Retail Technology and Innovation Forum

Anshuman Agarwal

Co-Founder, Increff

Anshuman Agarwal is one of the seasoned leaders in the ecommerce & retail technology industry. With over 20 years of experience as a thought leader, advisor, and mentor, Anshuman brings in unique perspectives across multiple segments including merchandise planning, distribution, warehousing, decision analysis, risk analysis and strategy development. He is a graduate from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), one of the premier engineering institutes in the world, and a post-graduate from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), one of the Top B-Schools known globally. His objective behind starting Increff was to build sustainable supply chains, especially for short-life cycle products, e.g., Fashion, beauty, lifestyle etc. through intelligent merchandising and smart inventory management.

In the initial years of his career, Anshuman worked with some of the marquee companies like Boston Consulting Group (BCG), ITC, Myntra, Inductis and many more. He is the Co-founder & COO, at Increff and is recognised as the go-to source for operations, consulting, and business strategies

Mike Anthony

Co-Founder, Engage

Mike Anthony and Toby Desforges, co-founders of Engage, are trailblazers in the realm of retail marketing. They boast a combined 60-year career in consumer goods spanning four continents. Their passion and vision led to the creation of Engage, a global consultancy that has transformed brand returns for industry giants like Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo and Mars. Together, they co-authored the bestseller "The Shopper Marketing Revolution." Now, they are leveraging their collective expertise in the tech sector, connecting with innovative businesses set to revolutionise the retail industry.

Toby Desforges

Co-Founder, Engage

Mike Anthony and Toby Desforges, co-founders of Engage, are trailblazers in the realm of retail marketing. They boast a combined 60-year career in consumer goods spanning four continents. Their passion and vision led to the creation of Engage, a global consultancy that has transformed brand returns for industry giants like Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo and Mars. Together, they co-authored the bestseller "The Shopper Marketing Revolution." Now, they are leveraging their collective expertise in the tech sector, connecting with innovative businesses set to revolutionise the retail industry.

Tash Grossman

CEO and Founder, Slip

No bio provided

Eoife Huo

Lead, RetailTech Working Group, Tech London Advocates

Eoife Huo leads the TLA RetailTech working group, one of the UK's largest retail technology networks. TLA RetailTech is a part of Tech London Advocates, a network of more than 10,000 tech leaders, innovators and experts in London, across the UK and in 50 countries worldwide. As an independent and private sector-led organisation, TLA believes London is one of the world’s leading tech hubs and we work to solidify this through advocacy, funding, talent and diversity initiatives. The TLA RetailTech group focuses on championing innovation in the retail technology sector in the UK.

Eoife brings her expertise in brand positioning, content marketing, and global partnerships to her current roles as Brand Lead for three startups in the climate, media, and retail industries. In her previous positions, she advised retail and creative industries on market entry strategy at the China-Britain Business Council, spearheaded content capabilities for a cross-border eCommerce startup, and drove global partnership growth for mobile device manufacturer OnePlus. She holds an MBA with distinction from the University of Oxford and a BA from Zhejiang University.

Rebecca Keenan

Global Head of Intelligent Automation, Expleo

Rebecca is responsible for the development and delivery of Expleo's intelligent automation capabilities. Her team operates a global service offering for clients, built to develop methodologies and best practice approaches to implement and deploy automation, data and AI solutions at scale. She is responsible for strategy, delivery and innovation within the service, ensuring consistent delivery across teams and effective results for Expleo’s world-renowned clients.  The service utilizes a range of technologies, including RPA, OCR, chat bots, process mining, analytics, data intelligence, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Abhinav Khare

General Manager - Ecosystem Innovation , HCLTech

An innovative leader with over 19 years of experience driving open innovation strategies at the dynamic intersection of technology and business. Currently serving as the General Manager - Ecosystem Innovation at HCLTech and HCL Software, I am at the forefront of pioneering open innovation initiatives. 

I have successfully established two thriving Startup Accelerators (HCLTech's eSTiP and HCL Sync aiming to collaborate and co-innovate with startups across the globe. I also take part in mentoring them, closely working on burgeoning & niche tech use cases to help our clients excel and establish their competitive edge. 

I have also successfully set up emerging technology labs dedicated to Quantum Computing, XR and GenAI exploration in the last 3 years. 

As a strategic collaborator, I excel in fostering cross-disciplinary partnerships, orchestrating innovative projects, identifying emerging technology trends every year (https://www.hcltech.com/research/tech-trends-2023), exemplifying the transformative power of open innovation.

Suraj Nagaraj

Head of Product - Loyalty and Support, Tesco

Talk to me about all things Clubcard and Personalisation in addition to exciting initiatives in the world of GPT and LLM. I also do social impact consulting in the Subcontinent, would love to talk financial inclusion and access to money management tools if anyone is interested. I live in Surrey and actively looking to meet new people who have switched to alternate careers outside of technology.

Luca Pagano

Group CEO, BeMyEye

Luca Pagano is a seasoned executive with a rich and diverse background in technology, mobile services, and entrepreneurship. Currently serving as the Group CEO at BeMyEye where he leads an international team dedicated to helping consumer brands like J&J, L’Oreal and Kraft Heinz track, analyze, and enhance in-store performance. Luca is also CEO of Mira, an AI company specialized in computer vision applied to store automation.

Karan Pinto

Global Director of Growth, Terra Quantum

Karan is an entrepreneur, creator, and technologist, with a rich background in Engineering & Finance from University College London (UCL). As the Global Director of Growth at Terra Quantum, a world-leading quantum services company, Karan has been at the forefront of making quantum technology innovaJons useful across various sectors through evangelism and craKing industrial applicaJons. His work is pivotal in helping businesses harness the potenJal of quantum tech to address complex challenges. 

He has also had many entrepreneurial endeavours across consumer goods and services based businesses. His venture, "Entangle Climate," coalesces deep tech with posiJve climate outcomes, reflecJng his commitment to using innovaJve technologies for societal benefit. His experJse as a Corporate Venture Builder in business model innovaJon and disrupJve technology commercializaJon has been instrumental in guiding companies towards breakthrough growth opportuniJes.