Nepal’s leading online marketplace, Daraz Nepal, has named Aanchal Kunwar as its very first female Managing Director. Daraz CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen announced the news through Linkedin. No sooner than which several congratulatory notes and good wishes came pouring in from the Nepali public and media.
“I feel privileged and honored for this opportunity to lead a very talented group of professionals in creating a world-class online shopping experience for my fellow Nepalese people. Daraz’s rapid growth and impact on the Nepali e-commerce industry are evident even from a distance. Thus, I feel very excited to be a part in establishing Daraz Nepal as a household name and a one-stop solution for all our customers’ shopping needs. As Darazians, we will continue to live by our strong values and purpose of uplifting our communities through the power of commerce.” said Aanchal
Born and raised in Nepal, Aanchal has an M.B.A. from the Carlson School of Management, a B.S. in Mathematics & Economics from St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. During her 13+ years in the US corporate sector, she worked for various leading companies such as Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and e-commerce pioneer, Amazon, where she worked in establishing the company in new markets like Sweden, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
After a long and successful career in the US, Aanchal will be leading Daraz Nepal at a time when the company enters a new phase of growth. This also happens to be at a time when the company is going through a rebranding. Further, with her appointment, all of Daraz’s operating countries now have native MDs.
Bjarke Mikkelsen, the CEO and founder at Daraz Group said “As we move forward into our next phase of growth, our focus is to create a greater sense of connectivity with our customers and sellers. I look forward to working with Aanchal, along with our other country MDs, to create more exploratory and personalized experiences for our users as they bring their local perspectives, experiences, and insights to continue to drive our business forward.”
Ms. Kunwar will be taking office as incumbent MD Lino Ahlering moves to a regional role at the Daraz Headquarters in Singapore. “This is a very exciting time for Daraz. It was a great honor to build e-commerce and lay the foundations for this industry in the country over the last 3.5 years. We have a fantastic team of more than 750 Darazians and the future for Daraz and e-commerce, in general, is going to be extremely bright. Given I will stay within the Daraz Group, it will be a very smooth transition in terms of management. I’m sure that Daraz will rise to even greater heights under Aanchal’s leadership and I wish her and the team only the best” said Ahlering