Unilever

Unilever
Industry	Consumer goods
Founded	1929
Headquarters	London, UK
Area Served	Worldwide
Founders	Antonius Johannes Jurgens, Samuel van den Bergh and William Hulme Lever
CEO	Paul Polman
Chairman	Michael Treschow
Products	Foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products
Market Value	118 795,6m$
Employees	174,000 (2013)
Website	www.unilever.com

About Unilever

Unilever is a multinational and leading company which has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The company is both British and Dutch, and it provides consumer goods, notably food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.

Engagement in Cultural Diplomacy

Unilever has created the “Sustainable Living Plan” in order to be involved in improving health, nutrition, living conditions in developing countries. The company also wants to support diversity in many ways.

Employment Policy

Unilever “celebrates the diversity of people, believe in inclusion and respect people for who they are and what they bring” (Unilever official website). The company has also created a plan to enhance diversity.

Education

International Internship Program

The company is offering internships to students in many of its offices around the world in many business areas, such as marketing, supply chain, research and development, customer development. Internships offered by Unilever are placed in many offices around the world and usually last from 12 weeks to a year. It makes a perfect opportunity for young people to gather a professional experience in one of the world’s leading consumer goods companies.

Grants And Scholarships

“The Chief Executive Officer of Unilever has received the 2010 Jackie Robinson ‘ROBIE’ Achievements in Industry award in 2010. The commendation recognized the leading role Unilever has played in diversity and community service in the US and around the world by offering scholarships and job opportunities to minority students”.

Notable activities

Promoting Human- and Civil Rights

The company has created a “Code of Business Conduct”. The document was created in order to promote ethical working values, such as the respect of human rights and labour rights. The management approach of the company is also based on behaving with integrity, non-discrimination, and freedom of association.

Activities in the Field of Humanitarian Aid

Unilever is actively involved in humanitarian aid and led many actions that prove it. For instance, “The Unilever Foundation” is supporting the work of “Save the Children” in Syria and surrounding countries. The association has already reached over 300,000 of the most vulnerable children and their family members. Another example: in 2013, the company donated $500,000 to Haiti earthquake victims.

At Unilever, the private sector must be a part of the solution to the big social, environmental and economic issues that face people today. They are implementing their Sustainable Living Plan, to positively contribute to the societies where they operate. They believe that universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is essential in helping people out of poverty. At the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York, Unilever announced their new sanitation target. They have committed to help 25 million people to gain improved access to a toilet by 2020. The new target bolsters the WASH programme and will help them to achieve their goal of improving the health of billion people by 2020.

The Unilever Foundation is cooperating with global organisations such as Oxfam, Population Services International (PSI), Save the Children, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme. The Foundation mostly focuses on improving quality of life by expanding hygiene and sanitary, access to clean drinking water as well as basic nutrition.