Hamzah Sarwar, Reckitt

Hamzah has worked with RB for six years, joining the company with a background in marketing in a role working for the Vanish brand. By 2018, he was working as Global Consumer Insight Lead on a newly launched anti-pollution brand SiTi.

The Hague Summit in 2018 was a turning point for Hamzah. It coincided with the birth of his second child, and this concoction of inspiration was instrumental to Hamzah’s development as a leader. It was the moment he committed to create a better future for his family and for society at large. It also encouraged him to use business and his role more directly to achieve the SDGs.

RB gave Hamzah the space to develop two significant social impact projects. The first, Project Preemie, aimed to reduce the rate of premature births in Indonesia, a project close to his heart due to personal experience and his role working on infant nutrition. In partnership with Epiphany, Hamzah ran a social innovation sprint to identify and solve the root causes. In Jakarta, the team collaborated with local businesses and DSM, a fellow One Young World Partner, on a pilot programme.

Hamzah was also instrumental in establishing RB’s Purpose Council, an internal initiative set up by seven One Young World Ambassadors to institutionalise purpose and embed it in the company. One of their core programmes is the 12-month reverse mentorship scheme which has had participation from the CEO and COO, amongst other senior members in the business. The group has grown to include 100 people working across 22 countries, and is no longer exclusively populated by One Young World Ambassadors.

In May 2020, Hamzah proposed and was promoted to a brand-new position of Global Purpose Director of Dettol, with the mission to embed purpose at the heart of all decisions regarding brand strategy. The role aligns with RB’s Purpose and Fight to protect, heal, and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. Hamzah targets sanitation as an enabler to improve global health. Examples of his work include a collaboration with the local team in Saudi Arabia to drive behavioural change in the pilgrimage during the pandemic. Additionally, he has led a programme with the RB team in India improving hygiene and sanitation education in schools, which has reached over 13 million children.

Hamzah will continue to shape and expand this new role in RB. He is currently focused on developing a Global Impact Programme, launching high impact WASH initiatives designed to create behaviour change across the globe, and changing long-term habits in decision-making to include purpose as a fundamental consideration.