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Anjali Prayag

"We want to show that women are as competitive as men."

Bangalore , Aug 1

"WHEN women are becoming active consumers of our products, why can't we have women selling them?" asks Mr Adil Malia, Vice-President, HR, Coca-Cola India.

He was explaining why the company started the WOTES programme to induct women in the field sales force three-years ago .

The Women's Operations Training Programme at Coca-Cola India has recruited three batches (of 30 women each), trained them and has already put about 80 of them on the company's sales track.

"And mind you they are not in any soft roles, but in hard core field selling. And they are as aggressive as their male colleagues," says Mr Malia.

There are two reason why Coca-Cola India decided to induct women into the mainstream sales roles: one is to adhere to and emphasise the company value of being an equal opportunity employer and two, to create an employee demography that represents the demography of the company's customer base.

Mr Malia maintains that WOTES roles are not higher management jobs nor are they glamorous marketing positions. These women have to meet retailers, roadside vendors, shopkeepers, etc, like their male counterparts.

The programme, conceived and entirely designed in India, spans six months: three months of introduction to the way sales are done at the company and three months of on-the-job training at their respective locations. Incidentally, women from across the country have been recruited for these positions. At the end of the training, WOTES team members join the field force across the country.

"We want to systematically change the profile of frontline sales people in the country and show that women are as competitive as men," says Mr Malia, adding that the company is also looking at better rural penetration through these women.

The programme's success in the country has given WOTES the `best practices tag' globally.

In fact, Coca-Cola operations in countries such as Thailand and Singapore plan to launch similar programmes soon, with some modifications and changes to suit their country's needs, according to Mr Malia.

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