PepsiCo Renews Commitment To Empowering Women
Lahore; 9
March 2017; PepsiCo celebrated International Women’s Day at its Head
Office with an interactive session, which brought together women of diverse
backgrounds to speak about their challenges and accomplishments. This year’s
theme for International Women’s Day was “Be bold for change”.The session,
modeled on the TEDx theme of speaking extemporaneously, included comments from
speakers, questions from the audience, and concluded with a vote of thanks by
Mr. Adel Garas, PepsiCo’s President for the Asia Pacific Region.
“People are PepsiCo’s greatest
asset,” said Garas. “We believe in building a workforce that reflects the
diverse consumers and communities we serve. Gender equality, diversity and
inclusion are core to our company’s values and how we
operate as a global corporate citizen in Pakisan and around the world.While we
have accomplished much, we recognize that there is more work to do. We recently
surveyed female associates
to help us identify opportunities to positively impact engagement and
commitment of our female associates, and enable them to unleash their full
potential.”
Adding to Mr.Garas’s comments,
PepsiCo Pakistan’s Vice President and General Manager, Mr.Furqan Ahmed
Syed,thankedPepsiCo’s female associates for their invaluable contributions.
“You have been an integral part of our successes over the years and I count on
your passion, creativity and leadership to make PepsiCo Pakistan the pride of
PepsiCo, and an employer of first choice for females in our country,” said Mr.
Syed. “Indeed, diversity and inclusion will be critical to achieving our
Performance with Purpose goals for 2025 by helping to create a sustainable
advantage for us.”
The International Women’s Day
celebration takes place at a time when PepsiCo Pakistan has made significant
strides in making the organization more female-friendly. Steps in this
direction include the day care facilities for young children established at
both the Head Office as well as the snacks plant, a mentorship program for
young females, creation of the PepsiCo Pakistan Women’s Forum, and the scaling
up of the Lighting Up Lives program so that families with women and children
can benefit.
Guest speakers at the session consisted of Ms. ShamimAkhtar,
Pakistan’s first female truck driver; Ms. Zenith Irfan, Pakistan’s first female
motorcyclist to travel to Khunjerab Pass; Ms. Rubina Jamal, a trekker who has
taken expeditions to some of the world’s tallest mountains.
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