“The Lisbon MBA Talks with CEO” – António Casanova, CEO of Unilever FIMA and Gallo Worldwide

From left to right: Maria José Amich (Executive Director at the Lisbon MBA Católica | Nova), António Casanova (CEO of the joint-ventures Unilever FIMA and Gallo Worldwide) and Filipe Santos (Dean of Católica-Lisbon)
António Casanova is currently CEO of the joint-ventures Unilever FIMA and Gallo Worldwide. He chairs the Supervisory Board of Nova SBE Alumni Association and is a Governor of St. Julian’s School in Carcavelos. He is also a member of the General and Advisory Board of Observador (the online newspaper), Board Member of Alfredo de Sousa Foundation (Nova SBE) and President of Make a Wish Foundation Portugal.
His previous career includes CEO of Optimus from 2000 to 2005, Executive Board Member of Sonaecom and of Sonae Sierra, Consultant at McKinsey and Non-Executive Board Member of Público and Eurocash (Poland). He was President of Unilever Spain, position he held simultaneously with his role in Portugal, from 2016 to 2019. He was also the President of APAN (Associação Portuguesa de Anunciantes) from 2014 to 2020, of CAEM (Comissão de Análise de Estudos de Meios) from 2013 to 2015.
António is a graduate of the London School of Economics, has an MBA from Nova SBE and an Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School.
António Casanova started his presentation sharing how rewarding it is to be at the helm of a company that understands the importance of purpose, placing it at the center of the strategy and everything the company does. Brands, people and the company need to have a defined and shared purpose that goes beyond business, a purpose that impacts communities, societies and the world as a whole, in a positive and lasting way. “Companies have a clear role in contributing to improve the world, making it a better place for all, and ultimately, brands that do not have a clear purpose, should be abandoned and removed from Unilever’s portfolio”, Antonio shared.
Unilever is one of the biggest consumer companies in the world, and it has the broadest reach as it is present in more countries and with more products than any other consumer company. Across all its household brands, spanning Home Care, Beauty and Personal Care, Foods and Refreshment, the company is powered by its 149,000 employees, with 93% of managers being local and a gender balance in management of 50%. António explained that ‘Unilever believes that every time its brands are used the world should be a better place because with its size and scale Unilever can be a force for good by helping people improve their health and hygiene, by producing non-hazardous waste to landfill across factories, by sourcing agricultural raw materials sustainably and by using reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging, among other actions.’
António added that this logic is captured in Unilever’s vision ‘to be the global leader in sustainable business which will be demonstrated by how its purpose-led, future-fit business model drives superior performance, consistently delivering financial results. That leads us to Unilever’s purpose which is to make sustainable living commonplace: what you do every day can be sustainable, you can continue to do things without impacting the world and every time you use a product you more than compensate the ecological footprint of that product. Since brands are the way the company interacts with society, then brands also need to have a purpose. And since a company is made of its people, then Unilever’s employees must have a personal purpose which drives their own growth.’ Unilever believes that companies with purpose last, brands with purpose grow and people with purpose thrive.
To wrap up, António highlighted how Unilever works with a multi-stakeholder model that values people, consumers, customers, suppliers, the planet, and shareholders to bring social value to society in addition to shareholder value.
“The Lisbon MBA Talks with CEOs” is an initiative led by the Career Management Center of the Lisbon MBA Católica | Nova where students are offered the opportunity to interact and be inspired by C-Level executives who candidly share their experience and leadership journey.