Unilever expands perfect estate program

Unilever Sri Lanka Chairman Carl Cruz (centre) and Unilever Sri Lanka Customer Development Director Aruna Mawilmada being welcomed by children at the Dambatenne Estate

Continuing to expand its engagement with the country’s estate sector, Unilever Sri Lanka launched the Unilever ‘Perfect Estate’ program at the Dambetenne Estate recently. Unilever Sri Lanka Chairman Carl Cruz inaugurated the launch. He also ceremonially opened the fully renovated Welfare Shop of the Estate in coordination with the Workers Housing Cooperative Society (EWHCS), and handed over a completely redeveloped Child Development Centre to the community of Dambetenne.

As part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan commitment of helping people around the nation improve their health and wellbeing, Unilever Sri Lanka and the Dental Faculty of Peradeniya conducted a dental hygiene camp in the estate, with an attendance of more than 500 people. Dental screening and treatments were given during the camp.

Introduced to Sri Lanka in 2015, the ‘Perfect Estate’ program is part of Unilever’s efforts to create a sustainable go-to-market business model and builds on its Perfect Store program to drive awareness, knowledge and adoption of its products in hard-to-reach rural communities.The company identifies rural estates and introduces a range of programs, including product education sessions and health, beauty and hygiene workshops for the community. This includes dental hygiene camps conducted in collaboration with Signal and hand hygiene awareness programs organised together with Lifebuoy.

Speaking about this initiative, Unilever Sri Lanka Customer Development Director Aruna Mawilmada said, “Unilever has deep roots in the Sri Lankan market and shares a strong bond with our consumers here. We were aware that consumers in the country’s tea estate sector had access to only a limited choice of products due to a variety of socio-economic factors. Our experience with similar communities around the world has shown us that offering them a greater selection of good quality products goes a long way in helping raise their living standards. The program has come a long way within a period of just over a year and I’m delighted to note that we have managed to positively transform the lives of our consumers through this initiative.”

Since its launch with the support of the Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT), the Perfect Estate programme has allowed Unilever Sri Lanka to cater more effectively to estate stores. The development of the estates stores coupled with the implementation of such interventions have successfully delivered greater value to the business as well as provided diversity of choice to the estate people.