B. S. Nagesh

Nagesh was born on 12 April 1959 in Bangalore, Karnataka, and studied at Banaras Hindu University.

Nagesh began his career in 1982 at Blow Plast Ltd, and worked at Orson Sales Ltd from 1986 to 1988 and Carona Ltd from 1988 to 1991. In 1991 he joined the K. Raheja group as general manager to set up its retail operations, opening the first Shoppers Stop store in Andheri, Mumbai. He was managing director and chief executive of Shoppers Stop from 1997 to 2009 and is now its chairman. He was also founder chairman of the Retailers Association of India.

Describing a personal philosophy of twenty-five years each of learning, earning and giving back, Nagesh stepped away from day-to-day management in 2009 and founded TRRAIN in 2011 after research among retail employees and employers found that most retail workers took little pride or dignity from their work and had few opportunities to gain new skills.

TRRAIN runs Pankh, a programme training and placing persons with disabilities in retail, and TRRAINHer Ascent, which trains young women from marginalised backgrounds. With the Retailers Association of India it created Retail Employees Day, marked on 12 December, which is now observed in a number of countries. TRRAIN also runs the TRRAIN Retail Awards, which have recognised retail associates since 2011.

Nagesh was named Most Admired Apparel Retail Professional of the Year at the Images Fashion Awards in 2000 and received the Top CEO Award from the Institute of Marketing Management in 2001. He was inducted into the Retail Hall of Fame at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona in 2008, the first Asian retailer to be so honoured. He was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2019, and has been listed by the Economic Times among Indians driving philanthropic initiatives.[2][3][4][5]