Since its launch in 2015, the initiative has supported 23 enterprises in India, reaching 75,30,646 lives, from business owners to workers, customers and people in the wider community. With TRANSFORM’s support, these enterprises have generated tangible benefits for local communities and the environment in India. For example, since 2022:
- Over 1,600 direct jobs created, with more than 1,450 jobs focused on building plastic circularity.
- Over 19,000 customers reached through enterprise products and services, with improved access to health products and services for more than 15,000 people.
- 67,863 tonnes of waste diverted from landfills.
- Additionally, over the past decade, the enterprises raised over £8.6 million in follow-on funding.
“Through the TRANSFORM programme, we are driving inclusive, locally led innovation for sustainable change. By focusing on pressing sustainability and social challenges in India, TRANSFORM ensures solutions are not only innovative but deeply relevant to the communities. From reducing plastic waste to improving smallholder livelihoods, we’re proud to help entrepreneurs scale their ideas and build a more equitable, regenerative future.”
BP Biddappa, Executive Director and Chief People, Transformation and Sustainability Officer, Hindustan Unilever Limited
Spotlight on enterprise projects
TRANSFORM has achieved significant results with enterprises on projects in India across Unilever’s corporate sustainability priority areas – Climate, Nature, Plastics and Livelihoods. This includes collaborating with:
- Baeru to build a circular economy by providing tools to fishing communities to retrieve ocean plastics during their fishing expeditions, which are then sorted by women in coastal communities and sent for processing – creating nearly 800 long-term jobs and helping to divert and segregate over 3.41 million kg of recyclable waste and 1.61 million kg of unrecyclable waste.
- Atypical Advantage to create an offline training academy, preparing candidates with disabilities for work placements. The courses trained over 1,200 people with disabilities, with 418 employed in roles across sectors such as FMCG, automotive and semiconductors, helping build an inclusive workforce and supporting industries in integrating people with disabilities into frontline operational roles.
- DSM-Firmenich to support smallholder mint farmers in Uttar Pradesh in building climate‑resilient livelihoods by adopting regenerative farming practices through the Mint with Purpose project, which reported a 27% increase in average mint oil yield per acre.
- Hasiru Dala Innovations to increase the capacity of its material recovery facilities by tenfold, secure Fairtrade certification, and enter the market for post-consumer recycled plastic.
- TrashCon to scale its waste-processing system 100-fold and expand to over 20 plants across six Indian states, with each plant currently processing 2,000 tonnes of plastic per month.
Uniting industry leaders and government to transform lives
Led by Unilever, the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and EY, the initiative is a unique example of a long-lasting public-private partnership – combining grant funding with the different skills, networks and resources of each organisation to help impact enterprises scale into thriving, self-sustaining businesses tackling global development challenges.
Having delivered its intended outcomes, TRANSFORM concludes in 2026, leaving a strong legacy of more resilient enterprises and insights to inform future collaborations.
Building on its experience supporting local enterprises and communities in India, we at Hindustan Unilever will continue to carry forward the insights and lessons developed through TRANSFORM by strengthening our focus on innovation-led partnerships and entrepreneur-led solutions to accelerate sustainable growth, strengthen communities, and support a more resilient future.
For more information on TRANSFORM and insights from the collaboration, read the playbook: ey.com/TRANSFORM-playbook (PDF 27.59 MB)