“Driving Climate actions and digital transformation major- leadership challenges,” Dr Pramod Chaudhari
Pune, 26 July 2022: Creating a future-ready organisation which is agile and responsive to dynamic external environment is the topmost challenge before today’s leadership, said Dr Pramod Chaudhari, Founder Chairman of Praj Industries during the Annual Fellowship Nite (AFN) 2022 of Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) over the last weekend at hotel Westin.
Chief Guest of the AFN, Scott Ticknor, Deputy Principal Officer at the United States Consulate General in Mumbai, felicitated Dr. Chaudhari for his exemplary achievements and contributions in the Indo-US business corridor. Also present on the occasion were Saurabh Shah, Chairman of IACC Western India and Prajakta Kotasthane IACC Pune Chairperson.
Addressing Members of IACC, Dr. Chaudhari lauded IACC’s work in MSME engagement and women empowerment. He said, “Energy transition, digital transformation and de-globalization are among the major changes taking place globally. Leaders have a critical role to steer organization amid this dynamic external environment. Being agile in decision making, nurturing talent and harnessing innovative technology have become more important than ever before”. Stressing the need to mainstream bio-economy Dr Chaudhari said bio-economy addresses 12 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations. He added that Bio-economy is acting as a socio-economic and environmental growth enabler for the nation.
Speaking on the occasion Scott Ticknor, Deputy Principal Officer, US Consulate General opined that India – U.S. relationship has come a long way since the time of low level of engagement burdened with suspicion. He underlined that in the past couple of decades the two nations have become major trade partners and are engaging in a wide spectrum cutting across industry segments. Mr Ticknor said CII and US-India Business Council have made policy recommendations to take the annual bilateral trade to $500 billion in 2030 from $ 143 billion in 2018.
“This changing world is displacing old, protectionist ways of doing business. India needs to adopt the concepts of lower tariffs, adopting international standards, free flow of data across borders, regulatory stability and reducing restrictions on e-commerce,” Mr Ticknor said. Incorporating the principles of environment, social and governance(ESG) goals in business strategies has also benefited the world in general and in the last five years ESG linked products have seen a fivefold increase in sales, he pointed out.
While highlighting IACC’s continued contributions in promoting trade & commerce, Prajakta Kotasthane said: “Sustainability and empowering women entrepreneurship are among the priority areas. We are delighted to felicitate Dr. Chaudhari for being recognised by major US institutions for his outstanding contribution in Bioeconomy for over 3 decades. The Chamber looks forward to strengthening engagement with the MSME sector by facilitating and opening more business opportunities in the Indo-US corridor.”
Guest of honour, Mandar Deo, vice president of Cummins India Ltd. underlined that the process of managing change should begin from self. He stressed upon creating a collective accountability pattern to drive the change rather than adapting to change.
Aseem Srivastav, chief executive officer, B2C business, Kirloskar Oil Engines, said a leader’s participation in the change process should be marked by his presence in the situations where change is happening. Awareness, a sense of belonging and commitment are three major pillars of a leader’s role in change management, he added.
