As people across the world struggle to afford to eat, spare a though for the bosses at Unilever – makers of popular brands such as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap. They reported a 22 per cent rise in operating profits during the first six months of this year, after significant hikes in their products’ prices.1 Outgoing chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly told reporters that the group’s lower overall profit margins showed they were ‘sharing the pain’ of inflation-hit consumers.2
Unilever wouldn’t be raking it in if it wasn’t for its colonial roots. The company began in 1885 Britain, with the Lever Brothers’ soap business, which relied on palm oil sourced from Africa and procured via its United African Company.3 It later expanded into foods, and merged with the Dutch company Margarine Unie to form Unilever, which these days boasts over 400 brands in over 190 countries.
