On this week’s episode, we hear from Vineta Bajaj, CFO of Holland & Barrett. By her own admission Bajaj thrives on change.

Before joining the high street chain of supplement and health food shops, she was group CFO at European online grocery business Rohlik and spent nearly ten years as a finance leader at Ocado, during which period the business grew from a FTSE 250 company to at one point overtake Tesco as the most valuable UK retailer, while transforming into a b2b technology provider.

It makes sense, then, that she would choose to join Holland & Barrett in the midst of a major transformation effort – its 2025 financial year marked the largest investment period in the company’s history as it spent on its store estate and digital capabilities, with the aim of ensuring that, as Bajaj puts it, the 100 year old business will “be here in another 150 years”.

We discuss some of the challenges of stepping into a transformation part-way through, why the company has opted to build its own software systems (it has more than 500 staff in its technology and automation division), and how Bajaj is bringing the science of unit economics from her grocery background to Holland & Barrett.

Credits:

Presenter: Antonia Garrett Peel

Producer: Inga Marsden

Artwork: Jenny Hardy

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