KFC India has collaborated with the Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) to launch the KFC Area Coaches Programme for Women, a management training module designed to help women operations executives build for greater heights.
Under its diversity and inclusion campaign KFC Kshamata, the company vowed earlier this year to quadruple the number of women working at KFC locations by 2024.
Taking the next step, KFC's women area coach programme intends to develop a group of female leaders by honing their operational expertise, business and financial acumen, and leadership abilities.
Candidates are being sought for an exclusive KFC-ISH PGP batch that will begin in January 2022 for an 11-month postgraduate management development programme.
The Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) is a post-secondary institution dedicated to reinventing hospitality education for today's youth and future organizations. Sommet Education has 18 campuses in eight countries, and ISH is one of them. ISH is the only Indian institute with an academic collaboration with At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy, Singapore, which is affiliated with Gurugram University.
Women's engagement in the Indian workforce is limited, according to Aman Lal, Chief People Officer-KFC at Yum! brands, because of unequal access to school, a lack of employment equality, women's primary caregiving obligations, and social views. All of these factors not only result in fewer women joining the workforce, but also in considerable dropouts, resulting in fewer female role models at work. This implies fewer women will be able to motivate other women to enter the workforce or to stay and advance in it.
Lal said, “at KFC, our endeavour is to break this vicious cycle by hiring more women and helping them grow. Hence, one of the strategic steps towards this is our tie up with ISH wherein we aim to hire, train and help in the growth of women leaders who can take up senior roles in our business.”
KFC opened a women-led restaurant in Hyderabad earlier this year, with the goal of employing more than 5,000 women by 2024, including promoting them to restaurant management positions.
ISH's Chief Operating Officer, Kunal Vasudeva, remarked, “the postgraduate programme is designed to help accelerate the career of young professionals in the newer normal, and with KFC India as our partners, we are excited to be taking our programme’s vision a step further, to invite more women candidates and prepare them for leadership roles in the industry.”
This collaboration between KFC India and ISH provides a platform for women across India that is easily accessible, promotes lifelong learning, and ensures excellent employment with an internationally recognised brand.
KFC and ISH will jointly recruit applicants for this programme on the basis of merit and experience, with qualified women candidates receiving financial aid.
After successfully completing the programme, applicants will be refunded 50% of the ISH programme price over the course of two years of work with KFC. Candidates will be granted a certificate in 'Service Operations Management' issued jointly by ISH and KFC after completing the 11-month training programme, after which they will be engaged by KFC as area coaches in select cities throughout India.
