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Categories
| L'Oreal's Centenary Celebration |
| Lifestyle | |||
| Written by Anandhi Gopinath | |||
| Friday, 05 June 2009 11:57 | |||
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Founded in 1909 by chemist, innovator and researcher Eugène Schueller, L’Oréal has become one of the world’s most recognisable brands and has maintained an emphasis on scientific research in the name of beauty. The deployment of a clear and focused business strategy — resulting in one of the most comprehensive portfolios in the beauty industry — has enabled L’Oréal to make beauty accessible to as many people as possible all over the world. The Parisian beauty company based the theme of its anniversary celebrations on an intrinsic value that has defined the company to this day — generosity of spirit. As a truly noteworthy birthday present to itself, L’Oréal is launching a total of 100 Citizen Projects designed to assist and support vulnerable communities on local levels through concrete and long-term initiatives. In a statement, L’Oréal’s CEO Jean-Paul Agon said: “We are entirely committed to fulfilling our commitments as a responsible company. As well as being an occasion to celebrate and recognise the tremendous contribution of our teams past and present around the world, we wanted our centenary to serve as an opportunity to share with others, and to encourage our employees to assert their responsibility as citizens.” In Malaysia, L’Oréal is supporting children affected by HIV/AIDS with Keep in School Scheme (KISS), a programme that helps finance the education of children above 12 who are infected/affected by the disease. The fund provided by L’Oréal, amounting to RM150,000, will take care of basic schooling necessities like fees, uniforms and day-to-day needs of 100 deserving children. Additionally, the staff of L’Oréal Malaysia have been and will continue to donate their time to children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS. The programme was announced at an intimate ceremony at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, hosted by L’Oréal Malaysia’s managing  director Jean-Francois Couve, who was joined by Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, representing the Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF). Also present was homegrown Malaysian designer Melinda Looi, who designed the programme’s unique logo.“L’Oréal Malaysia has a long-term commitment to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS in Malaysia and feels compelled to help the underprivileged,” Couve said. “In the spirit of the 100-year celebration, the centenary must reflect our generosity and share our success and good fortune with others as generosity of spirit is one of L’Oréal’s guiding principles. In collaboration with the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, L’Oréal is committed to supporting 100 children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS to help them continue their secondary school education and realise their dreams.”  Corporate communication and media relations director Tay Ai Leen joined several staff members of L’Oréal Malaysia on visits to some of the homes and plans to continue doing so as part of KISS. “I sent out a note to everyone saying we were going to do these home visits and the staff just volunteered to come. They were all very touched and very moved by it all, also because they never connected beauty with philanthropy. They get it now, of course, and they are amazed by this collaboration. They really enjoy being part of the programme. Looking forward, we are planning to visit other homes outside the Klang Valley as well, and we expect this to happen in July. “Melinda Looi has said she wants to join us the next time, and some of the hairdressers we work with have asked if there is a fund within KISS set aside for them to contribute to. This programme definitely has the potential to grow into many other things, but for the moment, we are keeping it focused — children above 12 who are infected/affected by HIV/AIDS,” she said. MAF is only able to provide financial assistance to children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS who are below the age of 12 due to limited resources. Once these children turn 12, their options are limited with regard to access to education due to a severe lack of funds. KISS aims to close this gap by ensuring children above the age of 12 get a proper education and equal access to educational and vocational opportunities. “It’s a gap we’ve been very aware of and we’re so happy you’ve stepped in to fill that gap,” said Marina at the event. MAF will work with paediatricians from local health clinics, hospitals and shelter homes to identify HIV/AIDS-infectd/affected children for KISS. This will include children who are infected by HIV/AIDS and those who are free of the disease but are living with at least one parent who has HIV/AIDS or who has died of it. KISS has been one year in the making and reaffirms L’Oréal’s long-term approach to corporate social responsibility. The 100 projects that were announced in L’Oréal’s offices all over the world are based on three central axes of the company’s corporate philanthropy activities — education, encouraging self-esteem and the promotion of scientific research. In tough economic times, achieving the kind of success that L’Oréal has is already an achievement — 100 years of innovation and evolution has turned L’Oréal, which began at its founder’s kitchen sink, into a billion-dollar beauty conglomerate with a presence in more than 130 countries and reaching one billion consumers a day. The way it has chosen to celebrate its 100th birthday — by giving back generously to the communities in which it operates — is what will see this visionary company well into the future. L’Oréal’s 100-year journey of innovation has been led by just five CEOs — unique for a company this size. Read more about the dynamic leadership of L’Oréal’s five chief executives that has taken the company to dizzying heights in Options in the upcoming issue of The Edge, on sale tomorrow. Some of L’Oréal’s other Citizen Projects around the world Brazil: Supporting the creation of a school that will train underprivileged youth in preparation for careers in the beauty industry. Singapore: The Touching Colours project aims to help 100 visually impaired people to develop independence in their daily lives by teaching them about personal beauty habits and techniques. Indonesia: Organising and supporting scientific discovery programmes in 10 underprivileged junior high schools. Portugal: The Investigation for Better Education project aims to encourage the professional placement of under-educated youth in underprivileged neighbourhoods. Lebanon: Assisting destitute women who are responsible for supporting their families by providing them with training in beauty professions and helping them find employment and internships. In partnership with SOS Lebanon and the YMCA. Norway: Education for immigrant children and youth, in partnership with the Red Cross Norway and Save The Children Norway. Korea: Supporting young isolated mothers in reintegrating into the professional world through the creation of the L’Oréal Career Re-entry Academy, providing two-week training sessions in partnership with the Ministry of Gender Equality. L’Oréal employees will act as counsellors in the programme. Germany: Starting School with Happiness distributes back-to-school educational support toolkits for underprivileged children in partnership with SOS-Kinderdorfer. Switzerland: Development of beauty workshops for vulnerable women in community shelters, in collaboration with the Solidarité Femmes organisation. Vietnam: A Beauty for Living training programme for 1,000 homeless women and women in need, supported by the Vietnam Women Union, the Ho Chi Minh City Vocational Polytechnic and microcredit organisations. Israel: Educating immigrant children and youth through Adopt a Brother/Sister campaign and encouraging programme participants to assist others in the immigrant community through the creation of educational and community programmes with the goal of reducing social inequalities. This article appeared on the Live it! page, The Edge Financial Daily, June 5, 2009.
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