Celebrates 18 years of empowering women entrepreneurs
Colombo, January 31, 2022: Unilever Sri Lanka has recently awarded 41 more scholarships to schoolchildren of women entrepreneurs from its Saubhagya programme. In its 18th year of empowering women to take up entrepreneurship roles, the company has offered over 500 scholarships in total, out of which, over 150 children have succeeded in entering local universities and vocational training centres.
Saubhagya is one of the oldest government – private sector partnerships, operating in collaboration with the Samurdhi Authority of Sri Lanka. It helps rural women earn a sustainable livelihood by becoming direct-to-home ambassadors of Unilever brands. ‘Diriya’ is Unilever’s Saubhagya channel loyalty programme, designed to recognise yearly and long-term achievements made by these entrepreneurs. As part of this, Unilever offers scholarships to their children who have excelled in diverse educational milestones and shown proficiency in the fields of aesthetics and sports.
Aruna Mawilmada, Customer Development Director – Unilever Sri Lanka said, “What makes our Saubhagya programme special is that it not only addresses the challenges faced by women when it comes to earning a sustainable income but also offers prosperity to their children by offering them a promising future in their education. We will continue to stand for the empowerment of Sri Lankan women and help them improve the living standards of themselves as well as their families.”
Saubhagya was born from a deep understanding of the difficulties faced by women in economic inclusion and the integral part they play within Unilever’s own distribution network. Launched in 2003 with five brave women entrepreneurs, the programme now engages with over 5,000 Saubhagya entrepreneurs today.