The Forum's members are a group of influential global business leaders who are committed to creating opportunities for women as an integral part of their core business, corporate social responsibility agendas, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. |
Forum Members
Eduardo Belmont Lloyd Blankfein Henryka Bochniarz Frank J. Brown Kevin M. Campbell John T. Chambers Kristin Clemet Rick Goings Kevin L. Kelly Sung-joo Kim Yang Lan Wendy Luhabe Dennis Nally Marilyn Carlson Nelson Hüsnü M. Özyeǧin Rex W. Tillerson Lynn Taliento Elena Viyella de Paliza Nitin Paranjpe Mark Parker Peter Sands James S. Turley Mona Zulficar
Member Background | Company Information | Focus on Women's Empowerment Member BackgroundNitin Paranjpe is the CEO and MD Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and Group Vice President of Unilever in South Asia. Mr. Pranjpe is an accomplished marketing professional having worked in diverse sales and marketing roles across various consumer categories in his over 20 year-long stint with Hindustan Unilever. He participates on the managing committees of leading Indian industry associations. He is Chairman of the Indo-Netherlands Business Committee of Bombay Chamber and British Business Group, Mumbai.
Company InformationHindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods company and is a subsidiary of Unilever, a consumer goods company with turnover of US$40 billion in 2007 and operations in 150 countries. HUL's mission is to add vitality to life and meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care, with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. HUL has presence in over 20 distinct categories in Home and Personal Care Products and Foods and Beverages. Through its diversified portfolio of leading brands, HUL touches the lives of two out of three Indians.
Focus on Women's EmpowermentHindustan Lever created Shakti, a direct-to-consumer sales distribution network to reach millions of consumers in remote villages in India. Shakti taps into women's self-help groups and has been successful for both the company and women entrepreneurs. Started in 2003, the Shakti network has grown to over 45,000 micro-entrepreneurs selling products in 100,000 villages in India. The model creates profitable micro-enterprise opportunities. Armed with micro-credit, women from self-help groups become Shakti Entrepreneurs: direct-to-home distributors in rural markets. This micro-enterprise offers low risks and steady returns. The products distributed are some of the country's most trusted brands of consumer goods, and include a range of mass-market products especially relevant to rural consumers. The company invests resources in training the entrepreneurs, helping them become confident, independent businesswomen. A typical entrepreneur earns a sustained monthly income of US$60 on average. As most of these women live below the poverty line in extremely small villages, this earning is very significant, often doubling household income. Further, this income is totally incremental as a woman entrepreneur spends about five hours a week on this initiative without compromising other economic activities. The company provides regular support to the entrepreneurs by providing on-the job and classroom training. Various social activities like medical camps and education programs are run with the intention of increasing the credentials of Shakti Entrepreneurs in the village and enhancing the standard of life of the rural community. After its success in India, the model was replicated in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as Joyeeta and Saubhagya respectively, followed by a similar initiative in Vietnam, as strategic and long term cooperation between Unilever Vietnam Foundation and the Viet Nam Women Union. Hindustan Unilever also started in 2003 the Fair & Lovely Foundation, which aims at economic empowerment of women across India by providing information, resources and support in the areas of education, career and enterprise. It specifically targets women from low-income groups. The Foundation awards scholarships to women with aptitude, drive and the ambition to carve a place of pride for themselves in society who do not have the financial strength to realize their dreams. Since 2003, over 500 scholarships have been awarded to women from across India. Fair & Lovely Foundation has awarded 177 scholarships to deserving girls in 2007 alone. |
