Ratio of women colleagues will increase in workplaces: PepsiCo India chief

SURATHKAL: In coming days, the ratio of women colleagues will increase in work places as well there will be more women leaders, noted D Shivakumar, chairman and CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited. Shivakumar was delivering convocation address at the 14th annual convocation ceremony of National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, here on Saturday.
He added that at his class in institutions like IIT Chennai and IIM Calcutta, had two and eight percent girl student, respectively.“But today I can see that 25 percent of graduates of NIT-K, Surathkal are women. This is a clear sign that women leaders are in the making and this is happening due to education, changes in society thinking,” he pointed out.
Asking everyone graduate to be a five-year-old, who asks thousands of question a day, Shivakumar focused on five things that are relevant in today’s world. First is that India will get younger and richer in coming days because by 2020, the average age in our country will be 29. India will remain young for the coming three decades. Second thing is talent will be scare. Talent is like floating water and it only flows where it is comfortable. “Company such as mine try to attract best talents as much as possible so they contribute to the firm. So I ask to please invest in your capabilities.”
Thirdly, your generation will be working along with robots. Fourth thing is increase number of women in workplaces. Last thing is big start up culture. “When I graduated, had only two options: Either to work for government or private sector but you all have third option that is to work for yourself. You will create value, network, jobs and it will be immensely satisfying. On the occasion, degree was awarded to 1597 students (out which 346 are girls) of BTech, MTech, MTech (Research), MCA, MBA, MSc and Phd programmes. Apart from it, 66 students were awarded with endowments gold and silver medals and two students with cash prizes.