THE INTERNATIONAL - International Indian

[ COVER STORY ]
The world at large has of late commented
on the Indian strength of diplomacy and
dialogue – what is termed as soft-power.
Sanjiv Mehta has exemplified the truth of
this and shown its value in what Unilever
Bangladesh has achieved not only for the
company but the nation. “Wherever we go,
we are not only planting the flag of Unilever,
but I’m also planting the flag of India. So it’s a
responsibility. When I arrived in Bangladesh,
the Board was predominantly expat, but when
I left, it was all local, except for one director.”
How are Indians really faring on the
international platform? Is there a glass ceiling
in multinational corporations for Indians today?
Mehta is clear, “I’ve never faced any kind of
racism and I’m amongst the top 100 managers
globally; given opportunities to run businesses
worth more than a trillion dollars. Unilever
has put all their trust and confidence in me.
Outside India, besides me there are three other
Indian Chairmen-in Japan, Poland and Russia.
Two Indians are also on the central Unilever
Board – Harish Manwani and Vindi Banga.
Look elsewhere too – at Citibank, there is
Vikram Pandit; Arun Sarin with Vodaphone,
Indra Nooyi runs Pepsico; I see no reason why
Indians can’t do it. More countries are realizing
that talent is all that matters.
“Modern Indian managers are confident,
globalized and ready to take on the world.
Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat
said that when he was a kid, at dinner time, his
parents used to tell them don’t leave food on
the plate, because there may be a child in India
going hungry. Today, he tells his children, ‘work
harder or a child in India will take your job.’
Sanjiv talks about India. “I’m very positive.
Destiny beckons us. The most important
thing for our leaders is not to worry about
being re-elected in the next term but to do
things in the best interest of the country
now while they can. What we need to
do is accelerate on the path to reforms –
liberalization and privatization has got stuck
in the politics of votes. The path India has
taken now is absolutely right but they should
have taken it a decade and half earlier. We
need to invest in education more, healthcare,
women’s empowerment, rural development
and we need more energy,” Mehta gives his
opinions without any hesitation.
Continuing the account of his journey,
from Bangladesh to the Philippines, he
relates, “It was a bigger company worth
Unilever, NAME – What is the market share,
turnover, profit?
Our business in this region is about USD
1.4 billion. We are not a listed company
so it would not be appropriate to disclose
profit numbers. As far as market share is
concerned on a total NAME business and
across categories we have about 39% of
the market in the categories in which we
operate.
Which is the most popular Unilever product
here in the United Arab Emirates?
In UAE we have strong market positions in
several categories. Lipton is the dominant
tea brand with nearly 70% of the market.
Similarly brands like Lux, Comfort, Jif, Close
Up are market leaders in their respective
categories. In addition our brands like
Dove, Sunsilk, Clear, Vaseline, Signal and
Rexona are well entrenched strong brands
with a very loyal consumer base.
What are your immediate challenges,
and your short term and long term plans
for the company?
The immediate challenge of course is
to ensure that in a highly volatile global
environment we continue progressing
along our profitable growth journey. In the
medium term the objective will be to bring
forth synergy and leverage the power of
750-800 million dollars. Philippines, in the
Unilever scheme of things, is very important
because it is the home ground of Proctor and
Gamble, their biggest competitors.
“In your lifetime you come across some
great marketing stories and one of the greats
is the shampoo war in the Philippines,” Mehta
is the avid raconteur. “Shampoo is one of the
biggest categories in Philippines, because
people there love the straight and silky look
and washing their hair. In that biggest hair
category, in shampoos, P&G led us by nearly
12 share points. We were 30 and they were
42, when I took over as Chairman. To cut a
long story short, by the time I left, a year and
a half later, we were 41 and P&G were 34.
There was a total reversal of fortunes. It is
one of our greatest marketing victories from
our arch rival,” he says triumphantly.
Talking about his present position, Mehta
is excited about the possibilities.
“The biggest challenge here is that this is
essentially an agglomeration of 20 countries.
We have 300 million people working in
these countries, with an economy of 1.1
a billion dollar corporation across the wide
geography which encompasses NAME.
What is your vision for Unilever NAME? How
do you motivate your colleagues to share
your vision?
Making and sharing a compelling vision
which has a ‘buy in’ is one of the key tasks
for a leader. A leader not only has to create a
worthy dream but has to help people achieve
it. It is about raising the aspirations of the
people and enthusing people to reach for the
stars. Everyone in the organization should be
able to see the rainbow and catch a part of it.
Our collective vision is to transform Unilever
NAME into a high performing business
which is recognized as a growth engine for
Unilever, is deeply embedded along the
path of compassionate capitalism and is pre
dominantly led by local managers.
trillion dollars growing at a decent pace,
but it is not one homogenous unit – you
have countries with 1300 US dollars per
capita and others with 30,000 dollars per
capita. And our job is to run it as a multicountry
organization but essentially run it
with a soul of one company. ”
As time ticks away, Sanjiv Mehta who has
spent the first six months of his tenure traveling
across the region to get to know his territory,
sighs, “One day, before retirement I hope to
return to India to give back to the motherland
more than I’ve ever done.” As he concludes
the interview, he remarks, “I would like to be
remembered for being a person who got the
best out of his people; to be remembered as
someone who really practiced the concept of
doing good. I would like to be remembered
as a person who not only worked with a great
set of people but helped build great teams and
future generations of leaders… someone who
left his footprint in his area of passion.”
Mona Parikh McNicholas is the Associate
Editor of The International Indian.
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