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"Sustainability At The Core Of Its Strategy" – PepsiCo CEO. | |
| Sumita Pawar |
According to the report, PepsiCo Middle East CEO Aamer Sheikh highlighted the company's 100 percent local and regional water replenishment initiatives as part of its sustainability goals.
Amar Sheikh announced it on the sidelines of the second edition of the LEAP tech conference in Riyadh.
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While speaking to Arab News, Amar Sheikh commented, "What other companies have done is talk about sustainability." What PepsiCo has done is put sustainability at the core of its strategy. "To be the leading global company in beverages and convenient foods, you have to do it while taking into account all the sustainability elements that come into play."
"When we talk about water conservation, we want to give back to the communities the amount of water we take." In our Riyadh plant, we are actually replenishing 100 percent of the water. "And that simply means whatever water we use, we are working with the regional growers and the farmers to bring our best practises to them so they can save an equivalent amount of water in their practices," Sheikh explained.
Sheikh said that as part of their efforts to promote sustainable development, they also want to share knowledge and the best ways to do things.
PepsiCo is investing in technologies that are more efficient at using water. Their beverage franchise partner, Aljomaih in Riyadh, invested $10 million over the last five years. That reduces water consumption by 40 percent, he explained.
As a part of the LEAP conference, PepsiCo also discussed its future ambition to embrace the digital revolution through the use of artificial intelligence.
"We are looking across all aspects of our value chain to find out how we can embrace and digitalize our organisation at a much faster pace than what we have done in the past," Sheikh said.
The CEO of PepsiCo stated that the company's mission is to help the Kingdom transform in accordance with Vision 2030.
"Saudi Arabia is going through a very unique transformation at this point in time, and our objective is to really embed PepsiCo in the fabric of the society." So, if you notice, we are showing up at all the key events. "We are participating in all the major events, whether it's the Riyadh season, the Jeddah season, or the Formula E Grand Prix," he said.
According to the report, PepsiCo’s objective is to make sure that, through the power of its brands, it is participating in the transformation that is taking place in Saudi Arabia.
Through its initiatives, Sheikh noted, the company aims to educate the public on what it is doing to "drive a more sustainable organisation and environment" and encourage "others to join in as well."