You’re known for making a big change early in your career (sales to general management). When you first started out with Unilever, did you ever envision being in this position?
Unilever offers numerous opportunities for people to explore different roles while gaining invaluable experience. I was fortunate to have had opportunities to run small businesses from an early stage in my career. This helped me to grow into running larger companies and clusters.
It is relatively easy to see how one’s career will develop over the course of five to eight years. Beyond that, one can only set a preferred direction and work towards it. The outcome will be uncertain as there are so many forces at play. Opportunities will arise and one has to be ready to take on the challenges and move to where the opportunity is. For example, my daughter has enrolled in 10 schools throughout the course of my career, as I kept grabbing at these openings.
It would be impossible for me to predict 10 years ago that I would be in Malaysia and taking care of so many strong companies and working with such diverse and wonderful people. So, I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to such an amazing organisation and its inspiring vision to reduce our environmental impact while increasing our positive social impact.
Since joining Unilever, what are some of the milestones you are most proud of?
If I had to name a few, it would be the turnaround of Unilever Nepal, tripling the business of Unilever Bangladesh within a span of five years, and the integration of acquired brands such as Best Foods and Pond’s. However, the most satisfying moments in my life have been those where I was truly able to make a difference in the lives of people, which includes helping many of my colleagues in their careers by coaching them on how to improve their potential.
As for leading a company, I am proud of the fantastic success we have achieved through our Sustainable Living Plan. A major part of our raw materials are now being acquired from sustainable sources. We’ve also made significant reductions in CO2 from energy and water used in our factories and offices. Our latest ambitious target, which is to help improve the health and well-being of more than a billion people by 2020, has so far improved the livelihoods of over 1 million people by offering training to 800,000 smallholder farmers as well as give access to training, support and skills to 238,000 women. Our Lifebuoy brand has also helped millions of children in South Asia and Africa, including over 200,000 children in Malaysia alone, by educating them on the importance of washing their hands before putting something in their mouths to prevent illnesses. To me, this proves that the system can be re-invented to provide a win-win scenario for everyone, and that even major companies can be a force for good.
What’s the most important thing about leading a team to success?
The key factors would be having a strong understanding of the business and also the authenticity to connect honestly with your team in order to inspire them. To ensure I am always on top of my game, I spend a lot of time connecting with people on the ground, which includes regular market visits, meeting with customers, distributors as well as the marketing teams, so I can fully understand their plans and stay in touch with the reality of the business. Besides obtaining a good understanding of operations, it also makes it easier for me to support the decisions that the team needs for us to progress further.
Our Malaysian headquarters has an open office layout, which means my colleagues can approach my desk at any time. Having a genuine interest in the people you work with and the humility to connect with them, both as equals and individuals, is what I feel is vital for a team to succeed. I also encourage my employees to make decisions independently or based on collective wisdom, which speeds up decision-making while making people more accountable for their actions. By trusting and empowering them, they in turn will feel good about themselves and their role in the company.
As one of the biggest multi-national consumer goods companies in the world, what are the key strategies that you feel have enabled Unilever to continuously stay ahead of its competitors?
Unilever is founded on science and innovation. Our purpose is not only producing quality products, but also doing it in a way that minimises the impact on the environment while also improving the health and well-being of people. Innovation has always been at the heart of our business. Today, Unilever employs more than 6,000 people in R&D and spends around EUR1billion on this alone. We file between 250 and 350 new patent applications each year. Our efforts are focused on five areas of innovation – Product, Supply Chain, Human Resource, Marketing and Customer Development.
As an example, in terms of product development, our ultra-concentrated Sunlight dishwashing liquid formula requires less water and packaging during the production stage. This helps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as water consumption. We are also using new technologies to develop lightweight packaging design for brands like Rexona, Axe and Dove, which translates to fewer containers for shipment and reduced carbon emissions.
Besides lightweight packaging, we are also reducing the weight of packing by optimising structural and material design. For example, Unilever has this technology called MuCell (which we haven’t yet patented so it can be adopted by others) that uses air bubbles to reduce the amount and weight of the material by 15 per cent, which, in turn, enabled us to achieve an 11 per cent reduction in weight per consumer use from 2010 to 2013. These innovations are valued at Unilever.
According to the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, the goal is to double the size of the business, reduce its environmental footprint and increase positive social impact by 2020. Besides climate change and the need for human development, what other challenges need to be highlighted in order to achieve this goal?
We live in a world where temperatures are rising, water shortages are more frequent, food supplies are dwindling and the gap between rich and poor keeps widening. As the global population soars, access to necessities such as basic hygiene and sanitation will become even more of a challenge. At Unilever, we are well aware of those who are affected by these changes as it poses new challenges for us since commodity costs fluctuate, markets become unstable and raw materials have become increasingly harder to obtain. So, we, as a business, must also be part of the solution. But for that to happen, the company itself will have to change as the ‘business as usual’ approach no longer works. Sustainable, equitable growth is the only acceptable business model.
This is why the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan was launched in 2010 and has served as our blueprint for sustainable business. Our strategic vision is to double our size while reducing our environmental footprint and increase our positive social impact. The plan involves focusing our efforts on nine key areas that are divided into three main categories:
- Improving access to hygiene and better nutrition under the Improving Health and Well-Being category.
- Reducing waste, water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and achieving sustainable sourcing under the Reducing Environmental Impact category.
- Achieving fairness in the workplace, creating opportunities for women and being an inclusive business under the Enhancing Livelihoods category.
What are some of the latest developments coming out of Unilever Malaysia and Singapore that you are most excited about?
We recently launched the Unilever Four Acres training and leadership development facilities as well as the regional state-of-the-art Customer Development Centre in Singapore, where we see much of the company’s future growth. The former provides high-quality training opportunities for senior leadership roles in the entire region, while the latter will provide leadership to customers from the entire region in category management, developing and implementing brand or category solutions and activities, account management focusing on turnover, and profit and market share. This will also help our customers provide leadership in shopper trends, habits and behaviours.
What idea has been brought to you that sadly never worked out for whatever reason, but you really wanted it to?
There are numerous ideas that we try regularly in marketing and promotions. Some succeed while others don’t. Those that don’t work out don’t really matter as long as we learn from them and not repeat the same mistakes. If we can get it right seven out of 10 times, I consider that to be a good record and a sign we are making progress.
What daily habit do you believe has the largest positive impact on your life?
Having experienced several difficult situations in life, the best thing I’ve learned is to take on challenges in a calm manner, accept failure as a natural part of life and not have any expectations. Leading a regulated life also helps me to stay happy and manage myself better. I usually start my day early by exercising before heading to the office early so that I can prioritise my workflow and finish on time. Since everything I need for work is synced to both my laptop and mobile phone, I never have any actual documents on my desk. I also encourage my employees to avoid printouts if they can.
What is a life lesson that you have learned the hard way?
Years ago, before I joined Unilever, I used to work as a door-to-door salesman for vacuum cleaners. Every day, I would start really early in the morning, knocking on the doors of over 80 houses. Many people I approached were often annoyed, but I still managed to sell about 20 sets per month. It was truly hard and challenging work, but it taught me a lot about perseverance. It also taught me the importance of keeping calm and staying positive when under pressure, which is imperative in the business world.
