Establishing a strong foothold in North America is a key part of our strategy at Godrej Consumer Products, both in terms of business size today, as well as for the future. We are excited about the tremendous potential that North America offers; it has one of the fastest growing consumer markets in the world, with a young population. This provides significant opportunities both for driving penetration and increasing consumption across our core categories.

One of the largest global players in the exciting hair care market for Black women, we are also the only company to serve both hair extensions and hair care. We have bold ambitions of building on this to create a leading beauty, home and personal care player across North America and Africa.

The 2016 acquisition of Strength of Nature in the USA, a leading player in multicultural hair care, catapulted us to become one of the largest players globally, serving the needs of people with textured hair. Its compelling portfolio of leading hair care brands and innovative products also complements our leadership position in hair extensions and hair colour in Africa.

We entered a partnership with Darling Group Holdings, a leading pan-African hair care company, and acquired a 51% stake in the business. Darling is a market leader in hair extensions, a category which it has pioneered in the sub-continent. Over the next few years, we increased our stake in this business.

To further consolidate our leadership position in South Africa, we acquired Frika, a leading premium hair extensions brand, in 2015. In 2018, our innovation efforts lead to the launch of African Pride Moisture Miracle and Just for Me Curl Peace in celebration of naturally curly and coily textured hair. We have also renovated and reimagined our core legacy brands Dr. Miracle’s, African Pride Olive Miracle and Afro Sheen.

Our Corporate Centre of Excellence for our North America business cluster is based out of Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, with synergies from across different countries. We believe that brands and businesses should be local, and the leadership should reflect the brands that they are servicing. So, we are investing in local manufacturing set ups. Building strong local talent, with a particular focus on fostering diversity and inclusion, is a key priority for us. We are proud that our workforce is 70% Black Americans and 60% women. We continue to innovate and disrupt with new products, build consumer engagement and advocacy, and establish footholds beyond hair.