Naila Ismail Mir is Corporate Affairs Manager – Sustainability & Communications at Unilever Pakistan Ltd. & her motto towards both her personal & professional life is “To make a difference”. She lives by the rule of helping others before herself & this has led to her firm commitment to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sector of the business world. 

A British born Pakistani; Naila moved to Pakistan after her GCSE & continued with her studies here. She has done her BBA & MBA from National College of Business Administration & Economics. On the professional front she has interned with Tetra Pack Lahore, & then worked with Dupont Pakistan Operations Pvt Ltd where she worked in Marketing & Sales for NOMEX & Kevlar. From here she went to Unilever Factory in Rahim Yar Khan after her marriage where she worked for three years. There her last assignment was as the Development Manager for Unilever sponsored Government School. In 2005 Naila joined the Head Office based in Karachi as an Assistant Manager Corporate Affairs.

 

Naila’s focus is not solely on environmental issues, she is of the opinion that we need to focus of the sustainability of our communities & our society in a more holistic manner. This approach is what is going to help a much needed sustainable growth. Her approach started to see her practical contribution when she got involved with the Unilever sponsored Government School around six & a half years back. This project is also the stepping stone for her entrance into the CSR sector, which she found more fulfilling than Marketing.

Being a Business graduate with a Marketing specialization myself & confronting at times the complex issue of maintaining a balance between marketing & CSR, I couldn’t help but ask her whether the two were compatible. Unlike, the most popular responses that range from a straight ‘No’ to ‘Depends’ & ‘Can be’, I got an assuring ‘definitely’ for a change. She supports her response with quite convincing logic of a need for a social economic integration. To put it in simpler words; in order for business to prosper, they need a strong community. In this series the business can & does work in creating awareness & helping in building the needed strong community through the CSR programs. As a result, when people of the community are better off economically & have a much better awareness level they will be purchasing more anyways; making this a win-win situation.