Vinita George, L’Oréal Middle East

I dare to challenge the status quo gracefully, and this has given a fresh perspective and angle to business solutions

VINITA GEORGE

Director of Operations L’Oréal Middle East

What does women’s empowerment mean to you?

Women’s empowerment to me is the opportunity to showcase the intrinsic strengths of being a woman without limits and boundaries. It is the ability to know our self-worth and own the space rather than give it up due to social constraints, legacy behaviours or boundaries of custom. Womeen’s empowerment is seeing more women in power and leading organisations across the world alongside with men, and with equity and no bias.

What aspects of L'Oréal women’s empowerment programmes are you most proud of and why?

My personal favorite is the L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science programme, which was established in 1998. The programme empowers, recognises and promotes exceptional women scientists and funds their researches in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). For the past 23 years, the programme has also been committed to improving the representation of women in science and further enhance their careers. In the GCC, the L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents programme has become one of the most highly-regarded initiatives in the region. To date, the programme has recognised 35 phenomenal Arab female researchers from the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi, and Yemen.

How has L'Oréal encouraged and benefited from women in leadership roles and management positions?

In GCC, 56% of the L'Oréal Middle East leadership roles are held by women. This enhances quality of results, increases balance of decisions, fosters creativity and above all underlines our continuous hunger for advocating and promoting a diverse and inclusive workspace. We have been ranked first in Gender Equality by Equileap Europe 2020 and recognised in Bloomberg Gender Equality Index 2021 for the 4th consecutive year. This is due to the Group’s commitment to support and foster equity across functions. In any leadership role, assertive authority, high level of emotional intelligence, and inspiration are key factors to bring results, and the women leaders in L'Oréal have repeatedly testified to this and hence encouraged others to follow suit.

Do you believe that profitability and environmental sustainability can coexist?

Absolutely, reduction of waste is the principle of both environmental sustainability and profitability. Sustainable alternatives for CO2 reduction, plastic elimination, solidarity sourced ingredients are all elements which can bring us positive growth while protecting our sustainability goals. I have seen it happening repeatedly in my experience and definitely confirm that the right sustainable alternatives are the future for all profitable companies. Sustainability has become a habit and should not be an option, but a must-have for everyone.

What is L'Oréal vision towards sustainability, and what steps are being taken to achieve L'Oréal sustainability goals? How do you engage employees in sustainability efforts?

In 2020, L'Oréal launched its sustainability programme “L’Oréal for the Future”, to transform the business to respect the planetary boundaries and limit our impact on biodiversity, water, climate and resource utilisation. By 2025, all of L’Oréal’s sites will have achieved carbon neutrality by improving energy efficiency and using 100% renewable energy. By 2030, L’Oréal will reduce its entire greenhouse gas emissions by 50% per finished product, compared to 2016, and 100% of the plastics used in the products’ packaging will be either from recycled or bio-based sources.

In addition, the Group launched L’Oréal Fund for Nature Regeneration and allocated EUR 150 million to address urgent social and environmental issues. The fund will support damaged natural marine and forest ecosystems restoration projects as well as help vulnerable women through field organisations and local charities.

In the GCC, L'Oréal Middle East have implemented Green Office to encourage sustainable behaviour among employees in their daily lives in and outside the office. In addition, our distribution centres are moving toward zero plastic and we continue to optimise our transportation network to reduce our carbon footprint. We advocate ‘Reduce Recycle’ as a mantra. L’Oréal has 35 carbon neutral sites, and the Group is moving towards sustainable packaging alternatives and natural ingredients at source.

What does L’Oréal do to help its employees maintain a healthy work-life balance?

L’Oréal has been facilitating parenting and work-life balance with the L’Oréal Share & Care programme. The employees are given flex-work options, parental leave for both mother and father, learning and development programmes targeted toward wellness, both emotional and physical. The leadership team demonstrates this work-life balance and values the sense of “me time” and “family time”. Celebration is also a part of the “feel good at work” as we organise moments for bringing children of employees together with our family day and all staff celebrations.

How do you feel your leadership is helping drive your company and the industry in a positive direction?

“Be you and lead” has been my leadership moto. Being a women leader in the operations field in Middle East is definitely not a usual. I do believe this is my secret advantage as I’m able to capitalise on both my experience of working in this field in different countries and also harness the emotional strength that comes naturally. I dare to challenge the status quo gracefully, and this has given a fresh perspective and angle to business solutions. We have done some successful projects over the past years that have driven profitability and operational excellence.