Rakesh leads the Consumer Markets practice in South East Asia in PwC’s Strategy& practice, based in Kuala Lumpur – and leads the (x-sector) Strategy& team in Malaysia and Vietnam.

He brings 15+ years experience serving Corporate, PE and Trading House clients in the Retail, Consumer and Leisure sectors on Strategy (revenue management, route-to-market, channel and pricing optimization); M&A/Deals (portfolio strategy, diligence, post-deal value creation, integration) and Transformation (sustainability and organizational structure) topics –typically working with executives on the Board and across the C-suite (in Finance, Strategy, Commercial).

He serves large multinational accounts (examples: F&B, Tobacco, Cosmetics) on Strategy topics and in account leadership –building & deepening C-level relationships; marshalling firm engagement on local priorities; sharing global best practices and driving coordination and capability exchange with international teams. He also serves as the Asia-Pacific account leader (across all lines of service) for two of PwC’s largest global priority accounts in the Consumer Products sector.

Earlier, in Japan and the U.S., he served marquee global clients on Strategy and Transformation initiatives. He was part of the founding team of PwC’s U.S. Deals Strategy practice, where he advised PEs and Trading Houses on portfolio strategy, M&A diligence and execution and also, on rapid post-deal value creation.

Prior to joining PwC, Rakesh worked across multiple sectors – from investment banking and capital markets (J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank), to non-profit (Teach For India) and international development (Asian Development Bank).

Rakesh holds an MBA degree (Strategy, Finance) from the Kellogg School of Management, and a BS degree (Actuarial Science, Finance) from New York University. He was named a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum in 2013.

Clifford has been with PwC for more than 22 years. He is a partner specialising in corporate income tax in Malaysia with portfolio of clients in the retail, consumer, manufacturing, property development and construction and renewable energy space. He currently co-leads PwC’s Japan Desk in Malaysia.

His other experience are in the tax review of companies for the purposes of listing on UK, Singapore and Malaysian stock exchanges, M&A activities, corporate restructuring of companies, cross border deal structuring, advising on international taxation and negotiations with the regulatory authorities on tax issues and disputes.

Apart from that, Clifford helps companies set up businesses and review, restructure their businesses in Malaysia.