PepsiCo works with young graduates to find the latest trends in the food and beverage industry

PepsiCo launches the project PepsiCo Go Trendsetter Challenge, through which all graduates from the Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa areas are invited to capitalize their entrepreneurs’ abilities and to identify the next important direction in the food and beverage industry. This year, the project was included on the agenda in Romania, as well.

By Romanita Oprea

Through this extremely competitive initiative, PepsiCo aims to find youngsters with talent for business that can identify what they consider to be the next revolutionary idea in the food and beverage industry. The graduates who will enter this program will have to create an unique product, from the food and beverage category, or to develop an existent PepsiCo product and present it to the company’s specialists, alongside a launching plan on the market.

The candidates who will reach the last stage of the project will have the opportunity to take part in an interview to gain a place in one of the company’s top programs dedicated to graduates.

„PepsiCo Go Trendsetter Challenge represents an extraordinary platform that can help the graduates not only to present their own business ideas, but also to start their career. Moreover, at the second edition, the program will take place in nine markets, comparing to three, therefore we are expecting that the ideas presented during the competition would be even more daring than until now. If you believe you have this type of idea that would revolutionize the industry and you want to work in an interesting and vibrant environment, we are looking forward to meeting you,” said Becky Taylor, senior director Digital, PepsiCo Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The program PepsiCo Go Trendsetter Challenge is available on nine markets: UK, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Russia and South Africa. Therefore, through this initiative, the talented graduates will be able to start an international career having the possibility to work with colleagues from all over the world on some of the biggest and most important brands in the FMCG field, globally.

The candidates will be evaluated during a process of three stages, 12 weeks long. Following it, PepsiCo will create the top of the best graduates, offering the courageous youngsters with unique ideas, a full-time position at PepsiCo.

The first stage implies submitting the ideas online, after registration; in the second stage PepsiCo experts will select the concepts with the biggest potential and the chosen people will have access to a digital global platform where they will work together with an experienced mentor from PepsiCo, to develop their ideas. In the third and last stage the most talented candidates will win a place in the final and have the opportunity to present their ideas to a panel formed of PepsiCo marketing specialists. All finalists will have the chance to receive a place in the PepsiCo competitive programs for graduates in the Digital department.

The Digital Graduate program has an one-year structure, a period in which they are working in domains such as e-commerce, brand marketing and social media.