Honasa Consumer’s chief business officer Zairus Master steps down

Zairus Master

Zairus Master, Chief Business Officer of Honasa Consumer – the parent company of beauty and personal care brands Mamaearth, BBlunt and The Derma Co – has resigned from his role, Moneycontrol has learnt.

Master has stepped down at a time when Honasa's growth has hit a rough patch, after its flagship label Mamaearth reported slowing growth due to ongoing restructuring in its distribution model.

Honasa confirmed the development in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

"We would like to inform that Master Zairus, Chief Business Officer designated as Senior Management Personnel, has tendered his resignation with effect from closure of business hours on February 28, 2025 due to personal reasons," the company stated.

With nearly 25 years of experience working at firms like Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, and Nokia, Master joined Honasa in August 2021, and played a key role in the company's omni-channel growth strategy. He was also responsible for investment allocation across categories, brands, and channels, for the firm.

Master's exit comes on the back of several others. In October, Honasa's Chief Product and Technology Officer Jayant Chauhan put in his papers due to personal reasons. Before that, Abhiishekk Raj Pandey, Senior Vice President of Commerce at the firm called it quits to start his own venture.

The company also recently reported its first quarterly loss in five quarters. In the July-September period, Honasa Consumer incurred a loss of Rs 19 crore, versus a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 29 crore reported in the year-ago period, and also saw its revenue decline seven percent from Rs 496 crore to Rs 462 crore during the same period.

The drag was because the company took a hit of about Rs 70 crore in the quarter as it altered its offline business model to go from supplying to super stockists to directly dealing with distributors as it grows its offline presence and removes an additional layer in retail. Since the company removed one level of intervention, it was left with products that could not be sold further.

In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Honasa CEO Varun Alagh said that nursing the brand back to health is the brand’s number one priority.

As such, the company has roped in consulting firm Bain to help revive growth and will focus on reworking its distribution and supply chain. As part of Project Neev, the firm is investing in R&D, innovation and marketing, and plugging gaps in its portfolio. In the interim, it will also bank on its other brands.

While Mamaearth is the company's largest brand – bringing in around 65 percent of its business, it also runs The Derma Co, BBlunt, Dr Sheth’s, Aqualogica, BBlunt and Staze 9to9.