Santharuban Sundaram takes on CEO role at Etika Holdings

Santharuban Thurai Sundaram is taking on the role of CEO at Etika Holdings, succeeding Khalid Alvi to oversee the Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei markets, effective 1 April. He will remain in his role as CEO of ATLAS Vending. Sundaram told A+M: "Etika is a great company that recognises and rewards our talents and I’m thankful for the opportunity to steer this organisation." Etika Holdings is a unit under Asahi Group Companies.

He was previously Etika's senior vice president marketing and alternate business but took on the role of CEO of ATLAS Vending in 2020, a newly acquired company under Etika. The acquisition made Etika the largest independent vending solutions provider in Malaysia and Singapore, according to the company then, with services ranging from hot and cold beverages as well as snacks such as cup noodles. ATLAS has since worked with brands including SC Johnson, Pepsi, Tropicana, and FWD Takaful.

Sundaram took on the added responsibility of alternate business in 2019. Before that, he was VP of marketing, as well as group marketing manager at Etika. He also worked at Celcom Axiata as head of communications and planning, group digital services. From 2007 to 2011, Sundaram also worked at Etika as senior brand manager when the company was then known as Permanis. During his time there, he oversaw the launch of a few key brands such as Mountain Dew and Revive. Meanwhile, Khalid has been with Etika Holdings for three years and previously worked at EZBuy Pakistan and F&N Malaysia. Khalid declined to comment on his new role.

Sundaram told A+M in a previous interview that the pandemic resulted in an increase in brand partnerships and the company also saw a spike in sales. This trend was especially evident in high-rise residences with younger and more affluent consumers who are always on the go.

"Consider a billboard as an ATL platform and sampling as a BTL platform. Now consider it via a vending machine, as a brand, you technically get both," he said. Sundaram explained that vending machines offer visibility coupled with the ability to directly land the brand's products into consumers' hands.

ATLAS rolled out the ATLAS TryBot late last year and uses automated sampling to enhance the traditional retail experience. The bot allows for prominent branding and touts ease of data collection and stock management control. Hence, the team was able to identify the target segments of the consumers who actually retrieved the samples, which helped with retargeting and data analysis.

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