Job Opportunity for Sector Director: Garments Manufacturing at Foundation for Economic Development

Sector Director: Apparel Manufacturing

FED Vision and Mission

Foundation for Economic Development (FED) aims to bring about sustained and broad-based economic growth of over 10% in India. The evidence clearly shows that economic growth is the best tool to lift people out of poverty and improve the quality of life for everyone. Until 1991, Indias poverty rate remained nearly unchanged from independence at ~50%. Post liberalization, poverty reduced to ~20% with 35 crore (350 million) fewer people living in abject poverty. Since 2010, sustaining fast growth has been challenging as the easy gains have been realized. It is critical for India to maintain a growth rate of over 10% for long periods of time if we want Indians quality of life to improve rapidly and sustainably.

FED will focus on sectors of the economy which have the highest potential for generating incremental growth and jobs and then work with policymakers to make it happen. Based on detailed analysis of incremental growth potential, reform potential and fundamental competitive advantage, FED has identified Export led labour intensive manufacturing and tourism as the biggest short-term opportunities.

One of the largest export lead growth opportunities for India is Apparel Manufacturing. Apparel is one of the largest traded categories globally with annual trade value of USD 540 Bn of which China captures 32%. While India had a head start in textile and apparel, our export share is ~3% while much smaller countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam have 9% and 6% respectively. As labour cost continues to rise in China and companies look to diversify their supply base, we believe India can easily achieve $100bn in exports of garments and allied products like leather and footwear in next 5 years. Given the high labour intensiveness of the sector, $100bn of exports in this segment would translate to more than 15 Mn direct jobs making a significant dent on the unemployment issue. Hence, Textile & Apparel is a key focus sector for FED.

FED team

Advisory Board: Dr Arvind Panagariya (Ex-VC NITI Aayog), Naushad Forbes (Co-chairman of Forbes Marshall), Gurcharan Das (Ex-MD, Procter & Gamble Worldwide), Jerry Rao (Ex-CEO, Mphasis) and Ashish Dhawan (Founder, TCF)

Governing Council: Aruna Sundararajan (Ex-Telecom Secretary, GOI), Banmali Agrawala (Chairman, Tata Electronics), Ramesh Mangaleswaran (Ex- Senior Partner McKinsey), Ramesh Abhishek (Ex-DPIIT Secretary), Rana Hasan (Director, ADB), and Ravi Venkatesan (Ex-Chairman Microsoft India).
Team: 10+ team members with high quality education pedigree and experience in premier organizations.

FED Approach

FED work streams are divided into three primary areas.

• Research and Strategy: Deep dive into identified sectors, speak to relevant stakeholders, study practices from other countries and flesh out evidence backed ideas for change.
• Communication and Outreach: Build salience for opportunities in target sectors and need for reforms through op-eds in relevant channels, social media as well as one on one engagement with key bureaucrats and policymakers.
• Implementation Support: Work with select state governments in helping implement specific actions to promote the target sectors. The team is currently working closely with the UP
• Government on its Mission Trillion Dollar economy. The team is also working with Telangana and Tamil Nadu governments on their economic growth agenda.
• The team has already started working with the governments in UP (Mission Trillion), Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Punjab on this agenda.

Why join FED

At FED, you will have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the sector and shape its future. We offer a collaborative, dynamic, and forward-thinking work environment where your ideas and initiatives can lead to meaningful change. As a Sector Director, you will play a pivotal role in influencing the industry’s growth and development.

Role Summary

• The Garments Sector Director will be a mission driven entrepreneurial leader who is excited by the idea of making a real difference to helping India realize the manufacturing exports opportunity in Garments. The leader would establish himself/herself as an expert in the sector who is seen as a credible advisor by state and central governments as well as by companies looking to establish manufacturing footprint. Some of the specific responsibilities of the person will be as follows:
• Research & Strategy: Work with the junior team to develop a sharp, evidence backed point of view on Garments opportunity for India and what would it take to realize this. In this context, create specific areas of intervention where FED could make a difference.
• State Engagement: Build relationship with senior ministers and bureaucrats across relevant state and central governments and create a sense of urgency and prioritization around manufacturing exports in Garments. Work with the governments to help design and implement right policy initiatives to make this happen.
• Corporate Engagement: Connect with and build relationships with senior executives from top manufacturing companies in the sector globally and understand their strategies as well as requirement to drive exports from India. Help educate them about the opportunity in India and bring them to the table with the government where possible.
• Partnerships: Forge partnerships with other organizations working on similar agenda.
• Team Building: Build a small high-quality team that can deliver on required analysis and build evidence for change to engage with government and private sector.

Leader Profile

For the role of Garments Sector Director, FED is in search of a passionate and dynamic leader who can champion the cause of Garments manufacturing and exports from India in a compelling manner and influence government and other stakeholders to act. Very likely the person would be an accomplished senior business leader with substantial experience in the Garments space, ideally with some exposure to Garments manufacturing/supply chain. The person would come with a compelling track record who is now excited by the opportunity to think beyond leading one company and drive change at a national level.

The individual will need to bring the operational and organizational experience and personality to drive FEDs strategic objectives through policy and advocacy, brand, industry development, stakeholder engagement and performance management. An organization and brand builder, the individual should come with demonstrated ability to manage a complex, multi-scope portfolio in a global context and mobilize the existing FED structure and industry resources towards achieving common goals. Importantly, the individual should possess the self-confidence and ability to develop and take a stand on key issues for FED.

Role Competencies

• Vision and Strategy: The person should have the ability to think long term and then convert high level vision into actionable strategy factoring in considerations of political economy and market realities.
• Leadership and Drive: The person should have the ability and proven track record of navigating complex environment and getting things done nimbly adapting as new information emerges. The person should have experience of building an organization of meaningful size from scratch which includes hiring and motivating people, forging partnerships and alliances and working through influence.
• Passion for the cause: The person should be deeply passionate about driving economic growth and broadly align with the FED vision on the key elements which can make it happen in the current context.