Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, October 2025 — Kartik Narayan has joined Apna Group as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), marking a major leadership addition to one of India’s fastest-growing AI-led employment and workforce transformation platforms. With over two decades of strategic leadership experience across telecom, technology, and staffing sectors, Kartik brings deep expertise in building scalable businesses, driving operational excellence, and leading large, diverse teams across industries.
At Apna, Kartik will lead the company’s mission to redefine the future of work for India and beyond — empowering millions of professionals and enterprises through cutting-edge AI innovation. He will focus on accelerating Apna’s enterprise expansion, enhancing platform capabilities, and driving workforce inclusion through Apna’s flagship offerings, including its next-generation AI platform Blue Machines.
Before joining Apna, Kartik served as CEO – Staffing at TeamLease Services Limited, where he successfully led India’s largest people supply chain company, addressing challenges in hiring, attrition, and productivity while strengthening workforce readiness across industries. His visionary leadership helped bridge critical employability gaps in India’s fast-evolving labor market.
Kartik also served as a Board Member at the Indian Staffing Federation, contributing to industry development through roles in the Regulatory, Marketing, and Research Committees, and as Head of the South Chapter. His tenure reflected a deep commitment to shaping policy and promoting ethical, inclusive employment practices across the staffing ecosystem.
Earlier, Kartik held key leadership roles at Vodafone Idea Limited as Executive Vice President – Enterprise Business, where he managed national P&L for the large and mid-market enterprise segment. His previous career milestones include strategic roles with Cisco, Riverbed Technology, Airtel, and Sify Technologies, where he gained a comprehensive understanding of digital transformation, enterprise solutions, and customer experience leadership.
An alumnus of the Symbiosis Institute of Digital & Telecom Management (SIDTM), Pune, where he earned his MBA in Telecom, Marketing, and Economics, Kartik is known for his strategic foresight, people-first leadership approach, and ability to drive growth through innovation and collaboration.
About Apna Group
Apna Group, founded in 2019, is redefining the future of work by empowering millions of professionals and enterprises through AI-driven innovation. Its flagship platform, Apna.co, is India’s largest early-career job marketplace, connecting 6 crore+ job seekers with 7 lakh+ employers across 900+ cities. Trusted by leading organizations like Teleperformance, Zomato, Kotak, Flipkart, Axis Bank, and Bluestar, Apna enables inclusive and scalable hiring across industries.
Apna’s recent foray into enterprise AI through Blue Machines — its Voice AI platform — underscores its position as a frontier innovator in conversational AI. Backed by global investors such as Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, and Insight Partners, Apna continues to build technology that empowers people, strengthens enterprises, and drives inclusive growth across India and beyond.
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