Awareness programme by new Business Call to Action member will focus on improved health, hygiene and job creation

Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with an initiative to improve hygiene, nutrition and health among rural Bangladeshi women, as well as market skincare products developed to meet their unique needs. The initiative is projected to impact 40,000 low income women living in rural communities as well as create jobs for local women.

The awareness campaign will leverage women’s desire to look and feel their best by linking nutrition and hygiene practices to their daily skincare regime and their family’s health. It will also support the marketing of a skincare line developed specifically to meet these women’s cosmetic, cultural and economic needs. Shiseido expects more than 2,000 women to use the new line by 2017.

“With ‘to inspire a life of beauty and culture’ as our mission, we at Shiseido will aspire to sustainably enhance corporate value by continuously contributing to the happiness of people who wish to lead their lives in the way they like,” said Masahiko Uotani, Shiseido’s chief executive officer. “We are pleased that our inclusive business model in Bangladesh has been recognised by the Business Call to Action and look forward to creating a future with fellow members to empower Bangladesh women.”

The new line, known as Les DIVAS, is the result of a field survey conducted in 2011, which showed that rural Bangladesh women both wanted and used beauty products. The skincare products available to them, however, were often too expensive and not culturally appropriate. In addition, the women had insufficient training to obtain the products’ maximum benefits. Nutrition habits such as excess use of sugar, salt and oils were impacting their health – and that of their families. A lack of simple hygiene practices such as adequate hand washing were contributing to illness as well as the failure of skincare products to work effectively. 

The survey also showed that in spite of government programmes to reduce the gender gap for rural women, working outside the home remains frowned upon and men remain the principle decision makers.

As a result of the survey, Shiseido developed an affordable, market-specific skincare line comprised of a facial cleanser (£1.67), moisturiser (£1.25) and sunscreen (£1.67), and trained rural women to deliver awareness-raising workshops in 16 villages where the average monthly income ranges from $128 (£83) to $256 (£166). More than 27,000 women attended the first sessions, resulting in an increase of 17,000 women using less sugar, salt and oils in their cooking, more than 16,000 washing their towels and bed linens more often and 19,600 washing and keeping dirt away from their hands and faces. 

Shiseido’s local partner, JITA Bangladesh – a social enterprise managed by CARE International and Danone Communities – employs a network of local women to distribute the skincare products.

“Shiseido’s Les DIVAS model shows how inclusive business can build markets and uncover new sources of profitability while bringing tangible benefits to communities living at the bottom of the economic pyramid,” stated Suba Sivakumaran, BCtA programme manager. “We are pleased to welcome a global leader such as Shiseido as a member of the Business Call to Action and look forward to learning from the impact of this initiative.

Shiseido was one of the first Japanese companies to sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles in 2010. The original field study was supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Content on this page is provided by Business Call to Action, and originally appeared on the The Guardian Business and the Sustainable Development Goals Hub