Hyderabad-based sustainable footwear startup Neeman’s recently appointed a former executive from Skechers as its chief financial officer, Sumit Maloo. At a time when the company is planning to scale its retail footprint manifold in India, planning to open 100 new stores in the next couple of years.
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Sumit Maloo joins Neeman’s, bringing years of experience in the field with him. Most recently, he was head of financial strategy at Skechers South Asia. He had responsibilities that spoke to a wide range of different financial functions-including operations, controls, planning and analysis, reporting, and treasury management. He has extensive experience in key finance positions through major organizations and includes experience at Staples, ICICI Bank, and Reliance Brands, which cements his broad knowledge about the nature of the financial sector.
Neeman’s is a new design in the creation of footwear, inspired by such successful brands in the US market as Allbirds. The company produces very comfortable shoes from sustainable materials such as merino wool, organic cotton, recycled PET bottles, and even fruit pulp and bamboo. This company has catapulted this brand into a very competitive shoe market due to its commitment to sustainability, just as it should be with the growing trend of eco-friendly products preferred in consuming the latter.
Neeman’s also uses online marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart, besides its sale portal on its website. It has begun to open off-line stores too. So, Neeman’s has presently as many as 14 exclusive off-line stores located across different major retail chains like Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle. Neeman’s plans to open 100 stores across major cities in India.
Despite a nearly 50 per cent scale-up in FY23, Neeman’s faces the combined challenges that losses have crossed the ₹100 crore mark. Even as an effective CFO in Maloo navigates these financial hurdles, he has to steer the company towards profitability. Scaling up businesses and sustaining complex financial operations will be addressed as Neeman’s seeks to optimize its financial performance during the phase of expansion.
Maloo, therefore intends to not only grow the financial operations but also ensure that the growth strategy at Neeman harmonies two core values: sustainability and innovation. With all his knowledge and reach out in the business network, he looks out to vigorously strengthen the market leadership position at Neeman.
Summing up, the Indian footwear industry is indeed witnessing a large-scale shift towards sustainability, of which Neeman’s represents a leading example. The use of environmental-friendly materials and practices means that the company holds appeal for ever more significant groups of customers who find sustainability critical in their buying decisions. This trend is going to persist for quite some time into the future, considering environmental consciousness is going only upward.
Thus, appointment of Sumit Maloo as CFO is a great step for Neeman in its ambitious expansion plan. Under his leadership and financial acumen, the company is now fully geared up to enhance market presence further amid challenges that will be afterward needed for attaining growth in the rapidly growing sustainable footwear sector. That commitment to innovation and sustainability, married with Maloo’s skill, may well spell success for the foreseeable future in a highly competitive Indian retail market.
