Harish Manwani announces key appointments in Unilever Asia & Africa

Mr Manwani announced the appointment of Mr Douglas Baillie as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hindustan Lever Limited, India. In addition, he will be Group Vice President responsible for Unilever’s business in South Asia, which includes Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. He is currently Group Vice President and heads Unilever AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey). The appointment will be effective from March 1, 2006.

The Board of Directors of HLL approved Mr Douglas Baillie’s appointment as CEO and MD of HLL at a meeting held on December 15, 2005 at the company’s Mumbai headquarters. Continuing with the tradition of Unilever leveraging HLL management talent globally, Mr Arun Adhikari currently MD, Home & Personal Care (HPC), HLL, has been appointed as Chairman, Unilever Japan. The appointment will be effective from March 1, 2006.

Announcing the appointments, Mr Manwani, said, “India and Japan are key to our long term sustained growth in the region. I believe that these two appointments will provide a renewed strategic thrust to these businesses. Both appointments reflect Unilever’s commitment to enriching and widening international exposure of our leadership” Mr Manwani added, “Douglas is an experienced and an outstanding leader with a proven track record. He has successfully held several key assignments across both developing and developed markets. This will be of enormous value to HLL in the current business environment.” “Arun’s appointment as the Chairman of Unilever Japan, including responsibility for Korea, is a significant step to further strengthen our business in these most developed markets of Asia. His experience in leading a large FMCG business in a complex market like India will be of critical importance in his new role.” Mr Manwani said.

Mr Harish Manwani, as the Chairman of Hindustan Lever Limited, will continue to lead the HLL Board providing strategic direction and guidance to the business in India. HLL being the largest operating entity in the Asia & Africa region will remain a key focus area for him as the President of the region. Mr MK Sharma will continue with his current responsibilities as Vice Chairman, Mr D Sundaram as Director, Finance & IT, and Mr S Ravindranath as the Managing Director of Foods.

The current National Management structure of HLL will be extended to a broader management committee headed by Mr Baillie. In 2005, HLL has shown consistent progress with a double-digit growth in Jan-September 05. The company continues to strengthen its competitiveness and has gained market share across categories, including the highly competitive categories of Laundry and Hairwash. This has been driven by a combination of high quality innovations, sharp market activation, new distribution initiatives and higher brand investments. The organization is building core functional capabilities and creating a more agile and consumer connected company which is critical for sustainable growth and competitiveness.