Vodafone Plc to pick star trainees at Vodafone Essar to groom potential future CEOs

KOLKATA: Vodafone Plc is dialing into India to groom potential future CEOs. The world's leading mobile phone operator is set to pick talented management trainees at its India arm, Vodafone Essar, for multi-year overseas assignments in key markets.

This is a departure from the usual practice at most multinational companies to farm out plum overseas assignments to only a clutch of senior executives.

"A sizeable percentage of star performers at the entry level will be shortly handpicked and asked to take on challenging managerial roles in some of Vodafone's biggest markets across Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific," a Vodafone director who did not wish to be named told ET.

"The objective is to create a pool of potential leaders who are totally clued on to Vodafone's corporate culture, its ethical code, and its worldwide management practices early on in their careers."

The entry-level managers who make the cut can look forward to being deputed to key Vodafone markets, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Australia, New Zealand and even to Verizon Wireless in the US where Vodafone is a co-owner with a 45% stake.

Management trainees comprise roughly 10% of Vodafone Essar's 9,000-strong employee base and at least 50 get hired every year.

Indian managers are likely to comprise a huge chunk of this pool in what is going to be the first-of-its-kind global HR initiative at Vodafone.

"The value of Indian managers has been repeatedly recognised by the Vodafone leadership at recent meetings," said Samaresh Parida, director (strategy) at Vodafone Essar.

"Several of the best practices and recent marketing campaigns like Zoozoo, which were developed in India, have been successfully deployed globally." The exercise will be anchored by Vodafone's global HR director Ronald Schellekens.