Name: Aneith Singh
Age: 26
Job title: E-commerce national account manager
Company & location: Danone UK & Ireland
Education: Economics with Business at Nottingham Trent University
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Growing up my mum worked for British Airways, so with this connection the ambition was always to be a pilot. Through the Air Cadets I managed to fly a glider plane, but never quite reached the peak of a Boeing 747.
Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? In previous roles I have worked with single-product businesses where the focus was narrow.
What attracted me to food and drink is the constant change and breadth of opportunity. Especially at Danone where we operate across four categories, one day I will be analysing the plant-based category and another I may be arranging activation surrounding Wimbledon. This dynamic environment keeps me on my toes, allowing me to continuously learn.
“Although the industry can appear transactional, the reality is quite the opposite”
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): I work cross-functionally with teams across the business to ensure Danone products perform effectively on Tesco.com. Four days a week I focus on Danone’s online execution and market performance, and the other day I am embedded within Tesco as an implant, providing support to their online business.
What does a typical day look like for you? My day varies depending on whether I’m working for Danone or Tesco. At Danone, I work with a variety of functions (sales, marketing, supply chain) to ensure our activation and category reporting drive performance ahead of forecast, whilst keeping in-store and online activity aligned through regular contact with account managers.
When based at Tesco, I sit within the cheese and yoghurts team, reviewing these same areas from a broader Tesco perspective to support their category goals.
Tell us how you went about applying for your job: The application had two stages, an interview and a case study. The interview mainly focused on aspects of the role and how I would show the Danone behaviours throughout.
The case study allowed me to be tested on several different competencies, which I now realise are incredibly applicable after doing the role for over a year.
What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? The free yoghurts throughout the day is the easy answer, but working for a company with a 90% non-HFSS portfolio allows me to take pride in what I do, bringing health through food.
Additionally, the opportunity to be an implant has been invaluable, strengthening my relationships with Tesco and significantly broadening my skill set.
And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? Although the industry can appear transactional, the reality is quite the opposite. Much of our work focuses on building strong relationships and ensuring the category operates at its highest potential.
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What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? Engage with people in the industry as early as possible – it’s the best way to understand the different areas of the business and identify where you’d like to begin your career.
What’s your ultimate career dream? I would like to have worked within several different functions across the business – this way I feel I can develop a well-rounded skill which is very useful in fmcg given how cross-functional it is.
So far in my career I enjoy the analytical/data side of things so being within that area is something that interests me. I’ve also been fortunate to learn from excellent managers, and developing a well‑rounded skill set will help me become the kind of manager they have been for me.
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