Unilever Presents Sustainability Challenge To Entrepreneurs At The White House

Unilever was asked to present at the first-ever “White House Demo Day” in August 2015. The event was comprised of more than 80 start-up founders and entrepreneurs from across the nation, who were asked to ‘demo’ stories about their individual innovation journeys.

As part of the initiative, The Department of Commerce also invited multi-national corporations, including Unilever, to present a technical innovation challenge to attendees.

In the spirit of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever pitched “Sustainable Bathing”—which invited attendees to help Unilever tackle the challenge of reducing the amount of water and/or heat needed for bathing and showering.  

Gail Martino, Senior Open Innovation Manager in Trumbull, CT, presented on behalf of Unilever US.

“I was honored to have the opportunity to represent Unilever at the White House’s first ever Demo Day,” said Gail. “This is a huge opportunity, as two billion people around the world are facing shortages of regular, clean water. Unclean water creates unhygienic conditions where disease can spread quickly. Well-publicized droughts in California and Sao Paolo show just how quickly water crises can become critical.”

The “Sustainable Bathing” challenge is also live on SwitchPitch, who worked with the Department of Commerce event.  

Over the next few months Unilever will review responses to the pitch and decide on next steps to tackle the sustainable bathing challenge.