Lifebuoy sells handwashing along with 2.6 billion bars of soap across Africa and Asia

Updated - Monday 14 May 2007

Unilever sells 2.6 billion bars of Lifebuoy soap every year across Asia and Africa and is the market leader in every Asian country where it is sold. Nearly half of the Lifebuoy brand's consumption is in rural Asia, where most of the population live on less than US$ 1 per day. The company promotes its approach as “more affordable products and formats to make it easier for consumers at the bottom of the economic pyramid to purchase soap.”

Lifebuoy supports the “Berbagi Sehat” programme, which has been successful in communicating the importance of handwashing with soap in Indonesia – 84% of people touched by the campaign subsequently washed their hands with soap after defecating, compared to 58% in a control group. Lifebuoy sales increased by 22% in 2006, a convincing case for sustained investment in the programme.

Since 2004, Lifebuoy has invested in health infrastructure and facilities, run education programmes in schools, organised handwashing ‘ambushes’ in shopping malls, produced healthy hands booklets and hosted seminars for teachers, among many other activities. In 2005, Lifebuoy was awarded a 'Citizen Brand' accolade in Indonesia in recognition of the work the brand has undertaken in education about handwashing and health benefits.

25,000 women distributors in India

“Project Shakti”, (‘power’ in Hindi) in India is using innovative distribution methods. Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), Unilever’s operating company in India, selected entrepreneurial women from hard-to-reach villages, unreached by traditional distributors and dealers and trained them to become distributors, providing education, advice and access to products. In 2005, there were 25,000 such entrepreneurs, reaching 100,000 villages and visiting 1,000,000 homes a month. Women selected from existing self-help groups had to invest 40 Euro to get a loan of 160 Euro with which to buy Hindustan Lever hygiene products.

Independent research

Little independent scientific research has been done on the poverty reduction and empowerment aspects of the Shakti project. The Indian Resource centre points to criticism regarding unfair competition with local soap producers and cottage industries, aggressive marketing that pushes aside traditional non-soap hygiene products. Also, many Hindustan Lever products are still unaffordable for the poorest. In 2006, Bart Loman, a Dutch student in development studies did research among 36 of these women in Madurai district in Tamil Nadu. Most of them were very happy with Shakti, as it had doubled their income to around one Euro per day. This income went to the family. While the microcredit scheme provided some women with new confidence and social recognition, others reported difficulty selling their products and repaying the substantial loan that is required to participate in the project. They were dropped from the programme, without having had sufficient support from Unilever.

Since 2002, Lifebuoy has been running “Swasthya Chetna” (Health Awakening), in India and, more recently, in Bangladesh. This is the largest private hygiene education programme in the world, and involves extensive rural outreach programmes with trained health development officers and school hygiene activities teaching children about germs and the importance of handwashing with soap. In its first two years, this ‘marketing with a mission’ reached 70 million people in India, including 20 million children. Alongside this, sales of Lifebuoy in the eight states where the programme operates grew by 20% in 2003/4. HLL has committed to funding Swasthya Chetna for five years.

Partnerships and spreading to Africa

Lifebuoy is also involved in a number of public private partnerships with partners who share its goals to increase handwashing with soap and reduce diarrhoeal disease. Lifebuoy is a member of the steering committee of the Global Public Private Partnership for Handwashing hosted by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program.

Under this Global PPP, Lifebuoy and the Unilever Marketing Academy (UMA) created a training programme for public sector representatives leading handwashing initiatives. 'In Safe Hands' was piloted with a workshop in Vietnam in May 2006, and launched in Africa in October 2006 with participants from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Benin and Ethiopia. Lifebuoy and the UMA are helping programme leaders from these countries to develop effective public health campaigns, and are also offering ‘In Safe Hands’ to other countries.

Lifebuoy is involved in partnerships with other organisations, such as UNICEF and the Discovery Channel’s Global Education Partnership, in working to find commercial solutions to social problems. In December 2006, Lifebuoy hosted a workshop to share knowledge and best practice around encouraging behaviour change among children. The workshop was attended by experts and partners from the worlds of water and sanitation, marketing and communication, and organisations that work with children.

Video Gives Shakti Project global exposure

Linda Gerber made a digital video and case study for use in the classroom. The case study and teaching note on the Hindustan Lever and the Shakti project have been written by Weatherhead professor, Sayan Chatterjee, who, with assistant professor C.K. Krishnan, is creating a research institute to further explore ways of creating prosperity in the developing world.

Rojamma's life changing story after she became a Shakti entrepreneur.
View the 6-minute video from Hindustan Lever:

Contact: Andrew Last, Salt, email