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19 March 2024

Unilever's new Dh300m Dubai facility to generate 600 jobs

Kakkar revealed that the company would be expanding capacity in Saudi Arabia and Egypt because this is a growing region and that would require continued capacity expansion. (Supplied)

Published
By Waheed Abbas

Global consumer goods company Unilever is setting up a new €75 million (Dh300m) facility in Dubai to produce personal care products, generating approximately 600 jobs, its regional head said.

“We are setting up a factory in Dubai which will expand our personal care presence across the region. We’ve just done the ground breaking work and it should take another 24 months before products come onto the ground. In the new facility, we will make full our personal care products including shampoos, shower gels and all that is integral to our core personal care portfolio,” said Sanjiv Kakkar, Executive Vice President of Unilever for Mena, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

With more than 400 brands found in homes across the world, the British-Dutch multinational giant is one of the world’s leading fast moving consumer goods companies and owner of global brands such as Lipton, Lifebuoy, Dove, Rexona, Omo, Knorr, Domestos, Sunsilk, Signal, Magnum and Axe.

According to Euromonitor International, UAE residents last year increased their spending on personal care products by 9 per cent to Dh5.3 billion and it’ll jump by another half a billion dollars to Dh7.34bn in five years with spending mainly on fragrances, grooming products, bath and shower, cosmetics, deodorants, hair care, men’s grooming, oral care and skin care.

Dr. Iyad Hijjawi, Regional Business Consultant for Mena and Turkey at Euromonitor International, told this website that Middle East and Africa region has overtaken Latin America as the fastest growing beauty market.

According to Euromonitor International, the retail value for the Middle East and Africa’s beauty and personal care market was Dh95.42 billion in 2014, while its estimated 4.8 per cent annual growth rate between 2014-2019 is almost twice the global average of 2.6 per cent.

Unilever’s Kakkar said the new facility will cater to the UAE and wider Mena region, adding another 500 to 600 employees. The company will see its workforce surging by 50-60 per cent upon completing the hiring for the new facility. It currently employs approximately 800-900 people here. Unilever was recently voted No. 1 employer brand in the UAE by the students as part of a survey conducted in the country, he added.

“The facility is meant for the Mena region as we cover the entire region from here. Over a period of time, there would be scaled investment of 75 million euros in the facility. In terms of staff, I presume we need people in the region of 500 to 600 for the factory and operations associated with it,” Kakkar told Emirates 24l7 on the sidelines of a conference organised to announce the results of Unilever Mena Sustainable Living Plan.

The sustainability living plant positively influenced 32.2 million people across Mena and contributed Dh20.8 million towards savings via its environmental programmes.

In the UAE, Unilever operates the largest tea factory globally in the Jebel Ali which exports to 25 countries. It has facilities in Saudi Arabia and African countries as well.

Kakkar revealed that the company would be expanding capacity in Saudi Arabia and Egypt because this is a growing region and that would require continued capacity expansion.