Brands
Optimum Nutrition announces Neeraj Chopra as its brand ambassador
Mumbai: Optimum Nutrition, the World’s #1 Sports Nutrition brand, in a press conference in New Delhi announced Neeraj Chopra, the reigning Olympic, World, Asian Champion and India’s Javelin star, as its brand ambassador.
Optimum Nutrition is a brand of Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN), a company which is home to consumer brands that help people around the world meet their nutritional goals. Optimum Nutrition has been supporting athletes in achieving their fitness goals for over three decades and the collaboration with Chopra as his ‘Strength and Recovery Partner’, is similarly aimed at supporting his quest for a Gold medal in his Championship journey next year. Neeraj has been actively spreading the importance of nutrition in his hometown of Panipat in sync with the brand’s message – ‘Zyada Kar Dikhane Ki Taaqat”. Neeraj has also been a staunch supporter of propagating the achievements of women athletes across India.
As part of the association, Optimum Nutrition will be fuelling Chopra’s championship journey providing him with the “Strength to do More” in the year 2024 as we inch closer to the biggest event in the world of sports.
Glanbia Performance Nutrition India Pvt. Ltd chairman and managing director Satyavrat Pendharkar said, “We are honoured to have Neeraj Chopra as part of the Optimum Nutrition team. His unwavering dedication, outstanding achievements, and commitment to community development align perfectly with Optimum Nutrition’s core values. Together, we aim to make a lasting impact and empower individuals through the power of nutrition.”
He further added, “As Neeraj Chopra’s official nutrition partner, Optimum Nutrition will provide him with products that will help him with the strength, recovery and energy requirements to unlock his full potential and deliver the MORE that lies within him. By leveraging our expertise and scientific research in sports nutrition, we will work closely with Neeraj to develop a tailored nutritional strategy that optimizes his performance on, and off the field.”
Chopra equally enthusiastic about the collaboration shared, “I am delighted to join forces with Optimum Nutrition, a brand that shares my passion for excellence and community welfare. With Optimum Nutrition, I am confident that I have a strong partner that will allow me to push myself further and bring laurels to the nation.”
Chopra’s partnership with Optimum Nutrition emphasises the brand’s commitment to empowering athletes with the highest quality nutrition products, enabling them to push their limits and achieve their utmost potential. The association further reaffirms the brand’s mission to not only support elite athletes but also inspire all fitness enthusiasts worldwide, encouraging them to pursue their fitness goals with unwavering dedication and premium nutritional assistance.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
