Al Gurg Inaugurates New Unilever Office in Dubai

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 29^th November 2010.  H.E. Easa Saleh Al Gurg, Chairman, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group inaugurated today the new Sales and Distribution office for Unilever. The new office will play a key role in supporting the growth ambitions for Unilever in the region.

“The partnership between Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group and Unilever has been a success story spanning for over 50 years and we are proud of what we have achieved together to date,” explains H.E. Easa Saleh Al Gurg, Chairman, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group.

The initial agreement between Al Gurg and Unilever dates back to the 1^st of March 1965. The agreement was later terminated and a new partnership agreement was signed on the 1^st of January 1986.

Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman, Unilever North Africa & Middle East states, “We are delighted with the opening of our new office, this will help us connect better with our key customers and better meet the needs of our consumers”.

The facilities in the new office include a gym, a lounge, an entertainment zone, prayer rooms in addition to other interactive facilities. “Our new office promotes new ways of working driven by our agile working principles”, explains Mehta.  Agile working principles have been established to allow employees to work more flexibly as long as business needs are being met. It is an approach that puts the employee in greater control over how, when and where he or she works. Performance is determined by results rather than factors such as time and attendance.

“Employee engagement levels within Unilever North Africa and Middle East are also relatively high when compared to any external benchmarks and we are proud of this accomplishment,” adds Mehta.

Al Gurg Unilever’s office and warehouse was previously located in the Al Aweer area in Dubai. While the office staff will now be relocating to the new base, Unilever’s warehouse will remain located in Al Aweer.  

Unilever’s regional head quarters for the North Africa and Middle East region is located in Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai. This is also where Unilever’s second largest Lipton tea manufacturing facility is based. Unilever is the largest tea producer in the world today and owns 264 manufacturing sites worldwide.

Unilever employs 163,000 employees in approaching 100 countries, and generated annual sales of €40 billion in 2009.

About Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group

The Chairman, H.E Easa Saleh Al Gurg, KCVO, CBE, who was the Ambassador of U.A.E. to the court of St. James (UK) and the Republic of Ireland, founded the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group in 1960 after gaining extensive experience in banking and finance. The first business was the Grundig sole distributorship followed by the British American Tobacco Agency. During the last  five decades several other prime agencies, real estate and manufacturing units were added, resulting in the present 23 companies in the Group, which together handle more than 200 agencies and manufacture a diversified range products.

The products marketed by the Group include cigarettes, tyres, electrical and electronic items, personal care products, detergents, beverages, household appliances, stationery, batteries, branded garments, cables, chemicals, furniture, building materials and steel. Some of the Group's principals include British American Tobacco, Unilever, Benetton, Siemens, Osram, Armitage Shanks, Stanton, Catnic, Yorkshire Copper Tubes, Dunlop, Heuga, Projects, Interface, Broyhill, Electrolux, Siematic Kitchens, Smeg  and many more.

About Unilever

Unilever works to create a better future every day.  We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.

We are one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100 countries.  Our portfolio includes some of the world’s best known and most loved brands including eleven €1 billion brands, and global leadership in many categories in which we operate.  The portfolio features iconic brands such as Knorr, Lipton, Flora, Dove, Axe, Lux, Sunsilk, Vaseline, Omo & Comfort.

We have around 163,000 employees in approaching 100 countries, and generated annual sales of €40 billion in 2009.  For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit www.unilever.com.