Santosh Kumar is a highly accomplished Group CFO and finance leader with over 20 years of experience driving financial strategy, governance, transformation, manufacturing, bottling, and diversified business groups throughout the GCC, Africa, and Asia.
Currently, he serves as Group Chief Financial Officer at OTE Group in Muscat, Oman, where he leads group-wide financial governance, strategic planning, treasury management, ERP transformation, and performance optimization across automotive, real estate, leasing, retail, and manufacturing businesses. In this role, he partners closely with the CEO and Board to strengthen profitability, improve liquidity, enhance operational KPIs, and drive sustainable long-term growth.
Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Oman Refreshment Company (SAOG), one of the leading PepsiCo bottlers in the region with dominant market share in beverages and food distribution. During his tenure, he improved profitability, accelerated revenue growth, led successful acquisitions including expansion into Algeria, digitized financial and sales processes, streamlined reporting frameworks, and delivered significant cost savings through process optimization.
Earlier in his career, he held multiple senior leadership roles at Gulf Coca-Cola Beverages (GCCB) across the UAE and Oman, including Head of Finance, Finance Controller, and Head of Internal Audit. He specialized in strategic finance, supply chain finance, indirect tax management, profitability enhancement, cash flow optimization, and stakeholder reporting. Prior to this, he worked with The Coca-Cola Company as Region Audit Manager in India and with Godrej Industries Group as Region Audit Lead, strengthening his expertise in audit, governance, compliance, and financial controls.
Santosh is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and also completed a PGCPM in Business Administration and Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore. Additionally, he has earned executive certifications including AI for Business Specialization from the University of Pennsylvania and Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies from Harvard Business School.