Banijay UK Taps BBC Alum as COO

Banijay UK has appointed Sarb Nijjer to the newly created COO role, joining from the BBC.

In the new role, Nijjer will be responsible for driving forward the Banijay UK strategy, as well as managing collaborations across the wider Banijay group, developing business relationships with key customers and working closely with the 27 production companies in the local footprint to deliver strategic aims.

Nijjer joins from the BBC, where she is finance director for BBC Content.

Patrick Holland, Banijay UK’s CEO and executive chairman, said: “This is a newly created role at Banijay UK. In the COO, I wanted a senior business leader to help drive the strategy, growth and collaboration needed to take the U.K. group to the next level. Sarb has an exceptional business brain, has shown terrific leadership at the BBC (where she helped keep the channels vibrant during Covid), possesses exciting entrepreneurial instincts and, perhaps most importantly, understands the nuances of the development process and how to support creatives. She’s also a delightful human being, and we are really looking forward to her joining a great senior team at Banijay UK.”

Nijjer added: “I’m thrilled to be joining Banijay UK as COO and am looking forward to collaborating with the talented team there to drive innovation and growth across the U.K. business. Entrepreneurialism runs strong through the group’s production community, and I’m excited about the future opportunities with partners and key talent across our industry that are likely to arise as a result. I’m immensely proud of what we have achieved as a team in BBC Content over the last five years, and it’s been an honor and a privilege to have worked for such a world-class creative business.”