Mise en page 1 - Invest in Tunisia, The Foreign Investment ...

U N I L E V E R
In 2003, UNILEVER Tunisia posted:
50.7 million euros in turnover, of which 25 million euros were generated by the local market;
226 million euros in export earnings, notably to Libya and UNILEVER companies in Algeria and
Morocco;
more than 700 associates;
more than 60 supervisory staff.
This growth gives UNILEVER Tunisia a strategic position in UNILEVER’s Maghreb/Machrek division as
leader of marketing in these countries.
UNILEVER Tunisia supplies the local market, ensures total coverage of Libya, and serves as a platform for
distribution in the Maghreb of Unilever products imported from Europe. The Tunisian affiliate also works
as a « cultural interface » to succeed on Arab markets.
Thierry Guarnoni, Director General of UNILEVER in Tunisia, has a positive overall vision of Tunisia’s
environment. “Above and beyond local market potential, Tunisia has major advantages to offer for setting
up regional production sites:
political stability,
a central geographic location,
a social climate that favors dialogue and flexibility ,
skilled supervisory staff (engineers and managers),
a degree of cultural neutrality, inherent in being a small country in the middle of a very big region,
with few natural resources aside from sun, sea and pleasant living conditions, Tunisia has based its
development on more technical, industrial activities,
well-placed Tunisian officials who are consistently available and ready to discuss any issue of import to
businesses.
The other criteria that need to be monitored to maintain Tunisia’s performance rating are:
the cross-border flow of goods (raw materials and finished products),
procedures to validate manufacturing norms,
marketing and commercial regulations (freely-set prices, promotional and media activities),
facilitating the settling in of foreign staff (visas, repatriation of wages) that is part and parcel of the
functioning of multinational companies.”
All this places UNILEVER Tunisia in top position among Arab countries in the group’s global strategy,
despite its relatively small size.
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