Daily Times

PepsiCo organised an event titled ‘With Purpose’ at a local hotel in Lahore showcasing PepsiCo’s sustainability efforts in four key areas including next generation agriculture practices, access to safe water, women empowerment and youth employment.

The evening also served as a platform for 4 brilliant young speakers to share their vision of purpose and social impact.

Najeeha Farooqi, Co- Founder of Roshni Rides, spoke about her journey of setting up a professional, comfortable and reliable transport solution for women and children. She said that the Pakistanis women are four times less mobile than men and therefore she started a reliable transport solution for them in order to empower the women of Pakistan. More than 2 lakhs women and children were benefitted through our transport system in just one year while ensuring safer and better Karachi, she said.

Rizq, a social enterprise committed to ending hunger in Pakistan was represented by one of its co-founders Musa Aamir, Musa spoke candidly about the challenges and triumphs that come with running a non-profit. “We were always curious about finding the meaning of ‘Life with Purpose’ and then we friends at LUMS got an idea to end hunger through the initiative of Rizq,” he said. He was of the view that world hunger is on the rise as 820 million people are at risk due to the hunger. Moreover, 360 millions of tons food is wasted in Pakistan every year. He further added that he just put his contact number on the Facebook while demanding food and money for the hungry people and his team went viral on the social media in just days. We ensured 100 percent transparency from donor to the beneficiary in addressing the problem of hunger and this noble model was also followed in many other countries including India, US, Qatar and Nigeria, he added. “Life with Purpose means to be human as our movement meant for the hungry people also crossed the borders,” he said.

Rizq, a social enterprise committed to ending hunger in Pakistan was represented by one of its co-founders Musa Aamir, Musa spoke candidly about the challenges and triumphs that come with running a non-profit. ‘We were always curious about finding the meaning of Life with Purpose and then we friends at LUMS got an idea to end hunger through the initiative of Rizq,’ he said

Faiza Saleem, one of the first female stand-up comedians in Pakistan added some insightful humour to the mix about breakings myths in a male dominated genre. The fourth speaker was Annum Tariq, a graduate of the PepsiCo – Amal leadership program. Her talk was about the struggles fresh graduates go through in finding a job and how the youth program helped her in gaining an edge with prospective employers.

The event focused on the four pillars of PepsiCo’s ‘Winning with Purpose’ Agenda in Pakistan. Installations demonstrating PepsiCo’s impact in each area were appreciated by the attendees. In water, PepsiCo has partnered with Water Aid to provide access to safe water to 150,000 people in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. The first rehabilitated filtration plant under this initiative was inaugurated in Lahore last month. This intervention feeds in to PepsiCo’s global goal of providing access to safe water to 25 million people by 2025. It is worth mentioning here that 64 percent Pakistanis don’t have access to safe water. Kausar, a female rickshaw driver of Lahore, also narrated her story that how the PepsiCo helped her in providing the clean drinking water at her residence.

PepsiCo is leading the Next Generation Agriculture Practices in Pakistan by helping its farmers adopt high efficiency irrigation systems, educating them on alternatives to stubble burning, encouraging peer to peer learning and water conservation. Since 2017, PepsiCo has helped its farmers reduce water consumption by 2.6 billion litres. PepsiCo is also committed to Women Empowerment as women make up 20 percent of the company’s frontline workforce. The company has onsite day care facilities, offers mentor ship programs for women and offers opportunities for location fee roles and career growth across different functions. Breaking Myths was the initiative to empower the women of Pakistan in collaboration with the PepsiCo.

PepsiCo in partnership with Amal Academy is running a program that develops the professional skills of university graduates to enhance their opportunities for gaining meaningful employment. So far, one thousand young men and women have graduated from the program. On the occasion, CEO PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan Furqan Ahmed Syed announced PepsiCo’s commitment to enroll another 2000 university graduates into the program and expand the program into Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

CEO for PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan Furqan Ahmed Syed shared PepsiCo’s agenda of Winning with Purpose and acknowledged colleagues and partners and individuals outside of the organization who have championed and advocated the ‘With Purpose’ Agenda. PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

The music performance of All Girls Band also enthralled the audience. Renowned actor Fawad Khan also appreciated the initiatives of PepsiCo taken for the youth and women empowerment.