Yash Kotak

Yash Kotak is the CMO of Bombay Hemp Company Pvt. Ltd. and is in charge of the entire communications, media, marketing, sales, and business development wings within the organisation. Hailing from a business-oriented family in Mumbai, he has completed his Master’s in management with majors in Advertising & Communication. Given his upbringing, Yash has always felt extremely privileged to know and understand how important it is to work and strive towards what you want to achieve. This, in some ways, has also translated into the vision of BOHECO being a value-driven organisation, instead of the brand solely focusing on ‘valuation’. An ardent refuter of being a bookworm, Yash ensured that most of his time during college and school was spent in social setups instead of classrooms, constantly facing his curiosities and inhibitions head-on. Before BOHECO, Yash’s first job right out of college involved him working as a media planner with Groupm, where he worked with well-reputed and established brands like Mercedes, Cox & Kings, Novartis to name a few. His first stint was in his specialised field for approximately 15 months, before he moved on to BOHECO, his passion project. At the onset of inception, the founders were faced with the stark realisation of the lack of precedence of the industry within the Indian subcontinent, and apart from policies and regulations, communication would play a prime role in determining the brand’s success. The organisation’s vision, as it stands today is to reimagine the future of Indian agriculture and sustainable living with hemp as their lens. Their formula is to take the nine-thousand-year-old wonder crop of the Himalayas, cannabis, and transform it into a channel that powers the future. Their organisation follows a vertically integrated format, and the design fuses this very potential with the existing industries of Agriculture, Technology, Textiles, Food and Medicine, to bring together Community, Impact, and Value. Yash has made tremendous strides in the end-to-end setting-up process of the vertical of BOHECO Life (health & wellness segment), which is where most of the brand’s focus lies today. He worked closely with Sumit and Delzaad, 2 of the Co-Founders to incept and put together the entire supply chain and communication of the vertical. Yash also heads several awareness and education campaigns carried out on behalf of the brand, speaking truth to his prime focus of educating potential consumers of the product with the benefits of using this plant. From cooking workshops partnered with restaurants (to highlight hemp’s use as a daily adage) to educational roadshows informing doctors and patients about the medicinal benefits of the plant, Yash front-ended various crusades for the brand to propel industry awareness. BOHECO’s mission is to educate, elevate and cultivate. Education forms a huge backbone of this particular mission, given the nascent nature of the industry as it stands today, as well as the social stigma that goes along with the sector. Not only educating the consumers but helping people unlearn and relearn what the industry is all about, due to the volume of misinformation is imperative for the business stream to flourish. Personally, that is where Yash’s work comes into play. He truly believes that hemp & cannabis can improve people’s quality of life and the only reason they do not have access to it is that they do not know too much about it. His personal vision for the brand is for hemp & cannabis to reach a maximum number of households and improve the standard and quality of living of patients who are suffering from chronic illnesses, whether physical or mental. On a personal note, Yash is heavily invested in sports, travel, social work, and food, and tries to coincide his hobbies and passions with his professional work in the domain wherever possible.