KARACHI: Ms Shazia Syed, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever Pakistan Limited has taken over as the President of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) for the 2019 term.
This was announced at the 159th Annual General Meeting of the OICCI held at the Chamber on Thursday, January 31, 2019. Mr. Shazad G. Dada, CEO Standard Chartered Bank of Pakistan, was elected unopposed as the Vice President.
The other elected members of the OICCI Managing Committee for 2019 are Nadeem Lodhi, General Manager / Chief Executive Officer, CitiBank N.A, Sarim Sheikh, President / Chief Executive Officer, GE International Operations Company Inc., Irfan Siddiqui, President/ Chief Executive Officer, Meezan Bank Limited, Freda Yahan Duplan, Managing Director, Nestle Pakistan Limited, Dr. Imran Rasheed, Chief Executive Officer, Novartis Pharma Pakistan Limited, Sami Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Haroon Rashid, Managing Director, Shell Pakistan Limited and Helmut Von Struve, Managing Director, Siemens (Pakistan) Engineering Company Limited.
The Incoming OICCI President Shazia Syed in her message to the members said that she has a deep conviction that Pakistan offers considerable growth potential for existing foreign investors and opportunities for new investors. She lauded the role of OICCI for promoting Pakistan to potential foreign investors during the Chamber’s regular interaction with foreign business and governmental delegations and senior diplomats based in and outside Pakistan. Shazia also appreciated the Chamber’s focused and continuing advocacy efforts for streamlining the taxation system, giving practical policy input for increasing the efficiency of energy plants, recent initiative on women empowerment under the banner of ‘OICCI Women: Empowering for a better tomorrow’, improving the security environment, especially in Karachi, and its role in taking the Intellectual Property Rights regime in Pakistan to a higher level.
Shazia Syed is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of Unilever Pakistan Limited. She joined the Board on 1st November 2015. Prior to this, Shazia was Chairperson, Unilever Sri Lanka Limited. She has held various senior management positions across most categories at Unilever Pakistan and other markets, including Unilever Vietnam as Business Unit Leader for Personal Care. She joined Unilever as a management trainee and completed her 28th year in the organization last year.
Shazia is also the Chief Executive Officer of Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited, Director at the Pakistan Business Council, Member of the Advisory Council at the British Asian Trust and Advisory Board of the Male Champions of Change-Pakistan, Trustee at The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Foundation Pakistan and Member at the Board of Governors of the National Management Foundation. Shazia is an active advocate of diversity in the workplace and believes that enabling and facilitating working women from all backgrounds across all sectors should be every leader’s top priority. BIZ TODAY REPORT
