Ankiti Bose | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 15 July 1992 |
| Nationality | India |
| Alma mater | St. Xavier's College, Mumbai |
| Employers | |
Ankiti Bose (born 1992) is an Indian former business executive who co-founded defunct e-commerce company, Zilingo. On 31 March 2022, she was suspended as CEO after an attempt to raise capital raised questions about Zilingo's accounting practices, according to Bloomberg. [1] [2] On 20 May 2022 Bose was fired from Zilingo. [3]
Bose was born in India. [4] She completed her schooling from Cambridge School, Kandivli, Mumbai[ citation needed ]. She studied mathematics and economics at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. [5]
Bose began her career working at McKinsey & Company and Sequoia Capital in Bangalore. [6] After a trip to the Chatuchak Weekend Market [7] Bose noticed that fashion markets in Southeast Asia had immense room for penetration and growth. [5] The market includes over 11,000 independent merchants lacking an online presence. [5] Whilst there was investment in improving access to the internet, Bose recognized that retailers were not trained in financing, scaling-up, website design, and procurement nor well equipped to compete with large global players. [6]
In 2015, Bose left her position as an investment analyst at Sequoia Capital to launch her own company, Zilingo. [8] Bose was twenty three when she founded Zilingo. [9] She moved to Singapore in 2016, where she developed the software and supply chain solutions. [10]
The China–United States trade war resulted in United States retailers leaving China, which allowed Zilingo to expand into America. [11] She has worked to source Indian fabrics for Californian factories as well as opening offices on the West Coast and East Coast. [11] At Zilingo, Bose supported a program to train women in Indonesia to create clothing, recognising that in Indonesia almost 40% of women leave the workforce after they get married. [11] [12] Zilingo set up a coaching programme to support leaders across the company. [11]
In March 2022, Bose was suspended, from Zilingo with allegations of financial misrepresentation and mismanagement, pending an investigation. Among other allegations, shareholders questioned her S$50,000 per month salary which according to her contract five years ago was S$8,500. Her management style of using intimidation to extract compliance in her daily working in Zilingo was also called into question. [13]