At least six top Ola executives have resigned in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, sources have told Moneycontrol, the latest in a series of exits that the Indian ride-hailing service has seen in the last few months.
Three of the executives who quit are from Ola UK--Managing Director Ben Legg, Chief Marketing Officer Emma Kenelm and head of human resources Natalie Brown. CFO and Financial Director, Australia and New Zealand, Kashif Amjad, New Zealand Operations Manager Tyler Stead and Sydney Operations Manager Stewart F Brown are the others to leave the ride-hailing company that went international a year ago.
“Ben Legg was asked to leave very unceremoniously,” one of the sources said. “Bhavish Aggarwal is not happy with the company’s performance in the UK. Ola is bleeding in London. Ben had come to India for a review, and he was asked to leave.” Aggarwal is the co-founder and CEO of Ola Cabs.
Legg’s LinkedIn profile says he is also on Ola UK’s board, a position he took over in August 2019. It is not clear if he has stepped down from the board as well.
Group Chief Financial Officer Harish Abhichandani has been made the interim business head of the UK operations.
“This potpourri with names of employees who have moved on months ago, and some others who are very much in the system and part of the Ola team, is just engineered gossip and speculation on which we can’t comment,” an Ola spokesperson said in an email in response to a query about the latest exits.
Ola launched its international operations in 2018, with entry into Australia followed by the UK and New Zealand. The company had plans to enter the US, too. “The US plan has been shelved, but there are other countries in Europe that might be launched,” another source said.
Ola Cabs has been losing top executives over the last few months, as reported by Moneycontrol. Among those who have left the Bengaluru-based company are Pranav Tiwari, the head of engineering, and Sarmad Nazki, the head of finance at Ola Electric Mobility. Other exits are those of Pallav Singh, Senior Vice President and one of the oldest Ola employees, Saikiran Krishnamurthy, Senior Vice President (Growth), and Joy Bandekar, Corporate President (New Initiatives).
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