Unilever to develop programmes to support black hairstyles following racially offensive Clicks ad

Unilever Southern Africa has committed to working with the department of small business development to increase investment in small, micro, medium enterprises (SMMEs).

In a statement on Wednesday, this commitment was made by Unilever CEO Luc Olivier Marquet during a meeting with Minister Khumbudzo Ntshaveheni on Friday, 18 September.

The meeting was attended by a Unilever board-level delegation, senior officials from the department as well as representatives from the small enterprise development agency (SEDA) and the small enterprise finance agency (SEFA).

The meeting follows the publication of a racially offensive advert on the Clicks website by Unilever hair brand TRESemmé.

The advert led to the EFF staging protests across the country at Clicks stores.

Unilever said: “We were shocked to discover that we had supplied images for the Clicks website that portrayed black hair as inferior.

“We immediately began an investigation to understand what happened.

“At the same time, we began reviewing all the marketing campaigns and images in our South Africa portfolio to make sure they match our commitment to celebrate all beauty and promote diversity and inclusion,” said Marquet.

According to the statement, Marquet has recognised that there is a need for the acceleration of the diversity and the inclusion agenda in corporate South Africa and the pivotal role that boosting black business will play in this agenda.

Unilever said it had since also set up an advisory board with internal and external experts to review how its hair care products in South Africa can offer consumers the solutions they want in positive and empowering terms.

“Working with the new advisory board, Unilever will develop programmes to deliver immediate support to black hairstylists and small professional salons.

“It was noted that although 95% of Unilever products sold in South Africa are manufactured within the country, the bulk of the input materials for such manufacturing are imported which significantly dilutes the benefits to South Africa in the Unilever supply value chain,” the statement reads.

Ntshavheni urged Unilever to participate strongly in the country’s localisation programme.

“Unilever indicated that they had already identified input materials that could be manufactured locally and committed to working with the department to build the capability of SMMEs, in particular, black, women and youth-owned and those owned by persons with disability to participate meaningfully in this manufacturing.

“In addition to local manufacturing of input materials, these commitments included increased SMME access to Unilever’s third-party manufacturing; logistics platforms; and SMME products route to market assistance,” the company said.

Ntshavheni pointed out that Unilever’s current R80-million Enterprise Development Fund is not sufficient for SMME development but accepted that if commitments on value chain participation made by Unilever are fulfilled, it will improve this contribution.

“The department undertook to also use its existing support mechanisms to accelerate the qualifications of SMMEs to participate in the Unilever value chains, such mechanisms include the Manufacturing Support Scheme and fast-tracked certification of products with relevant standards bodies.

“In addition, the department will partner with Unilever’s programme to support black hairstylists and small professional salons through its programmes to support informal and micro personal care services and the minister accepted the offer by Unilever to partner on the Spaza and general dealers support programme to ensure the success of spaza shops as the next frontier for convenience shopping in townships and rural areas.

“The department of small business development and Unilever Southern Africa have put in place a working team to oversee the implementation and agreed on a timeframe to review progress thereof.”

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)