Ken Ardali — Interim MD
Whether a P&L is going sideways, a channel has dried up, a market you can't crack without burning cash, or a team that's lost its edge — I diagnose quickly and execute without the onboarding curve.
The Problem I Solve
The people closest to the problem are usually too embedded in what used to work to see over it. They need someone who's seen this pattern before — across industries, markets, and decades — and can call it quickly. That's where I come in.
A business unit is underperforming, costs are out of control, or a key customer has left. You need it stabilised fast — without adding permanent headcount.
The traditional routes to market are plateauing and the team doesn't know what replaces them. E-commerce, cross-border, new platforms — the answer exists, but not inside the building.
Most companies do internationalisation at negative margin for years. The smarter model — cross-border trade structures, bonded warehouses, platform-native approaches — gets you to profitability faster.
Low morale, high attrition, pipeline running dry. You need clear-eyed leadership that can reset expectations, exit poor performers, and rebuild momentum — now.
How I Work
01
Distressed unit, demoralised team, or a P&L that needs fixing while leadership stabilises. Fast diagnosis, clear-out, rebuild.
Electrolux UK: £1m loss → £1.3m profit in year one
02
Traditional businesses that have missed the digital window and need to move fast. E-commerce, marketplace, China cross-border — I know the platforms from the inside.
SGS: 104% ecommerce revenue growth in two years
03
Not just "go global" — structured market entry that doesn't bleed cash for years. Cross-border trade models, bonded warehouses, platform-native launch.
Alibaba: 750+ stores live, £400m/month GMV in two years
04
When two commercial organisations need to become one, fast, without losing revenue momentum. Multi-brand, multi-territory, cross-cultural.
Spectrum Brands: multi-brand integration across European territories
Proof
Every engagement is different. The pattern is always the same: a commercial problem that the people inside couldn't fix fast enough.
Electrolux Professional UK
Years of managerial instability, a demotivated workforce, and significant losses. No one inside could diagnose the problem clearly enough to fix it.
£1m loss → £1.3m profitIn year one, on revenues of £13.5m. Team rebuilt. Pipeline restructured.
SGS Group
CHF6.6bn revenues, 97,000 employees — but ecommerce was fragmented across subsidiaries with no coherent strategy.
104% ecommerce revenue growthIn two years. Five proof-of-concept pilots. £2.4m in new annual revenues.
Alibaba Group
European brands wanted access to China's consumers but the model didn't exist in a form western companies could execute.
750+ flagship stores launchedPlatform reached £400m/month GMV in two years. Sainsbury's, Danone, House of Fraser, Body Shop, Bayern Munich.
Varta (IKEA Account)
Varta had tried and failed to win IKEA — the world's largest battery retailer — as a customer for over a decade.
£90m p.a. at retail3-year contract. IKEA became Varta's largest global customer.
Varta (Boots Account)
A major UK retailer Varta needed but couldn't crack. Wrong team, wrong approach, wrong product.
£20m p.a. exclusive contract2-year rolling deal. Added 25% to total UK revenues.
Background
Organisations
Brands Launched or Transformed
About
Ken Ardali
Interim MD
I started my career as a Process Control Engineer at Unilever before moving into commercial roles at Mars and Kodak. What followed was three decades of operating at the intersection of traditional commercial leadership and the digital/international frontier.
I was one of the early senior hires at both eBay and Alibaba in Europe, building cross-border ecommerce models that didn't yet exist. I ran SGS's global ecommerce function as VP, doubling revenues in two years. Before that, I turned around Electrolux Professional UK from a loss-making subsidiary to profitability in year one.
Since 2019, I've been operating independently — advising brands on China market entry, building the ChinaHow Club, and leading interim commercial projects for international brands, logistics providers, and tech ventures.
The combination of traditional commercial depth (P&L ownership, large account management, team leadership) with genuine platform and digital expertise is rare. Most commercial executives at this level haven't done it from the inside. I have.
Geography
UK · China · Turkey · Germany · France · Broader EMEA
Languages
English (native) · Turkish (fluent) · German (conversational)
Education
MSc Sloan Fellowship — London Business School
BEng (Hons) Electrical & Electronic Engineering — Imperial College London
Based in
Camberley, Surrey — UK
Let's Talk
I work on a small number of engagements at any one time. A 30-minute conversation is the fastest way to establish fit.
Availability
Currently considering new interim engagements from mid-2026. Early conversations welcome.
Ken Ardali
ardali.co.uk