Who Is Indra Nooyi?

Indra Nooyi – the name must have caught your eyes if you follow business news channels and read business magazines. She has been the CEO of one of the world’s biggest food and beverage company – PepsiCo. Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi who is an Indian born in Madras, belongs to a south Indian family, being featured as the world’s top 100 most powerful women who are created by Forbes magazines. 

Biography Of Indra Nooyi

In India, we hear a lot of stories about successful men who started from scratch and now a billionaire. But there are not many women entrepreneurs whose name pop up in our mind when talking about self-made entrepreneurs. India has immensely talented women who can make a lot of difference to the economy if given a chance. The women of this generation are actually making a lot of difference to the economy by doing their bit. For the women and for motivating and inspire parents to allow their girl to dream and pursue it, here is a story of a Lady who made a name for herself by her hard work and dedication and she is none other than Indra Nooyi, the recent Chairperson of PepsiCo. 

Education and Early Start to Career

Talking about her old days, she was born on October 28th, 1955 and her schooling was from Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. She completed her graduation from Madras Christian College, and IIM followed soon after that where she did her masters in finance and marketing. Once out of IIM she joined Johnson and Johnson, as a product manager. After this, she joined Mettur Beardsell and then went to the States to pursue her Master’s in Public and Private Management. After this course got over in 1980, she joined Boston Consulting Group followed by Motorola and then Asea Brown Boveri. In all these companies she was at some strategic posts where she has to take the decision for the company’s well being. 

The Ups and Downs

Indra`s journey wasn’t this smooth as it seems. She slogged herself as a receptionist just to get her first suit to appear for the first interview in the US. She wasn’t comfortable in that attire, and that uncomfortable feeling didn’t get her the job. From the next interviews, her mentor told her to wear whatever she is comfortable in and being an Indian in the States, she wore a Saree and went for the interview and got the job. She says that she abides by ‘be yourself’ rule from that very day. However, this is just an instance of her struggle but not the whole of it. Talking about her struggle, if you dig a little deeper, you can know how she fought with her parents and society ‘conservative Indian society’ to get to the US. Yet, she never gives up, and finally, her determination gets her to the place from where she became what she is now known for. 

Indra Nooyi in PepsiCo.

Indra joined PepsiCo in 1994, as the Chief Strategist and within a shorter duration, she became an integral member of the company. She was the main head behind the idea of redesigning the brand which fetches more revenue. She was also the lead negotiator for various deals and to name the major ones are the acquisition of Tropicana orange juice in the year 1998 and Quaker Oats in the year 2000. Both the deals fetch success and profit for the company. After these two deals, many other successful deals followed which made her one of the most recognized Indian to be working in the United States in 2000. After her propositions and advises, the company’s profit jumped by 72% which is a huge margin and following that she became the CEO of the company. 

Rewards and Achievements

Nooyi has several achievements in her bag and to name a few, she was one of the highest-paid women in the US at that time. As PepsiCo’s CEO, she used to earn around $17 million as per Forbes. She was awarded Padma Bhushan in the year 2007. Fortune Magazine named her as the world’s most powerful woman in business consecutively in 2006 and 2007. 

A True Inspiration

Indra Nooyi’s journey is a soul touching one that gives hope and inspiration to all the women out there whether rich or poor, highly educated or average student to dream big and to follow their dream to make it true. 

📜Conclusion:-

Innovation Drives Sucess.!!!