L’Oréal Middle East launches programme to support UAE’s Covid-19 relief efforts

Beauty company L’Oréal Middle East has launched a UAE solidarity programme to support stakeholders in battling the Covid-19 pandemic, it announced on June 16.

More than 84,000 essential and personal care products worth Dhs4m have been donated to NGOs and hospitals, while the group is also supporting its employees, suppliers and salon partners through a series of initiatives.

L’Oréal Middle East has implemented the following measures:

· Hospitals: La Roche-Posay has donated skincare packages to doctors and nurses at hospitals across the UAE. The frontline heroes wearing personal protection gear incessantly and regularly washing hands are increasingly prone to skin damage and irritation. The brand is supporting them with skincare products to help alleviate any physical or emotional distress.

· Impacted communities: L’Oréal Middle East has partnered with the Emirates Red Crescent Authority to support the Emirates Humanitarian Fund campaign to assist communities impacted by the negative fallout of the pandemic.

Over 58,000 essential care products were distributed to those in need, both in the community as well as those at the group’s key supplier partners.

· Salon partners and suppliers: L’Oréal Middle East has shortened payment terms for all suppliers exposed to the crisis with systematic immediate payment as well as freezing the payments of 740 independent salons with suspended operations.

The group is conducting training sessions on safety guidelines to ensure the safest conditions possible for the reopening of salons, as well as, supplying 15,000 protective masks and 4,000 bottles of purifying cleaning gel.

The group has also prioritised education to support hairdressers and expand their knowledge through the e-learning platform, ‘L’Oréal Access’.

· Solidarity with employees: L’Oréal Middle East has maintained full salaries and employment to date, maintaining all safety measures to ensure the health and well-being of its employees who have been remotely working since March.

The initiative complements L’Oréal group’s global solidarity programme that supported key frontline workers and donated EUR1m to its partner non-profit organisations to help impacted communities, in Europe.

Remi Chadapaux, L’Oréal Middle East managing director, said: “We want to express our appreciation to all front-line workers who, day after day, put others first to fight the pandemic. We are truly humbled and inspired by their commitment to the common good. We also want to show solidarity to all those individuals and businesses impacted as a result of Covid-19 and do what we can to help them through these challenging times. A crisis such as this requires everyone to work together in support of the wider relief efforts. That is why we have introduced our UAE Solidarity Programme: a set of actionable initiatives that will make a tangible difference to people’s lives.”

Mohammed Abdullah Al Zarooni, director of the Emirates Red Crescent in Dubai, commented: “We are pleased to collaborate with L’Oréal Middle East’s UAE solidarity programme and are grateful for the group’s ongoing support which helped impacted communities during the crisis. We also recognise the efforts made by our diverse community, both as institutions and individuals, and thank the volunteers who continuously extend unwavering support to our society.”