CNBC-Asia names Harish Manwani Asian business leader of year

CNBC Asia has named Harish Manwani, president, Unilever Asia Africa and member of Unilever executive as its Asian business leader of the year at the sixth annual CNBC Asia business leaders awards ceremony at Seoul, South Korea yesterday.
 
"As a professional manager, I am very conscious of the fact that the honour that you have bestowed on me is, first and foremost for my company Unilever and for the thousands of employees in Asia who have made us worthy of this recognition," said Manwani in his acceptance speech.
 
"I am proud of our values and our underlying belief that doing good and doing well are two sides of the same coin. Good business is responsible business. Unilever has a long and proud history of doing business in Asia, and we can trace our roots back over a 100 years. In most of these 15 countries that we operate in, we are proud to be seen as a multi-local multinational, global yet rooted in the local communities. Successful, yet responsible to the local needs," he added.
 
"The coveted Asia business leader of the year was awarded to Mr. Harish Manwani for effectively capitalising on global trends and leveraging the global scale of Unilever to deliver accelerated strong growth while significantly increasing profitability in Asia / Africa for his company," CNBC said in a communiqué announcing the award.

"This is largely attributable to Mr. Manwani's ability to align and motivate staff to a common agenda. He has led the way in retaining loyal customers, helping Unilever to remain market leaders in almost every key category. His innovative, visionary leadership has helped build a strong core of local management teams across the 43 operating companies under the Unilever umbrella."