U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with P&G CEO Bob McDonald

P&G’s contributions to improving the lives of consumers in Nigeria and Pakistan were recognized today by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who presented P&G with the Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE).  

“When companies act responsibly, they can make vital contributions that matter to everyone. From spurring economic growth and promoting good governance in the rule of law, to providing humanitarian relief after natural disasters,” said Secretary Clinton at the U.S. State Department ceremony that was attended by Congressional staff, the Diplomatic Corps, and leaders from the business, NGO, and academic communities.  “P&G stepped up when it mattered most, just as they have stepped up every single day in every single place. They have saved lives.”

P&G is the first company to win for two programs in the same year. The company was nominated by two embassies, Nigeria and Pakistan, for good corporate citizenship, responsible environmental protection and practices, contributions to the overall growth and development of the local economies and innovation.

“P&G’s Purpose as a Company is to touch and improve lives, now and for generations to come,” said P&G Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald. “Our Purpose guides and inspires everything we do. For 175 years, our Purpose has focused us on finding ways to make people’s everyday lives a little better. We improve lives with our brands, with our business growth, with our employee programs and with our social responsibility efforts. When we improve lives, we grow our business and by growing our business we are able to improve even more lives. It is a virtuous cycle and entirely congruent with our growth strategy to improve more lives, in more parts of the world…more completely. Receiving the ACE Award is a great recognition of the efforts we are making in Nigeria and Pakistan and around the world, and it motivates us to continue our work to improve lives ways every day.”

Both Nigeria and Pakistan are among P&G’s high-potential emerging markets that are an important part of the company’s Purpose-inspired Growth strategy of touching and improving more consumers’ lives in more parts of the world more completely.  P&G aims to reach 5 billion consumers by 2015.  Both countries have growing economies with rising middle class consumer populations. P&G has a strong portfolio of brands including Pampers, Always, Safeguard and others, many of which have become leading household names in their categories.

Supporting Children in Need

Nigeria has been supporting children in need through P&G Live, Learn and Thrive. This includes branded initiatives such as the Always hygiene and puberty education program that reaches 700,000 girls every year, the Pampers hospital program and mobile clinics that touch the lives of 1.5 million mothers and babies annually and the Pampers-UNICEF program that has provided 7.5 million tetanus vaccines to mothers and their babies. Corporate initiatives from the Employee Volunteer Program to Safe Water for Nigerian Children and Building Futures enable P&G people to give back to the communities where they live and work. 

Touching and Improving the Lives of More than 21 Million Pakistanis

In Pakistan, P&G has touched and improved the lives of over 21 million people over the past 20 years through Live, Learn and Thrive initiatives. Safeguard sponsors one of the single largest health and hygiene education program in the country. Always and Pamper are active as well in providing school education and mobile clinics respectively.

Pakistan was also recognized for its support of education and disaster relief during the floods of 2010. P&G provided immediate relief by making critical items available including:

• Over 350 million liters of clean drinking water – enough for 1.9 million people over three months – through Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program;
• Ariel reapplied the Tide Loads of Hope campaign and set up laundry stations at flood relief camps across the country; and
• Pampers conducted the Spread-a-Smile program providing health checks and medicines to over 90,000 babies and mothers.

About the ACE Award

The ACE Award was established by the U.S. State Department in 1999 to recognize the important role U.S. businesses play abroad as good corporate citizens. U.S. companies are nominated by Chiefs of Mission worldwide and the winners are chosen by the Selection Committee chaired by the Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs. Former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright presented the ACE award during their tenure. ACE winners include both multinational and small-to-medium size enterprises. Past multinational winners include:  Cisco Systems, Israel, 2010; Trilogy International Partners, Haiti, 2009; Cargill, China, 2008; GE, Indonesia, 2007; and General Motors, Colombia, 2006.

Replay of the 13th Annual Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE)