Unilever Bangladesh pledges Tk 200m to fight against coronavirus outbreak

Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL) has pledged Tk 200 million to support the government in the ongoing fight against coronavirus outbreak.

The commitment includes wide-range of measures such as donating products, creating awareness, improving health infrastructure, protecting the people and livelihoods of those who work across the value chain such as extended distribution and supply chain, UBL said in a press release. 

UBL also said it has been donating hygiene and household products such as Lifebuoy soaps, Surf Excel and Wheel detergents, Domex cleaners worth Tk 10 million in order to protect the communities against coronavirus since the outbreak emerged.

In January 2020, Lifebuoy became the first brand in Bangladesh to raise awareness on Covid-19 and UBL allocated Tk 50 million to create mass media content on prevention of the virus, the release read.

UBL also said it will donate Tk 10 million to support and upgrade healthcare facilities.

Meanwhile, UBL also pledges to protect its value chain, consisting nearly 20,000 people, from sudden drops in pay, as a result of market disruption or being unable to perform their role, for up to three months.

Apart from this, UBL is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of its employees and their families, supply chain and sales safety protocols complying with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards and incorporated the best practices in safety management for operations. 

UBL is collaborating with organisations such as Brac, WaterAid, Unicef, Ek Takay Ahar to create awareness among the most-vulnerable people in remote areas and help them stay safe during this pandemic. The company has already spent Tk 10 million in these efforts.

Apart from this, UBL employees have pledged to donate their one-day's salary and the company is merging the contribution equally to create a fund for people in need.

Considering the scale of the challenge and in order to address it at multiple levels, CEO and Managing Director Kedar Lele said they are collaborating with the government, health institutions, implementation partners and civil society in this regard.

"In this challenging time, we are committed to protect livelihoods of our people.  It is our responsibility to reach out to as many people as possible and help them in the fight against the virus," Kedar Lele added.