Dunzo VP Of Category And Growth Mrunmayi Oke On Leadership And Creating Opportunities

Mrunmayi Oke, the Vice President of Category and Growth at Dunzo has years of experience being a leader in the corporate world. Over the last two years, Oke pushed Dunzo to new heights. The Vice President helped take the Dunzo Daily vertical to 10x growth in five months.

Mrunmayi Oke is well-versed in being a leader and played a pivotal role in scaling up the private label, Dunzo Essentia, with her team. With 11 years of experience, Oke has witnessed the industry gradually become more welcoming towards women.

SheThePeople got the opportunity to speak with Mrunmayi Oke about leadership, her journey to becoming the Vice President of Category and Growth at Dunzo, creating opportunities for women and promoting diversity.

Interview With Mrunmayi Oke

Corporate Journey

Mrunmayi Oke kickstarted her corporate journey when she joined the Analytics department at ZS associates. She then worked in the Marketing department at Google India and then at the Aditya Birla Group.

In October 2020, Oke joined Dunzo as the Head of Revenue and currently oversees the Category and Growth department as the Vice President.

As the Vice President, she has to manage all operations that take place prior to the customer placing their order.

Oke spoke about her vast experience in different departments and said, "My previous stints in retail, manufacturing and pharma sectors have contributed greatly to my learnings and the way I do things in Dunzo."

COVID-19 Lockdown's Impact On Delivery Services

COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown altered the way people lived and got their essentials. According to Oke, people who had never used delivery platforms before began using Dunzo for their everyday needs. "The pandemic pushed people towards technology," said Oke.

The post-pandemic era meant that consumers' trust in on-demand delivery services increased to a greater extent.

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Female Businesswomen In Corporate World

When asked about how things had changed from when she started till now, Oke said that things had definitely changed for the better over the years.

Oke said, "We now have a welcoming ecosystem that exists to support and build careers or even push women to take up larger roles by giving them the right opportunity. The increasing number of women who have entered the ecosystem, especially in mid-senior leadership roles has strengthened diversity. Together with the organisational support functioning as the backbone, they have had a very significant impact on the business."

Mrunmayi Oke

She added that COVID-19 altered how people worked but also helped grant accessibility to women who were physically unable to get to work. Oke added that "widespread networking among female entrepreneurs who are working together to establish their own careers is also creating a favourable environment that emphasises the advancement of women in the corporate sphere".

Creating Opportunities For Women And Promoting Diversity

Oke spoke about the importance of creating a welcoming space for women and members of the LGBTQ+ community and shared the steps Dunzo had taken for the same.

She said, "For Dunzo, building an inclusive and safe workspace for women and the LGBTQ community is very important. We believe that policies help create meaningful experiences and we have rolled out several policies to ensure our team members benefit from them."

She added that their insurance policy covers same-sex partners and unmarried couples and live-in partners. They also expanded the scope of Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) at work to ensure protection for all employees irrespective of gender.

Oke said, "Our goal is to make Dunzo a great place for women to build careers - from a 2X referral bonus for diversity candidates to period leaves, flexible work, and a great maternity package. We also understand that having the right policies is a starting point. "

We need to build awareness and acceptance for diversity, openly address unconscious biases and have free conversations that help us get to a better place.

In order to look at diversity beyond the corporate space, Dunzo launched the Project Shakti initiative to increase the number of women in stores. The women's workforce doubled from 500 in March 2022 to over 1,000.

Oke said, "Many of these women are becoming self-reliant and financially independent for the very first time."

She also spoke about a warehouse in Pimple Saudagar, Pune, referred to as the "Pink Warehouse", which is completely managed and led by women at all levels.

While we've made good and steady progress over the last few years, we have much more to achieve.

Advice For Young Women

Mrunmayi Oke gave advice to young women who are interested in heading growth and revenue in an organisation like Oke herself. She said, "Courage and curiosity are the two most important qualities to exhibit if one strives to bag a large revenue or a PNL business role. It’s one of the hardest roles to take because it has a lot of pressure not only from one’s own career but also from an entire organisation. To be able to handle the pressure and to be able to condition oneself, to make it a sustainable career option, courage becomes the greatest virtue."

Oke added that a person doesn't need to know all of the ins and outs of the role, but being able to keep learning and asking the right questions is essential.

The Vice President also spoke about the hardships of leadership and how one can improve their leadership skills. Oke described that balancing acts and masking emotions are the most difficult aspects of being a leader.

"Ensuring what is best for the organization, what is healthy for the team, what is right for one as an individual, juggling with the short-term and long-term goals, and building a trajectory for the organization - all of it calls for a pitch-perfect balancing act. And how can we neglect to strike a balance between one's personal and professional lives?

It may sound cliche but it is one of the most difficult things to achieve," shared Oke.

Managing emotions and motivating the team is also imperative part of being a leader. Oke says, "I always apprise my team that every leader has to be like an iceberg, only thirty percent of what one actually feels should be visible. The remainder shouldn't."