Walmart Global Sourcing/Shahi Exports, Unilever R&D

I’ve decided to put all our corporate visits into one entry, even though we visited Walmart on a different day than Unilever. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Walmart because we first went to the main office where they gave us an overview of how they source here in India, and how they do it responsibly. They shared with us some of their initiatives—in particular, how they are working with women business owners to help establish women economically and socially in a country where women are still struggling to be treated better than second-class citizens:

From there we drove out to one of the manufacturing facilities, Shahi Exports, that makes their clothing (along with other brands like GAP, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, etc…yes, Abercrombie & Fitch, same factory…). As you can see the facility is huge:

With Walmart the Shahi factory has developed a program that trains their employees (specifically women) to not only do the required work in the facility but to change the way they view themselves and the world around them. They work with them to develop confidence, teach them about nutrition and diet, and expose them to health topics that are often considered taboo in India, such as the menstruation cycle and sanitary techniques.

I just though this was super cool… although, my last video didn't take, so if this one doesn't either.. I apologize.

We also visited Unilever’s Bangalore R&D hub.

We toured the campus, which was absolutely gorgeous; turns out that instead of planting trees inside the building, they just left the pre-existing tress and built up around them… my kind of people.

Unilever is very successful in India, and one reason that was discussed is their understanding and consideration of the culture that is India--one word: diverse. Instead of creating a new tea brand for different regions within India, they actually just make minor changes to the composition of their main brands to meet the taste needs of different areas in India. This is genius of course, because as all people in the world are particular about their foods and beverages... Indians are too.

Example and a really long tangent: Because my interest is in coffee, it was quite clear that the way coffee was prepared changed the further south we went. And, after watching a man in Dehli turn a French Press into a Pour Over (don't ask me how it happened--there's no recreating the scene... it was one of the more startling things I was audience too), it was clear that any which way they chose to make and serve coffee in the south was going to suit me just fine. And, it was fine, too. The closer we got to Coorg, the smoother the coffee became, the roast of the bean was just right, and it was clear no French Press was being defiled or violated in the kitchen. The way coffee in the south is served is also quite delightful (of course, being more of an experiential person, I forgot to take a picture... I was too busy enjoying the celestial liquid). You are served a taller but thinner cup within a flatter, wider one. The taller, thinner cup contains the coffee, and when you're ready to drink it, you remove it from the flatter, wider one and pour a little in to let it cool before drinking. This is an extremely important part of this procedure, mind you, because hot liquids in India are served at about, or around the temperature of Earth's core... this is one of the rare times when I'm not exaggerating.

Now, back to Unilever...

Unilever, too, has some interesting initiatives. The one that struck me most was their work to educate people in washing their hands. Because the dysentery rates are so high, Unilever has been trying to combat that using their LifeBuoy soap and hand sanitizer products. The idea is that if they educate children to properly wash their hands, they will take this knowledge back into the home and teach their parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. The woman told us that 15 seconds with any soap will do the trick, but LifeBuoy gets the job done quicker (but really, folks, 15 seconds with any soap will do the trick...she won me over--I've been counting).