India Inc's Rising Women Leaders
2015 (4)
4. Shalini PUCHALAPALLI
CEO, Lehar Foods
Hailing from a small `no traffic light' town in South India,
Shalini Puchalapalli's drive to prove herself took her to Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) for an undergraduate degree in engineering, followed by MBAs
from XLRI and INSEAD. She has since travelled to 40 countries and worked in
finance, supply chain, human resources, sales and now, general management. As
head of Pepsico's beverage supply chain, one of the largest logistics
challenges in India, the reality dawned on her that India had not changed its
supply chain with the change in industry, business needs and technology. “It
was still stuck being a logistics and truck aggregator. The partners, vendors,
customers were all-male and had never seen a woman in any supply chain role
leadership or otherwise,“ she says. She recalls going for a freight negotiation
in UP and seeing stunned faces as they saw a woman on the other side.
Puchalapalli eventually created a future-looking supply chain organisation and
broke some barriers on gender stereotyping and Pepsico was named the supply
chain innovator in 2012. Her role model is her mother Sandhya, who runs Aarti
Home, an organisation that works for the rights of the girl child and women for
24 years. “I learnt perseverance, bravery and passion from her,“ she says.
Mantra for success :
“Challenge yourself all the time. If a new step
is not scary, you're not pushing yourself enough“
The glass ceiling:
“Can only be broken with persistent knocks“
CDET27MAR15
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