This 37-year-old is at the Helm of World's Biggest Oil Giant's India Unit "It's not only important to take the company forward, but equally important to shape the careers of employees working with the firm."
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Corporate structures at large organizations remain unbiased towards the age while distributing important job roles. Hence, younger executives, with the right set of knowledge and work skills, are gradually considered top contenders for such roles.
37-year-old Nitin Prasad is one such leader, who today has a new set of challenges and ambitions ahead of him with the launch of the company's new technology centre in India. Shell India has recently inaugurated a 52-acre custom-built technology centre that can house up to 1,500 experts, who would work collaboratively.
Speaking about his achievements at such an early age, he said, "As a leader you get to a point wherein you begin to question what your personal motive in life is and what kind of legacy do you actually want to leave behind. My idea of a good leader is to build a great team and build a solid company culture."
Speaking about the business lines that the European oil giant plans to concentrate on in India, Prasad said that they are going to concentrate on downstream fuels, downstream gas applications, city gas distribution and new energy businesses; like biofuel, solar etc.
Having helmed a multiple roles at the organization since 2004, Prasad was appointed as India Chairman of the company last year. He took over from Yasmin Hilton, who ended her tenure with Shell on September 2016 after spending 37 years in the organization.
Speaking about his plan of action, he said, "It's important as a leader to build a sustainable company and making an impact in people's life. It's not only important to take the company forward, but equally important to shape the careers of employees working with the firm."
The Indian team of Shell India is about 6,000 and is gradually growing. Talking about his ambitions as a young leader Prasad said, "As a leader you get to a point where you start to understand a lot of your motivation comes from the basic question - what's your purpose in life and what are you really leaving behind. For me it was about building a great team and a great company culture."
(This article was first published in the July issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)