Unilever's sustainable brands growing 2x faster than other brands: COO

Firm will spend 2 billion euros with diverse suppliers; will also help 5 million retail partners improve livelihoods and drive their growth, says Nitin Paranjpe

Unilever’s purposeful and sustainable brands are growing two times faster than the brands which are yet to find purpose, Nitin Paranjpe, COO at Unilever said.

Adding that brands which are deeply rooted in sustainability, with purpose and authenticity, get more growth.

“A Kantar study done more broadly shows that over a 12-year period, brands with purpose have been growing at 175 per cent faster than brands which haven’t embedded this purpose,” Paranjpe said at his keynote address at CII HR Conclave on Thursday.

Diversity drives many benefits like innovation and growth, he said, but added that diversity only works in the presence of inclusive culture.

“As Unilever, of the many things we want to be famous for, there are three that we've called out and one of them is we want to be a beacon of diversity and inclusion because it will be a driver of business growth for us,” he said.

Unilever’ leadership team goes through inclusion training and is measured on it and is also coached in terms of what works for the consumer goods organisation and what doesn’t work, he said.  

The Anglo-Dutch major is not only committed to diversity within the organisation, but also wants to push it externally. The company will spend 2 billion euros with diverse suppliers and will help 5 million retail partners improve their livelihoods and drive their growth, Paranjpe said in his speech. The company has committed to providing a fair wage by 2030 to everyone who provides goods and services to Unilever.

Earlier this year, Unilever said that it will spend 2 billion euros annually with suppliers owned and managed by people from under-represented groups, by 2025.