Narayan Ranjan, ex-Chief of Staff - Viacom18 joins Happydemic as COO

Happydemic, a live music company founded by Radhika Mukherji (Singer Shaan’s wife) & Amar Pandit, Managing Director of My Financial Advisor & Happyness Factory, brings on board Narayan Ranjan from Viacom18 as their new “Chief Operating Officer”.

With over two decades of a stellar career in the media and entertainment industry, Ranjan began his career as Head of Planning at STAR India in 1998. He quickly scaled up the Indian business and played a key role in launching STAR News as he rose to the position of Vice President – Finance & Commercial for the channel. As setting up and scaling businesses came naturally to him, he joined Viacom in 2004 as Chief Financial Officer to build the Indian business. His cross-functional expertise was instrumental in setting up and running various verticals such as Finance, IT, Legal, Production and Operations. In fact, it was under his supervision that the JV between Viacom Inc. and the Network18 Group was drafted in 2007. In 2016 he was elevated to the role of Chief of Staff.

Ranjan left Viacom18 in December 2018 to pursue his passion and to create history in the media and entertainment space. He found a suitable partner in Happydemic which has been transforming the live music space. Happydemic has successfully made a happy difference in the lives of artistes all over India and done some phenomenal body of work with over 130 Corporates.

Commenting on Happydemic, Ranjan stated that "It has always been beyond doubt that happiness is an innate human desire on which organisations place enormous value as it has proven to enhance productivity, engagement and belonging amongst their customers, dealers/distributors, employees and other stakeholders".

He added that "Happydemic has done a fabulous job of bringing joy in the lives of thousands of people and delivering strong engagement as well as productivity, for hundreds of corporate clients; thereby demonstrating that music and live entertainment, is very much a part of core strategy that can deliver strong business outcomes".

On his appointment, Ranjan said, "Given my experience in setting up and quickly scaling up consumer-facing organisations with a strong focus on technology-enabled solutions; I intend to work with Radhika and Amar, to take Happydemic to great heights".

Ranjan joined Happydemic recently and will help the founders in scaling up the business by creating new products and expanding the business into new geographies. He looks forward to building a robust organization and a great work culture at Happydemic while exploring his passion to make a difference in the lives of customers and artistes alike.

Radhika and Amar stated "We are super excited to have Ranjan on board with us in the senior leadership role as we are all set to scale our business. We focused on proving the power of our business model in the first 3 years and have done so with meaningful numbers. This year we will break even with 130 Corporates, 1800 Artists, solid delivery capabilities, phenomenal suite of products & solutions and a Pan-India reach. Scale is now our mantra and we strongly believe that Ranjan will help us get there much faster and efficiently."

Famous Bollywood singer Shaan, Radhika Mukherji’s husband who has been her pillar of strength since the beginning of the Happydemic journey, says- “I am overwhelmed to see the evolution that Happydemic is going through. Armed with an experienced leadership and a competent team, I can only see Happydemic scaling greater heights of innovation and excellence.”