Adding Vitality to Life - Unilever’s mission

What is life with vitality like?

In the 1890s, William Hesketh Lever, one of the founders of Unilever, set out his business vision:

“to make cleanliness commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, in order that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use our products.”

Today, that vision still holds true. Unilever meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

Unilever in China

Unilever's history in China can be traced back to 80 years ago, when Lever Brother established its first operation in Shanghai in 1923 and became the largest soap maker in the Far East. In 1986, Unilever re-established itself in Shanghai, committed to building and maintaining a successful business, and a multi-local multinational in China. Unilever has introduced nearly 20 brands to Chinese consumers, covering home and personal care, food and beverages and ice cream. From 1986 to 2008, the breadth of our involvement in China adds up to US$1 billion in investment, the introduction of many advanced technologies, creation of over 20,000 job opportunities and direct hiring more than 5,000 local employees.

Unilever's business in China mainly covers two areas:

• Home and personal care. Major brands include OMO, Zhonghua, Lux, Pond’s, CLEAR, Dove, Hazeline and Rexona;
• Foods. Major brands include Lipton, Knorr, and Wall’s.

After years of development, we have made some of the world's most familiar brands a daily part of the lives of Chinese consumers. The annual tax amount has surpassed RMB 1 billion.

Further demonstrating our long-term commitment to China, in Feb 2000, Unilever invested RMB166 million to set up Unilever Research China, the 6th global research centre of Unilever. This centre has access to the scientific knowledge developed globally by Unilever and acts as a bridge to Chinese academia by introducing more traditional natural ingredients into our products.

In 2002, following China's accession to WTO, Unilever established a global supply management office in Shanghai. This office will provide more opportunities for Chinese suppliers for raw materials to export to Unilever companies overseas.

In 2003, Unilever's manufacturing base for home and personal care products is set up in Hefei, making it one of the biggest manufacture sites for Unilever global. This site not only provides high quality products for Chinese consumers, but also has the great potential to serve as the manufacturing base for Unilever global business.

In 2005, we built the tea factory in Hefei, manufacturing Lipton tea for the global market.

In 2007, Unilever built its own office building in Shanghai as Unilever Greater China’s headquarter.

Unilever believes that successful localization starts with the localization of employees. An outstanding local team can better understand and meet the needs of Chinese consumers. In Unilever, 90% managers are recruited and trained locally.

Unilever seek to be a responsible employer, business partner and good corporate citizen, earning respect for our values wherever we operate. 

In China, Unilever sponsored 18 hope schools and launched the "Unilever Hope Star" project in universities, helping 200 poor students for the 4-year colleague tuition. We also set up scholarship in Fudan University to reward students with excellent performance.

In2008,strong earthquake jolted Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province, more than 60 thousand were reported dead, and five million people were caused homeless. Till now, Unilever has donated more than 10 million RMB to the 5.12 quake-stricken areas in Sichuan. Relief materials like Tents, foods, masks, disinfecting products were immediately sent to the quake-affected people. Now, Unilever China is on process to rebuild schools in Sichuan.

All these activities established Unilever's image as a responsible social citizen in China and win the acknowledgement of the local society.

As a truly multi-local multinational, Unilever will continue to play our part as a modern citizen of China by fastening localization, and by training more local managers. We will utilize our local and global research expertise to develop more high quality products to meet the need of Chinese consumers, to improving the every day quality of life for the people we serve and contributing to the Chinese community we are in.