On Monday, Indra Nooyi announced to step down as CEO of PepsiCo after 12 years. Indra Nooyi will be succeeded by Ramon Laguarta and he will take over on October 3rd, 2018.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday invited Indra Nooyi, MasterCard’s CEO Ajay Banga among 15 prominent business leaders for a dinner he organised at a private golf club in New Jersey to hear their perspective on the state of the country’s economy.
The White House issued a statement in which said: “Opportunity for the President to hear how the economy is doing from their perspective and what their priorities and thoughts are for the year ahead.”
Nooyi and Banga were accompanied by their spouses Raj Nooyi and Ritu Banga and US President was also accompanied by the US First Lady, Melania Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
According to a White House pool report, President Trump referred to Indra Nooyi as one of the “most powerful” women in the world. He also added “You talk about business, this is the group. And we’re so honored to have you. And we’re gonna be discussing later on some of the ideas you may have to, as the expression goes, make America great again.”
The pool report added that after touting GDP and jobs number, President Trump predicted economic growth next quarter “could be in the fives”. “I think we’re gonna be very shortly in the fives,” he said, and stated that the GDP “can go much higher once we get new trade deals.”
Picture courtesy: AFP