Kartik Narayan joins Apna as Chief Executive Officer

Apna, an early talent hiring and jobs platform, has appointed Kartik Narayan as its Chief Executive Officer to lead the company’s next phase of growth.

Narayan has been an accomplished business leader with over two decades of experience across general staffing, telecom, digital infrastructure, and enterprise tech, having worked with organisations such as TeamLease Services, Vodafone Idea, Cisco, Riverbed, and Bharti Airtel.

Over the years, Narayan has led businesses through various phases of growth and transformation — from building verticals from scratch to turning around underperforming units, driving P&L mandates, and leading post-merger integration efforts. A large part of his focus has been on bringing structure, market clarity, and execution discipline to complex business environments.

Narayan joins Apna from TeamLease, where he was the CEO of the General Staffing business, responsible for strategy, growth, profitability, and building a strong leadership culture. He was also a Board Member at the Indian Staffing Federation.

Before this, he had led the strategic accounts business at Vodafone Idea, working with some of the company’s largest global and domestic clients. His earlier roles in tech and telecom built a solid foundation in enterprise sales, customer success, and large-team management across geographies.

Narayan holds an MBA in Telecom, Marketing, and Economics from Symbiosis Institute of Digital & Telecom Management, Pune.

Founded in 2019, Apna Group empowers millions of professionals and enterprises through AI-led innovation. Backed by investors like Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, Insight Partners, GSV Ventures, and Owl Ventures, Apna collaborates with leading government and public institutions such as the NSDC, Ministry of Defence, UNICEF YuWaah, and AICTE to drive nationwide skilling and employability programs - powering AICTE’s career portal for over 3 million students across 22,000 colleges.