Unilever Announces the Winners of its Country Talent Championship

The Quest Attracted Over 300 Students across Saudi Arabia

Dubai, 2 February 2014 – Unilever, one of the world's leading FMCG companies and manufacturer of iconic brands such as Lipton and Sunsilk, has announced the winning team for the Country Talent Championship Saudi Arabia.

This championship is a part of a larger Unilever initiative; an annual competition amongst students held in different countries around North Africa Middle East, called “The Quest”. The Quest is the first ever cross university, cross country competition, which seeks to provide students with an unmatched experience and the chance to win valuable rewards.

Launched with 5 phases across several months, the Quest is in the fourth phase of ‘The Quest' which aims to filter out one winner from a total of 10 teams.

This year, students from King Fahad University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Effat University, University of Business and Technology (UBT) and Dar Alhekma College were asked to analyse the Deodorants segment for Unilever, resulting in a strategy that would double the business by the year 2016, maintain and grow Market Share, deal with Supply Chain restrictions, and enhance the profitability of this category.

“Lipton Team” from King Fahad University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), outshone other short-listed teams and deservingly won first place in the competition. Each member of the team won an internship with Unilever KSA in addition to Ipad Tablets, and most importantly a chance of going on to the next stage of the global camp in Dubai, where the country champions from all 4 main markets of North Africa Middle East (NAME) will be competing for the winning title of “The NAME Entrepreneurs”. Moreover, the runner up, “Axe Team” from the King Fahad University for Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) also won an internship at Unilever.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Yasser Joharji, the Managing Director of Unilever Saudi Arabia, said, “These talented winners are ready to lead a successful career path.  I'm impressed that the new generations are eagerly setting the bar high. We, at Unilever, like to hold these competitions to develop the youth not only for Unilever but for the greater good.”

Ahmad Babatin, HR Director at Unilever Saudi Arabia, congratulated the winning team by saying: “the Quest is an annual competition held by Unilever Saudi Arabia to prove that there is a strong pool of talented students in the country. Unilever is always on the hunt for the best talent in the market that will help the company achieve its long term vision of doubling the size of our business while reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our social positive impact.”

The Quest is one of many activities that Unilever holds across universities in this region, with the objective of inspiring students to become future business leaders, strengthen Unilever's engagement with students, and providing them with the right professional programs. It was preceded by activities in identified Universities which allowed the students to register for ‘The Quest', followed by shortlisted students visiting Unilever for a full day to experience the corporate culture at Unilever.

About Unilever:-Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with operations in over 100 countries and sales in 180. Consumers buy 170 billion Unilever packs around the world every year, and our products are used over two billion times a day. We have more than 171,000 employees, and generated annual sales of €46.5 billion in 2011.
Working to create a better future every day, we help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. Our portfolio includes some of the world's best known and most loved brands including twelve €1 billion brands, and global leadership in most categories in which we operate. Our portfolio features iconic brands such as: Lipton, Dove, Vaseline, Sunsilk, Lifebuoy, Signal, Close-Up, Rexona, Axe Lux, Comfort & Knorr.
Unilever's ambition is to double the size of our business, whilst reducing our overall environmental impact (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal). We are also committed to doing what we can to improve health, nutrition and hygiene, with a target to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, as well as sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. All of these goals are itemised in around 60 time-based commitments in our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
Unilever has led the Food Producers sector in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for 13 consecutive years. We are included in the FTSE4Good Index Series and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index. In 2011 Unilever led the Climate Counts Company Scorecard and was named #1 in the list of Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders according to the latest survey findings from GlobeScan Inc. and SustainAbility Ltd.
For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit www.unilever.com.