Swedish furniture retailer IKEA announced that it has appointed the first woman as chief executive officer for its India operations. Susanne Pulverer will have the honor to serve as the first woman CEO of IKEA. She will take the role of Peter Betzel as IKEA’s CEO and chief sustainability officer in India.
Women’s leadership, courage, and aptitude to lead are recognized all around the world. There are numerous examples of women making a real difference in India, ranging from sports to politics. However, when it comes to business, India is still falling behind. Fortune magazine disclosed that in 2020-21, the Fortune 100 companies in India appointed only five women CEOs.
Presently, the effort of the companies is increasing to appoint more and more women in a leadership position. The decision of IKEA India to appoint the first women CEO highlights its commitment to increasing the women’s appointment in a leadership position. IKEA India is a part of the Ingka Group first launched a retail store in Hyderabad in August 2018 after a store in the Navi Mumbai store in December 2020. It is intending to open another store in Bengaluru this year.
Furthermore, this will be the third time in India for Pulverer, who had entered IKEA in 1997 and served across numerous roles within the Ingka Group firm. Pulverer was the group business risk and compliance manager of the Ingka company before her new appointment as IKEA India CEO. In addition to this, she started her IKEA career as an environmental manager. Her LinkedIn profile disclosed that she served as the company’s MD of communications in Sweden from May 2011 to August 2016.
Moreover, according to her LinkedIn profile, she earned her master’s degree in Leadership & Strategy from Lund University School of Economics and Management. She disclosed that she is happy to be back in India, where the company is getting closer to achieving its goal of improving people’s lives daily. For the Ingka Group, India is a priority market. She added that Peter and his team have done an outstanding job by establishing IKEA as a purpose-driven brand in India, growing the omnichannel presence across cities, increasing local sourcing and retail competency, and much more.