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Simin Askari

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Simin Askari

Senior Vice President- Corporate Human Resources, Apollo Internationa

Simin Askari is a member of:

- Expert

Important Decisions:

From starting my career into sales and marketing, I found my true calling in HR and consciously molded myself into a seasoned HR professional. Another important career move was to come back into the corporate world after having successfully run a business enterprise.

Job Profile:

Apollo International Limited was set up in 1994 to lead the diversification forays of the 'Apollo Group' into new business opportunities worldwide. The flagship company of this group, Apollo Tyres, is one of the largest manufacturers of Tyres in India. The group business areas include international trade in tyres, tubes, flaps, production and export of quality leather garments and goods; and newer exciting areas like; logistics and digitalization of cinema theaters across the world. The company has diverse operations in more than 60 countries spanning across Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, Europe and USA.I head HR for all divisions of Apollo International Limited, located across the globe.

Career Aim is to..

I am happiest when I am an essential part of the company..in the next couple of years I want to do the best I can and have the satisfaction of knowing that I am making a difference.

A Fine Balance:

I have a great support system at home. My children are now quite independent - I have a 17 year old son and a 14 year old daughter and my husband is very supportive. Needless to say, the maid is an integral part of the family!

Advice For Fellow Leaders:

Women tend to overlook their career after a certain period. My advice to the women employees is that they should stop doing that. There would be many instances in life where pursuing a career may seem less relevant, but a little perseverance is all that is required to overcome these difficulties. Women have the capabilities to reach the top echelons in an organization and nothing should be able to stop them from attaining that golden position.

Challenges Faced:

The only time when I faced a challenge due to my gender was when I had to deal with factory workers in North India. It was difficult for the typical male worker to take orders from a woman and it took me quite a while to be finally accepted by them. But once that was established, all else was quite easy!

The Journey So Far:

After completing my MBA, I started my career with HCL. The job was into hardcore sales, which gave me my first exposure with handling different customer expectations and attending to client issues. My next career move was with The Times of India (TOI). Here again, while I was responsible for many new initiatives like the Shopping Time and Business Times pages, it was my interpersonal skills that were responsible for my success. My next move was into an entrepreneurial venture, which achieved success thresholds - from seed stage to market leadership. Here I introduced various HR systems in the organization thus improving overall profitability of the company.