COMPANY SPECIAL...... HUL Wants its Employees to Think Like an Entrepreneur

HUL Wants its Employees to Think Like an Entrepreneur





To send mid-level execs to work at startups for 3 months to 2 years to instill entrepreneurial mindset & agility

Hindustan Unilever will send some of its mid-level executives to work at startups, an initiative it hopes will help instil an entrepreneurial mindset and agility among key employees at a time when small but nimble companies are increasingly disrupting large businesses.

Under the Entrepreneurial Immersion and Secondment initiative, India's largest consumer products company will send staff to startups for three months to two years. Those staying away for up to a year under the programme will be on HUL's payroll, while the cost on the rest will be shared by the company and the startups that host them.

“In an extremely dynamic environment, this is an opportunity for leaders to experience different business models and instil an end-to-end mindset,“ said BP Biddappa, executive director for HR. “We want people to be entrepreneurial as they work in a large company -not to take resources or infrastructure for granted, but to approach everything with an owner's mindset.“

The startups for the programme will initially be selected from those in which Unilever Ventures has in vested directly or indirectly . It will encompass the entire startup ecosystem at a later stage.

Unilever Ventures, launched in 2011, has made strategic investments in private equity and venture capital funds in the consumer and digital space as part of HUL's efforts to benefit from the ideas the new ventures bring.

Three years ago, HUL partnered with a startup, Ozonetel, for Kan Khajura Tesan, a mobile-based radio channel to reach media-dark villages. It went on to garner 1.85 crore subscribers and become one of the fastest growing media channels in India.

Last year, HUL short-listed 10 star tups, giving them access to a part of its business and other resources including mentors. In return, the com pany would gain access to new technologies in engaging consumers, shoppers, or the way it distributes products.

The HUL executives enrolled under the initiative typically have 7-12 years of experience.An issue that the company may face is the possibility of them deciding to stay on in the startup and not returning to HUL.“While we see this as a longer, leadership-development exercise, we are happy to experiment and, if he or she can create value in the startup space, we're happy to take the chance,“ said Biddappa.

So what can HUL, which controls nearly 15% of the country's consumer products market and rely mostly on in-house experts, gain from small startups?
“Employees in large companies engage with far more certainty compared to those in startups which operate in an uncertain environment. In startups, these employees will learn valuable skills such as taking decisions with less information, changing course quickly when things don't work out according to plan,“ said Suresh Bhagavatula, chairperson of IIM-Bangalore's NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning.

“Year-long internship is the best way for that understanding and assimilation. The real test lies in how they are received in these startups. If they take on the role with responsibility, real understanding and learning will happen. However, if they are fence-sitters, then they are just watching over and learning would be limited,“ said Nina Chatrath, founder at Enhance Consulting.

Sagar Malviya & Sreeradha D Basu

ET  28NOV16