Unilever Global Head Paul Polman in Sri Lanka

Unilever Chief Executive Officer, Paul Polman will be visiting Sri Lanka today. Accompanying Polman will be Chief Operating Officer, Harish Manwani, and Executive Vice President of South Asia, Nitin Paranjpe.

Paul Polman

During this visit, Polman will be inaugurating Unilever Sri Lanka's new manufacturing facility in Horana. To meet the growing needs of the Sri Lankan consumer, Unilever Sri Lanka invested US $ 50 million in a new manufacturing facility located in the BOI Zone in Horana. While Unilever currently manufactures 95 % of the products in its markets in Sri Lanka, this new facility will enable the company to further extend local manufacturing, as well as deliver faster product innovations and improve production and environmental efficiency. Furthermore, the company will now be in a position to actively pursue export.

Polman will also be addressing the employees to share his vision and direction for the company and the expectations from Unilever Sri Lanka towards Unilever's global ambitions. He is also expected to review Unilever Sri Lanka's short and long term growth plans with Unilever Sri Lanka's leadership and give his input on the plans for Sri Lanka to go forward as a key market in South Asia.

Having earned his Master of Arts in Economics and MBA in Finance and International Marketing from the University of Cincinnati, Polman began his career with Procter & Gamble in 1979. He spent 27 years at the company, culminating in the position of Group President, Europe, in 2001.

Prior to joining Unilever, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Nestlé from 2006, and the Executive Vice President for the Americas from February 2008. Polman succeeded Patrick Cescau as the Chief Executive Officer of Unilever in January 2009.