- Tell us more about the new business unit in Levant. What is its importance and how can it help position Unilever as a leader in the market in the Levant area?
Unilever Levant & Iraq now forms Unilever’s 5th Business Unit for Unilever in Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and reflects a turning point in the way Unilever looks at the region. Its set up was driven by the increased opportunities and potential the region presents for the Unilever business and with the ambition of increased sustainable growth in the region.
Unilever has a long history in the region of over 80 years via a strong collaboration with our distribution partners and via our brands. However, the Levant markets of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq were earlier managed for a long time by Unilever Mashreq along with Egypt and Sudan. The setting up of an independent Levant & Iraq Busienss (L&I) Unit was done with the aim of driving a clear and laser sharp focus on these countries with the aim of unleashing the market potential by letting each regional office intensify its focus by connecting more with consumers, better understanding their needs and ultimately, offering them the right product mix.
Unilever is one of the world’s leading FMCG companies and owner of global brands such as Lipton, Dove, Lifebuoy, Signal, Rexona, Axe, Omo, Sunsilk and many more. On any given day, 2.5 billion people use Unilever products to feel good, look good and get more out of life. Our brands have a strong connection with the people in Levant & Iraq countries. However, the penetration rates are still much lower, and this is the white space and growth potential provided by the L&I markets.
For me as a native of this region, this in turn provides me a great opportunity to prove that the L&I markets have a lot to offer in terms of further contributing to the building of multinational businesses in the MENA region, such as Unilever.
- One of the main targets of Unilever is sustainable growth. How are you planning on participating to achieve that goal, from the Levant area? And what role does the Levant area play in this matter?
Based on the understanding that businesses that thrive in the future will be those that serve society today Unilever’s Levant & Iraq business has a growth ambition embedded with the vision of driving sustainable and responsible growth. As a business we want to grow, but we recognize that growth at the expense of people or the environment is both unacceptable and commercially unsustainable.
Sustainable growth is therefore the only acceptable model for our business and we aim to achieve this by adopting an inclusive and equitable business model. One that drives not only our own growth, but whereby we also drive the development of our local societies and economies within which we operate.
We will be doing this by improving people’s lives through our brands and our operations by enhancing the livelihoods of millions within our communities and extended value chain.
Unilever Levant & Iraq’s plan to achieve this is embedded in its community focused “Smile with Us” initiative which addresses youth unemployment, drives our business growth by ensuring increased consumer engagement via our brands “Selling with Purpose” campaigns that allow our brands to live their purpose and do good for their consumers and communities and lastly by improving the Health & Hygiene standards of those in the vulnerable communities.
Such an inclusive model not only drives business growth, but also helps unlock the potential of its communities. The ‘Us’ therefore in the ‘Smile With Us” program refers to Unilever and its inclusive approach and our end ambition to grow our communities and make them smile via the goodness our brands and operations we deliver.
- Why are the main offices of the Levant area based in Lebanon and Jordan? What is the vision of Unilever to this area?
The head office of Unilever’s Levant & Iraq business sits in Lebanon, with another office in Jordan that has recently been expanded. These two offices collectively host an employee base of 43 persons.
The reason for the choice of these two countries lies in their support infrastructure that is crucial to unlocking the regions potential via business development. The key to any successful Organisation is its talent base, and Lebanon and Jordan are the countries where hiring the best talents in accordance with our position as being the #1 employer of Choice is possible. Additionally, as we continue to expand our operations, we also need access to a continuous talent pipeline while offering a modern working environment to boost productivity and enhance morale and which is possible in these countries.
Additionally, these are also the countries where the ‘the ‘Smile with Us’ strategy can have maximum impact and to which partnership of NGO’s like UNHCR and UNDP are crucial.
- How are you planning to achieve sustainability in the region, on the economic, social and business levels? What can you tell us about Baqala program?
We are today living in an increasingly uncertain and volatile world. Temperatures are rising, droughts and floods are more frequent, food supplies are getting increasingly scarce, the gap between rich and poor is growing, and billions still do not have access to basic hygiene and sanitation. These challenges are compounded as the global population continues to expand, while the world is today consuming natural resources at a rate faster than the planet’s capacity to replenish them.
As a business, we are committed to driving business growth. However, we have realized that we do not have the luxury of choosing between growth and sustainability – we have to deliver on both. We therefor want to help create a world where everyone can live well within the natural limits of the planet.
That’s why, in 2010 Unilever globally committed itself to growing in a more sustainable manner via the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan – our roadmap for growth that is finding ‘new’ ways to grow within the limited resources of our one planet. Unilever has a vision of making sustainable living commonplace and we aim to do so by using our resources as a business to address issues such as health and hygiene, gender equality, climate change and plastic packaging waste to deliver short-term and long-term benefits for our shareholders and society.
Unilever Levant & Iraq business accordingly has a growth ambition embedded with the vision of driving sustainable and responsible growth as laid out in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) – our blueprint for sustainable growth and which is central to our business model.
Unilever Levant & Iraq’s sustainable growth plan is embedded in its community focused “Smile with Us” initiative which has three key pillars.
The first pillar aims at addressing youth unemployment by developing the merchandising and sales skills of those unemployed from amongst the local communities and also refugees by providing on-the-job training and internship via Unilever’s proprietary “Baqala Program”. This program has been successfully executed in Lebanon in 2017, and in 2018 has expanded into Jordan in partnership with UNDP Jordan.
The second pillar drives business growth and increased consumer engagement via its “Selling with Purpose” campaigns that allow our brands to live their purpose and do good for their consumers and communities via in-store engagement. Besides helping drive the brands growth via increased engagement with its consumers, it also provides their consumers and retail customers the opportunity to support community serving projects. 2 waves of this in-store program have been executed in partnership with Carrefour, helping raise funds for UNHCR’s winter assistance and health care programs.
Lastly, the business is aiming to improve the Health & Hygiene standards of those in the vulnerable communities to avoid the spread of disease. This is being done via engagement and education on hand and oral hygiene by Lifebuoy Handwash & Signal Oral Care brands with the aim of making it into a lifelong habit.
Such an inclusive model not only drives business growth, but is also helping us to drive more profitable growth for our brands, helping us save costs, mitigate risk and build trust among our stakeholders.