Unilever Comes Again with Fresh Start

Unilever International has officially inaugurated its new plant in Oromia State’s Eastern Industrial Zone with a total investment of 13 million euros on June 23, 2016. For the world giant in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), this is the second round major strike after it packed its way out twelve years ago due to losses it incurred.

Then, upon its first entry, it formed a joint venture with its local partner Almeta Impex and established a packaging plant. Unilever basically imported the products from its plants in Kenya and did the packaging here.

Major line products like Lifebuoy soap and Omo detergent became common household brands. The brief success and visibility a decade ago could not survive the existing market competition. The company back then failed to meet its goal and impacted the market. Fierce competition from consumer items such as soap bars challenged Unilever products.

The closure of engagement between the companies ended when Unilever officially announced that it was coming back & this time to stay.

In 2014 its official announcement came in a form emulating the company’s operations in Vietnam, where it is a number one brand owner in rural Vietnam and the leading manufacturer in the urban setting.

The new factory, hosted in the Eastern Industrial Zone owned by Chinese investors, is 31km away from the capital and rests on a 15ha plot of land dedicated to produce the brands already familiar in the local markets.

Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever was accompanied by the country is Industry Minister, Ahmed Abitew and other regional dignitaries.

The latest entrance of the company has come with the launch of a sanitation programme by an international NGO – Sightsavers. This particular campaign targets children in five zones located in five States – Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples. Close to 280,000 children in 900 schools are included in this four-year programme.

Unilever has signed a three million pound deal to produce and supply care products. The company’s production capacity for all the personal care materials is estimated to stand at 20,000tn, annually.

As an ice breaker for its operations in Ethiopia, this deal created a sustainable demand for Unilever. This deal is just for the pilot programme, which will be commenced next September in East Haragea, Oromia State.

Sightsavers, which globally works to eliminate blindness, will also work on changing the attitudes of families and children to handwashing a way of reducing the risk of exposure to disease-causing bacteria.

These partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work throughout all phasees of the programme.

“We are using the launching of the factory as a starting point,” said Geordie Wooes, Sightsavers technical advisers.

Both had contributed equally to the programme Sightsavers’ CEO, Carolyn Harper, told Fortune .

The major financial contributor to the project is the United Kingdom’s (UK) Department for International Development (DFID) as part of its Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial Cleanliness & Environmental Improvements (SAFE) initiative where Sightsavers will focus on facial cleanliness.

Unilever, founded back in late 19th Century, currently operates in more than 190 countries across the globe. The company has 13 well-known brands such as Axe, Omo, Knorr, Vaseline and Dove. Its annual turnover in 2012 exceeded 50 billion pounds. It now has 14 brands each with sales of more than one billion pounds a year.

In 2015, Unilever’s annual performance showed a net income fall of five per cent to 4.9 billion Euro despite a 10pc rise in revenue from 48.4 billion Euro to 53.3 billion Euro. The same year its earnings per share declined to 1.73 Euro from 1.82 Euro a year before.

As part of its expansion in the East African market, back in February 2016, Unilever has relocated its corporate office in Kenya. With almost 80 years experience the company has ranked as top employer of the year.


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