For its work on ensuring greater gender equality, women empowerment and education, L’Oréal Pakistan, has received the prestigious GEEIS-SDG trophy awarded by the Arborus Endowment Fund for platform, “LPRO Empowering The Salon Community” at the Europa Experience in Paris. The GEEIS label, launched in 2010 at the European Economic & Social Council in Brussels, assesses and recognizes companies with a proactive approach to gender equality, both at the parent company and within their subsidiaries, which have chosen to use effective management tools for their gender equality policy. This trophy focuses on gender equality as the driving force behind the accomplishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; specifically, the SDG5, which concerns equality between women and men. To this end, L’Oréal Pakistan has been awarded for its innovative empowerment project carried out through L’Oréal Pakistan’s Professionnel Academy which has played a dynamic role in the evolution of the local salon industry across the last 13 years. Through partnerships with salons using L’Oréal Professionnel products, salon staff benefit from professional training offered by L’Oréal Professionnel hair experts. This program focuses particularly on training and upskilling women who have expressed a desire to become hairstylists but did not have the means to access such an education on their own. By offering access to education and training, L’Oréal Professionnel Pakistan’s Academy managed to empower 7,500 women to become financially independent, capable of supporting themselves and their families. “L’Oréal Pakistan’s Professional Products Division Academy is a remarkable initiative which embeds inclusion in the expertise which has been at the very heart of our business since the beginning: hairdressing. The empowerment of women through salon training is part of how we create the beauty that moves the world.” said Margaret Johnston-Clarke, Chief Global DE&I Officer, L’Oréal Groupe on the award. Commenting on the achievement, Qawi Naseer, Country Managing Director L’Oréal Pakistan, said, “L’Oréal Pakistan is delighted to have our work on community and empowerment recognized globally. It is an important accolade that reflects our commitment to provide equal opportunities across our organization and beyond. Through the PPD Academy we aim to continue to motivate women to pursue their dreams and become an integral part of the nation’s economy.” At the ceremony in Paris, Cristina Lunghi, General Delegate of Arbrorus, said, “I am very happy to see that these trophies launched in 2019 at the United Nations headquarters in New York continue to enthuse the companies holding the GEEIS label in order to pave the way towards a new project of society that makes equality between women and men the lever for the solution of all the crucial issues that need to be addressed urgently and that are taken up by the UN’s SDGs.” GEEIS is a European and international label for gender equality and inclusion. The GEEIS-SDG trophy aims to raise awareness among private and public decision-makers and society in general of the importance of making gender equality the central pillar of any systemic and strategic approach to achieving the sustainable development goals.