About Sherine Abdel Moneim, Executive Board Member Unilever North Africa, Levant & Iraq, and Head of Nutrition, Home care, Ice cream and market research for North Africa, Levant & Iraq

Sherine is a Marketing executive with 20+ years of experience. She started her career in the field of sales, then joined Unilever as marketing management trainee, where she spent 20 years identifying successful market opportunities by digging deep into consumer needs and expanding the business into new geographies & portfolios.

 Her experience spans across multiple industries including Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Nutrition, Ice-cream, and home Care. She held both local and regional roles within Egypt, North Africa, Middle East, Turkey, and Russia. In her current role she is leading for the region the entire foods transformation journey, Ice cream white space expansion and home care profitable growth. 

Sherine believes that only by unleashing the untapped potential and power of people can a business have sustainable growth. 

Her leadership purpose is to create tangible transformative impact on the business, its people, and its customers. 

Throughout her career she has built and mentored countless talent from diverse backgrounds into various careers and leadership positions. Her unique eye for talent and commitment to lifting and empowering women makes her a passionate advocate for the women who work with her.

Sherine is a passionate foodie, a travel enthusiast, and a strong cheerer for the Egyptian national soccer team.

About her thoughts for the industry

The road to the hearts of consumers is through the elimination of bias. 

We are more driven than ever to win the love of our consumers. However, the world is evolving at an unprecedented rate and so are our targeted audiences. Traditional marketing strategies that have a proven success rate in the past are not as effective today especially when targeting Gen Z. Marketeers today must unlearn any biases to leave room for curiosity. They must allow themselves to fall in love with the consumer problem without any preconceived assumptions or jumping into solution so they can spot the right opportunities that build relevance. There is no place for bias in advertising anymore, GenZ have evolved away from traditional narratives, and they are on the hunt for brands and companies that challenge conventional thinking, have the courage to address social tensions and encourage their unique sense of expression. 

Advertising is a powerful tool– Purpose is key. 

Consumers are looking for a purpose that goes far beyond the traditional definition. They expect us to use the strong voice and reach of big brands to take stands and play an active role in the societies in which we operate. For example, Instead of an awareness campaign that portrays real beauty as natural beauty they expect brands to trigger a movement and to collaborate with policy makers and NGOs to challenge the narrative and launch policies that bans depicting a certain kind of beauty. Advertising is a powerful tool that when done right can not only touch the hearts of consumers, but it can foster real positive change. 

Internal Culture – Experimentation and Curiosity

It is very critical to cultivate the right environments for our future leaders to grow. As leaders we play a critical role in setting the right tone for our teams. It’s our role to create an environment that encourages experimentation and curiosity. We must give young leaders the space to express their views, challenge the status quo, support them as they experiment and let the experiment results rather than our own assumptions dictate our strategies. Bias can be conscious and unconscious, it’s easy to fall into a funnel of stereotypes that make us blind to market opportunities and to the real needs of our consumers.

Internal Culture – Equity and Inclusivity.  

“Equality is giving everyone a shoe and Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits” Dr. Naheed Dosani. People are different and so are their needs. Our marital status, mentalities, personalities, and backgrounds all dictate a different set of needs at different phases of our lives. When those needs aren’t met through policies and an environment that is built on flexibility and inclusivity; we miss out on opportunities. Any situation that does not level the playfield and give everyone an equal starting point sets the people and the business back.

When ideas stem from teams who are not tied down by bias and who operate in an environment that demands purposeful growth; everyone wins. Employees are living a purpose; consumers are inspired, and businesses are on the road to sustainable growth.