Businessman Laurent Junique, founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of TDCX, was born on May 17, 1963 in the French city of Lyon, into a family that moved from one country to another every two years, especially since his parents worked in the oil industry.
Junique, 56, owns the lion’s share in TDCX, which went through a rocky birth during the first 10 months of its founding.
Laurent is the second largest billionaire in the business of outsourcing services and call centers on a list after Indian businessman Kenneth Tuchman, who founded TTEC Holdings (formerly TeleTech) in 1982 with a value of approximately $2 billion.
Junique graduated from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP) and began his career at market research company Sofres during 1985 for 5 years before moving to Paribas Bank in 1990.
He has held various job positions within the bank, such as head of the credit card marketing department, customer relationship management, and e-commerce marketing department.
It is said that Gonik had the idea to start a business when he was 13 years old, which was to melt down old bottles, recycle them and turn them into wine glasses.
In 1995, Laurent headed to Singapore and launched Teledirect to handle calls, emails, and faxes for a variety of clients. It was later rebranded as TDCX in 2019 after expanding into services that include content supervision, marketing, and e-commerce support.
He left Paribas in 2001 to join the global advertising and communications group Publicis.
At Publicis Groupe, Junick started as CEO of Leo Burnett France, a subsidiary of the group, and quickly rose through the ranks to become CEO of Publicis Worldwide in 2007.
Under his leadership, Publicis Worldwide has become one of the world’s largest advertising agencies with offices in more than 80 countries. Junick was responsible for the growth of the company’s global accounts, including L’Oréal, Nestlé and Renault.
In 2013, Junick left Publicis Groupe to become CEO of Mazarine, a leading French advertising and communications agency.
At Mazarine, Junick oversaw the company’s expansion into international markets, including China and the United States.
He also led the creation of the agency’s digital division, recognizing the growing importance of digital communications in the luxury sector.
Known for his strategic thinking and leadership skills in the advertising and luxury sectors, he has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Strategies and was named one of the most influential people in advertising by Ad Age magazine.
In addition to his work at Mazarine, Junickis a member of the Board of Directors of the French-American Chamber of Commerce and the Digital Luxury Group.
The company earned $77 million on revenue of $410 million in 2021; In 2020, 62% of revenues came from two clients, Facebook and Airbnb.
Singapore-based TDCX went public on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2021.
Laurent is a leading figure in the global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry and was also awarded the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year – Outsourced Solutions Award.
