This was the key message from Unilever global HR officer, Doug Baillie, in a recent open lecture at a Gauteng gathering of the Brightest Young Minds (BYM). A South African youth-driven non-profit organisation, BYM identifies, equips and mobilises the brightest and most passionate young people with the mission to channel their hearts and minds into initiatives that have a positive societal impact. In line with BYM’s annual summit theme of Making a Shift for Africa’s Future, Baillie also touched on sustainable living as a business and social imperative, as adopted and manifested by Unilever through the group’s Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), which aims to help one billion people take action to improve their health and wellbeing; to sustainably source 100% of the group’s agricultural raw materials and to halve the environmental footprint of Unilever products by 2020.
World trends
Three major trends are driving change and shaping the world’s future, Baillie pointed out:
- The world and its economic power will increasingly shift east and south.
- Digital will enable consumers and the world’s citizens in ways yet to
be fully understood, with the power shifting away from companies to consumers.
- The age of abundance has come to an end. Planet Earth is under extreme stress, and future generations will pay for the consequences. “It is estimated that by 2020 there will be another billion people on the planet, increasing the world population to 8bn, with most of them
in developing markets. “At the same time, half of the world’s population is living in urban areas, and mega cities are mushrooming everywhere. By 2035, the slums that we know today will be mankind’s primary habitat,” Baillie predicted. Likewise, there is a huge shift to digital. “The power of social media now is incredible. Compared to 4,2bn toothbrushes on the planet at the moment, there are currently some 6bn cellphones, increasing all the time.”
The power of the digital revolution is clearly demonstrated by the following statistic: President Mubarak of Egypt was in power for The fastest growing continent, which is expected to boast a youth market of half a billion by 2040 and a labour force topping China’s, Africa is on the brink of an economic take-off, offering lucrative growth opportunities for businesses and future employees alike. But a leadership mindset is needed to take on the challenges on the continent – and win. Africa beckons 30 years; according to an Egyptian activist it took only 17 days to
overthrow his government. “They used Facebook to understand the process, Twitter to communicate this and YouTube to show the world. Social media, and especially the digital revolution, is making everything transparent. There’s nowhere to hide. If you think how quickly digital can bring down a government, then you can image that it will be able to bring down companies in nanoseconds. So, corporate reputation is becoming incredibly important,” Baillie stressed. At the same time, there is the growing concern about sustainability. “You only have to look around you to understand how important this has become. Currently, we are using up one and a half planets’ worth of natural resources. If we take the way we live in the developed world, and the whole of the developing world lived like that, we’ll need three to five planets.”
Clearly, the age of abundance is over. “Some 2bn people in the world are living in water-stressed regions at the moment. One billion people go to bed hungry; another billion are obese. Looking at the banking crisis in 2008 and the current economic crisis in Europe, it’s evident that we have overconsumed and got to the point where we are at the end of the age of abundance,” Baillie noted. Looking forward, the scenario is even more frightening. “By 2030 we’ll need 50% more energy, 50% more food and 30% more water. In order to feed the planet and ensure 50% more food, we’ll have to produce the same amount of food in the next 40 years as we produced in the last 8 000 years. This is real, a grave concern for all of us. It’s not just governments’ problem; it’s a problem for the entire planet,” Baillie stressed. “At Unilever we talk about the world being VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complicated and Ambiguous. We talk about this as being the new normal world we live in. The days where everything was predictable, flat, growth was sustainable, are gone. In fact, that would now be abnormal. So, future leaders should get comfortable with the new reality.”
While this may look challenging and difficult, Unilever sees it as a major opportunity, Baillie added. “We realised that we can’t carry on doing business the way we’ve been doing it for the last 100 years because that model of business is not going to survive. Hence the adoption and implementation of the USLP in 2010.
Opportunities aplenty
Turning to Africa, Baillie said opportunities abound. Moreover, he
firmly believed Africa was best suited to the Unilever business
model of helping people with nutrition and wellbeing, halving the
environmental impact and promoting sustainable agricultural
opportunities. Growth on the continent is staggering. “Despite tough financial situations, still more and more people are coming out of poverty, moving in to the middle class. More and more consumer households are being set up, expecting to reach 128m by 2020. By 2040 Africa will be home to one in five of the planet’s young people, with half a billion under the age of 16. A youth market is coming through, hungry for brands and hungry to grow. Real disposable income in Africa has grown by 30% over the last 10 years. And 6% growth per year is the forecast for the next 10 years.” Likewise, Africa won’t escape the digital revolution, he added. Penetration is estimated at 80% by 2050. In fact, Africa, in many ways, is leading the mobile agenda. Banking by mobile phone, ordering products by mobile phone and farmers checking raw material prices on their mobile phones are the order of the day. Massive urbanisation is also on the cards. By 2040, about half of the continent will be urbanised. Cairo, Accra, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Khartoum, Lagos, Nairobi and Kinshasa will be emerging mega cities, lucrative markets in their own right where businesses will be able to grow most productively, Baillie said.
Winning in Africa
The big question is how to win in Africa. Running a successful business is about balancing the hardware and software. The hardware is about business strategy, innovation and execution; the software is about the values and purpose of the organisation, Baillie explained. “In terms of hardware, Unilever’s own experience on the continent has taught that you need to straddle the pyramid in order to reach consumers from the top to the bottom and across; develop and grow markets through innovation, for example by teaching people about hygiene which, in turn, builds consumption, and sets up ‘perfect’ stores with the same layouts so that customers know exactly where to get their favourite brands,” Baillie explained. On the other hand, software is about people, values and culture, he added. “If you want the freedom in order to lead, then you need to take the responsibility that goes with it. We should not ask ourselves whether we can do something, but rather whether we should be doing something. This boils down to principles-based leadership instead of rules-based leadership. Everything in the Unilever organization is values-based: we encourage people to relook their values and measure their actions and deeds against the Unilever values of integrity, respect, responsibility and pioneering. It is not acceptable to do or support any action that goes against our values.” In terms of people, there is no shortage of leadership talent in Africa, Unilever’s global management trainee programme in Africa has proven. However, this talent needs to be developed and grown at an accelerated pace, Baillie stressed. At any point the Unilever Future Leaders Programme has about 228 management trainees across Africa, each of them going
through a three-year rotation (including an international stint), which would give them an accelerated understanding of the organization and groom them for the future. The company also looks at bringing back African talent, people who have left the shores of Africa, and at having overseas recruitment fairs and events to hire them back for our business in Africa.
Leadership qualities
Baillie highlighted the need for driven leadership, collaboration and partnerships, and authenticity and transparency as essential qualities in the leaders of tomorrow. “The 2008 and 2009 financial crisis was one of ethics where short-term and material gain got in the way of doing the right thing. We also need leaders who are happy to share and partner to overcome the challenges we face. They should not be in it for personal gain, but for getting the job done. Most important, leaders need to be authentic and transparent and be seen for who they are.” Baillie concluded that his own leadership journey had taught him the importance and value of:
- striving to be the best you can (his mother);
- discipline, trust and teamwork (his military service);
- determination to persevere (his first 30 days at Unilever),
- always doing what you say you will (his time as a sales representative), and
- leadership, serving humanity (former President Nelson Mandela).