hands-on start-up experience in multinational corporate environments alongside unique commercial exposure, setting up Barry Callebaut’s largest APAC revenue driver from the ground up, in an emerging market. With rigorous business acumen and end-to-end value chain knowledge, I strengthen EBIT, performance, ROI and market share by leading strategic planning and negotiations, including in resource-constrained situations, to sharpen our execution capabilities and remove barriers to success. Utilising my ESG knowledge, especially around agri-commodities, I strengthen ROI by positioning sustainability as a differentiator for customer engagement. Alongside this, I demonstrate a highly entrepreneurial and autonomous leadership style, shaping the careers of my team and investing in talent by developing collaborative, inclusive and accountable workplace cultures. Additionally, with strong cross-cultural people management skills, I build trusted relationships at all levels, shape board and C-suite decision-making, and clearly communicate complex information and priorities across international stakeholder communities.