OrangeGlobal expands leadership team

India’s audio OTT player OrangeGlobal Stories has expanded its leadership team by onboarding five key professionals to head financial management, technology, human resources, marketing, and production functions. The new leaders include Amar Vanzara as chief financial officer (CFO), Aditya Kale as chief technology officer (CTO), Tina Chakrabarti as head of human resources, Preetam Thingalaya as head of marketing, and Pranay Naigaonkar as head of production. This core team expansion has occurred close on the heels of OrangeGlobal Stories’ launch its audio storytelling platform, Eshtory. The core team expansion has been done in accordance with the upcoming launch.

Commenting on this move, Harrish Bhatia, co-founder, OrangeGlobal Stories, said, “The diverse expertise of the new group of leaders will play a critical role in bringing our audio storytelling platform Eshtory to life.”

The newly appointed CFO, Amar Vanzara, tasked with managing financial strategy and operational growth of the company, is a Chartered Accountant with 19 years of experience at organisations like Citigroup Services India, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, and JP Morgan Chase. The new CTO, Aditya Kale is an expert in scalable technology systems with credentials such as CISSP and AWS Certified Solutions Architect. Tina Chakrabarti, the new HR leader responsible for talent strategy and workplace culture, has over 24 years of experience working for global organisations such as IBM, Genpact, and Accenture.

Preetam Thingalaya, with two decades of digital marketing experience in organisations such as ZEE5 and Hindustan Unilever, will head Eshtory’s marketing strategy. The new production head Pranay Naigaonkar has 20 years of content production experience at media brands including My FM and Hungama.

OrangeGlobal Stories co-founder Viplove Gupte said, “With this stellar leadership team, we are confident in delivering narratives that blend creativity and technology to deeply resonate with audiences.”

The audio OTT market in India has several players vying for the consumer pie. The Amazon-backed Audible has an extensive audio library and deep pockets to provide consumers with wide-ranging, exclusive, and personalised content. JioSaavn, Gaana, Saregama, and Spotify are known for their strengths in streaming music. Some of these players are also present in areas such as podcasts, regional content—or even devices.

While the platforms like SoundCloud and Audioboom specialise in creator-driven content including podcasts and albums, players like Kahaniya (audio stories in Hindi), Shunboi (audio books in Bengali), and StoryNory (stories for kids) operate in niche areas. Kuku FM and Pocket FM, with their specialisation in multiple Indian languages, are other key players in this segment.

The new additions by OrangeGlobal Stories to its leadership team has happened in the backdrop of its recent decision to invest in growth operations. Last year, OrangeGlobal Stories announced its three-year plan to invest $36 million in marketing and digital to strengthen its Eshtory launch. The investment is expected to be directed towards marketing activities to improve audience engagement and to fortify its presence in highly competitive audio OTT market.

Inu Majumdar, CEO of Radio Orange and deputy chairperson of OrangeGlobal Stories, said, "The strength of any transformative endeavour lies in its people. The new team brings depth of talent and expertise, empowering Eshtory to set benchmarks in storytelling and deliver experiences that captivate and inspire."