Unilever takes top honour for responsible business

Winners of Business in the Community’s most prestigious awards announced at the Royal College of Music and Royal Albert Hall.

6 July 2010: Unilever has taken home the top gong in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) thirteenth Awards for Excellence. The global food and consumer products giant picks up the title of Company of the Year 2010 for its work enhancing the social, environmental and economic impact of its brands at every stage of the product lifecycle.

With two billion people using Unilever products on any given day, the company has recognised that the potential for its consumers to make a big difference is enormous, if – through its products – it encourages each of them to take small actions to improve their sustainability.

Unilever takes over as Company of the Year from United Utilities who held the coveted title throughout 2009.  Philip Green, chief executive of United Utilities, handed over the baton to Amanda Sourry, Chairman, Unilever UK & Ireland, in front of over 1,000 business leaders and HRH The Prince of Wales at a celebratory event at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Monday 5 July.

The Herdy Company, a high-quality giftware company based in the Lake District, received the Small Company of the Year Award. The fledgling SME has created a market for Herdwick Sheep wool from the Lake District, while channelling a percentage of profits to local communities.

Radio 4’s James Naughtie announced the winners to a packed audience at London’s Royal College of Music, before guests moved to the Royal Albert Hall for an inspiring address from HRH The Prince of Wales. The Prince was celebrating his 25th year as President of BITC, and in his speech outlined his vision for the future of responsible business.

Stephen Howard, Chief Executive of Business in the Community, said: “The companies entering the Awards for Excellence have really raised the bar this year, despite the tough times we are operating in. The overall Example of Excellence winners should know that they have beaten off some seriously stiff competition to gain these titles. It’s not always what we do but how we do it that matters, so I’m inspired that many companies continually strive to better themselves, to tackle the challenges we face, and ensure corporate responsibility is at the heart of everything they do. The winners should be rightly proud.”

“Tonight is also a celebration as we pay tribute to the enormous positive impact of HRH The Prince of Wales as BITC’s President over 25 years. His leadership has pushed the business community to constantly innovate and challenge itself to mobilise business for good on the key issues of the day. Much of our work has been inspired by his creativity and unique ability to bring people together to tackle society’s most pressing issues collaboratively in order to achieve the biggest impact, and for that we thank him.”

The 2010 Awards for Excellence are supported by United Utilities, outgoing Company of the Year 2009. Philip Green, Chief Executive, said: “Unilever is an outstanding example to others and a worthy winner of the title Company of the Year 2010. I am proud to hand on the responsibility of this prestigious award to a company that can demonstrate a long standing commitment to responsible business. Unilever is a significant global market leader, with influence extending well beyond that.

“What is really impressive is how Unilever has realistically appraised the impact of its products across the whole life cycle and built sustainability into product design. Through this it can change consumer behaviour as well as find innovative ways to improve the impact of products for its customers and our planet. Unilever is showing us all that business success goes hand in hand with responsible leadership.”

Ms Sourry said: "We are delighted to be named Business in the Community’s ‘Company of the Year’.
 
"Business has a great responsibility and opportunity to create and enable positive change, for both society and the environment, particularly in such turbulent economic times. In the long run, we believe it will be the businesses which do the right thing, in the right way, to the best of their talents, which will ultimately prosper.
 
"We have already declared our ambition to double the size of our business while reducing our environmental impact across our entire value chain.
 
“This recognition inspires us to go further and faster – working with our consumers, business partners, employees, their communities and other partners throughout the UK and Ireland – to continue to deliver against our Sustainable Development goals and, importantly, their expectations of Unilever.”

The awards in numbers:
With all national and regional award entries combined, BITC received 398 entries in 2010. 332 of these were for national award categories. 94 entries resulted in National Big Tick awards, and 48 of these were shortlisted for the Example of Excellence within their category. 88 companies had their 2009 national Big Ticks reaccredited this year.

Click here for the full list of winners.

Sector and company specific press releases:

Businesses recognising the benefits of forging strong partnerships with voluntary sector win awards (95 kb)  Barclays’ partnership with The Guardian, EDF Energy and Norse Commercial Services have all been named Examples of Excellence for extending their reach right into communities in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Community outreach brings rewards for utilities companies (98 kb)   EDF Energy and United Utilities have been named Examples of Excellence in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Construction companies win awards for helping the sector and consumers reduce their impact on the environment (87 kb)  Lend Lease and Marshalls have picked up two of Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) sought-after Examples of Excellence in the 2010 Awards for Excellence for helping the sector and consumers reduce their impact on the environment.

Educational excellence puts Midlands retailer top of the list (83 kb)   The Midcounties Co-operative has been named Example of Excellence in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) sought-after 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Environmental and educational excellence put retailers top of the list (85 kb)   Kingfisher plc, and The Midcounties co-operative have been named Examples of Excellence in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) sought-after 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Lake District company at the head of the herd on responsible business in SMEs (86 kb)  The Herdy Company, an SME based in the Lake District, has taken home the title of Small Company of the Year at Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Recession no ‘baa’ to excellence for awarding winning SME and North West water giant (87 kb)   The Herdy Company, an SME based in the Lake District, and United Utilities, the North West water giant, have been named Examples of Excellence in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Responsible business awards reveal companies taking the environment and climate change seriously (94 kb)   InterfaceFLOR, Kingfisher plc, Lend Lease, Marshalls and United Utilities have been named Examples of Excellence in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) 2010 Awards for Excellence, for programmes supporting the environment and to reduce harmful carbon emissions.

Workplace health, skills and employability programmes bring awards for companies taking people management seriously (88 kb)   Norse Commercial Services and Northern Food’s have picked up three of Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) sought-after Examples of Excellence in the 2010 Awards for Excellence.

Barclays & Guardian poverty partnership wins International Award (296 kb)  Katine project praised for reducing poverty in Uganda after winning The Coffey International Award supported by the Department for International Development as part of annual Business in the Community (BITC) Awards for Excellence.