Today, Hindustan Unilever is the most well-known FMCG name in India – with over 8 million stores selling its products, the company had a turnover of 45,000 CR+ in FY21. However, this wasn’t the case when Vindi Banga joined the company. A career spanning an immense 33 years, Vindi climbed the HUL ladder as swiftly as anyone has, ending up as chairman of the company and the president of the global foods, home and personal care division of Unilever. In this episode with Vindi Banga, we deep dive into what went on at HUL during the three decades that he was there, how the company thought of the Indian consumer, and how founders in India today should think about building their own brands and businesses.

Quotables: 

"Reigniting growth for our core consumer businesses and our brands meant really trying to understand where the innovation should go. That is all about listening to the customer and the consumer. We started a drive in the company to get everybody connected with the customer and the consumer."

"Communication with shareholders is extremely important, and that's a piece of advice for your founders. It's really important to engage with your shareholders."

"It doesn't matter if you keep collecting apples, oranges and pears if you don't have the best apples in town." 

Episode notes and transcriptions available on: https://lightbox.vc/new-thinking/