Africa: Big Daddy Stays & Grows

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The white knight of black Africa is the "Omo man," who wanders from vil lage to village. Dressed in candent cot tons, he passes out sample boxes of Omo detergent, a fast-bubbling profit maker turned out by Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch combine that is the world's sixth biggest company. People grab up the giveaways, not only because each box top can be redeemed for ten more samples at the local Unilever-owned store, but also because the Omo man is plugged by radio ads that suggest he possesses supernatural powers. Say the commercials: "As a snail dies the day it tastes salt, dirt disappears the day it challenges Omo.*

Like all savvy salesmen, Unilever knows its territory. It blends local beliefs with modern marketing methods, promotes another familiar product by employing comely local women—each is known as "Miss Lux"—who often accompany the Omo man. While other private companies in Africa have been chivvied by dictators and political upheavals, Unilever has discovered many new markets and diversified in dozens of directions. With steadily rising sales, which last year reached $689 million, it retains its position as the largest private enterprise in tropical Africa. The United Africa Co. (U.A.C.), Unilever's principal subsidiary in its African group, is so pervasive that local people say "Big Daddy owns all."

Like a Chameleon. It often seems that way. Durable Unilever has been a father figure in African enterprise since Lord Leverhulme, founder of the firm's British branch, in 1911 won a concession from Belgium's King Leopold II to develop a 1,875,000-acre plantation in the Congo. The company planted oil palms for its soap, later prospered by buying farm products from the Africans and selling household goods to them —pocketing a profit on both ends. Reaching out, U.A.C. also became the biggest merchandiser in the 14 former French colonies of Africa and got a substantial hold in East Africa.

When independence swept in, the omnipresent company was a ready target for criticism, or, as Unilever's African Group Chairman Arthur Smith recalls: "It was so convenient for some people to stigmatize the company." U.A.C. absorbed some severe losses, notably in the Congo and Ghana, but proved to be more adaptable than an African chameleon. Rather than cut and run, it decided to stay and grow along with a yearning market. During the terrifying upheavals in the Congo, Unilever men opened new plantations even while existing ones were being overrun by the Simbas. The company also opened up more opportunities for local people. Since 1956 it has increased its proportion of black African managers from 15% to 43%.