GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Firmenich, the world's largest privately-owned Perfume and Taste company, is proud to announce that it has been recognized for its exemplary leadership in Diversity & Inclusion with the Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Award 2019. Ethical Corporation's judges praised Firmenich's "well-rounded and scalable approach to diversity, firmly embedded in the company's culture," and described its impact as "impressive." The Group's CEO, Gilbert Ghostine was also "Highly Commended" in the Business Leader Award for his leadership in inclusive capitalism and innovation to make business work for people and the planet.   

"This recognition means a lot to us, as we have been walking the talk on diversity and inclusion for over four decades," said Gilbert Ghostine, CEO, Firmenich. "As the 7th company in the world to be globally certified as a gender equal employer, our commitment to diversity goes well beyond gender, to embrace people with different abilities and social inclusion. I personally make sure that we place disability inclusion on our leadership agenda, as an active member of the Valuable 500 coalition."

"I want Firmenich to be the best place to work in our industry," said Mieke Van de Capelle, Chief Human Resources Officer at Firmenich. "This award confirms that by making diversity and belonging a priority, we are delivering tangible results for our people. I dedicate this award to my team who work across our business every day to make a real difference in our people lives."

Firmenich is the seventh company worldwide, and the first in its industry, to be globally certified as a gender equal employer by EDGE, the world's leading certification standard in this area. As a critical pillar of its inclusive capitalism business model, Firmenich's progressive approach to diversity and belonging has raised female representation across the Group worldwide, now consisting of 42% of senior executives and 41% of its total workforce. Going well beyond gender equality, the Group's commitment to diversity spans a mix of backgrounds, race, age, experiences and people with different abilities.

The Group is also the first in its industry to be a member of the Valuable 500, a global movement of leading businesses putting disability on their leadership agenda. More than 40 years ago, Firmenich began working with people with different abilities in its headquarters in Switzerland. Since then, the company has expanded this work globally, touching hundreds of colleagues across its 100 markets. For instance, Firmenich counts over 100 blind and visually impaired professionals its sensory panels across three continents (Europe, Asia and the Americas). With their heightened sense of taste and smell and more acute memory, they sharpen the Group's expertise in sensory analysis. Most recently, the Group pledged to actively implement the United Nations' Standards of Conduct for Business to help tackle discrimination against LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex) people.

The Ethical Corporation 10th Responsible Business Awards showcased the companies leading the transformational change, innovation and technology required for a sustainable future. For more information on the awards, visit the website at https://events.ethicalcorp.com/awards/index.php.

About Firmenich

Firmenich is the world's largest privately-owned perfume and taste company, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895. Driven by its purpose to create positive emotions to enhance wellbeing, naturally, Firmenich has designed many of the world's best-known perfumes and tastes, bringing delight to over four billion consumers every day. Renowned for its world-class research and creativity, as well as its leadership in sustainability, each year, Firmenich invests 10% of its turnover in R&D to understand and share the best that nature has to offer responsibly. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 3.7 billion Swiss Francs at end June 2018. More information about Firmenich is available at www.firmenich.com.

About Ethical Corporation

Our mission is to help businesses around the globe do the right thing by their customers and the world. We believe this is not only how to guarantee a future for all, but makes good business sense. We serve CSR, compliance, risk and governance communities with topical and insightful business intelligence and meeting places. We provide business intelligence to more than 3,000 multinational companies every year. Our customers are also NGOs, think-tanks, academia, governments and consultancies. We publish the leading responsible business magazine, website, and research reports. Our conferences are widely recognised as the best in the field. We're a part of FC Business Intelligence Ltd, an independently owned company based in London. http://ethicalcorp.com/.

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