What it does: Health and wellness brands including hair nourishment, skincare, edible oil and male grooming products.
Best known for: Marico is among the largest multinational consumer product companies in India with a turnover of INR77.34 billion between 2018 and 2019.
Staff stats: More than 3,800 employees.
The good bits: The company treats individuals as ‘members’ instead of employees. A development program also lets them choose their preferred career path at Marico.
The not so good bits: You should expect to work long hours at the company, especially if you belong to the marketing and sales department. Salaries are also below-average for entry-level roles.
Harsh Mariwala founded Marico in 1990. The company’s brand presence spans 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Marico said that one out of two Bangladeshis and one out of three Indians use their household products.
The international business accounts for around 22 per cent of the company’s revenue. Marico achieved a milestone in 2015 when the company’s market capital exceeded INR250 billion. Turnover reached INR77.34 billion as of 2018-2019. The company has provided a 25 per cent CAGR return to shareholders since the 1996 listing in India.
Students can apply for internships primarily at campus job fairs. Marico scouts promising talent from select colleges and universities in Bangladesh and India.
The company usually recruits interns for the HR, marketing and supply chain departments every year. If you pass a written exam, the recruiter will contact you to schedule a final interview. You might speak with two company officials who would ask about your background, goals and reason for joining Marico Bangladesh. The hiring process for internships may take more than two weeks.
Internship applications at the company can take just one day, but some people may encounter up to two months of waiting time for the selection process to be complete. Students should expect a tour of Marico’s manufacturing facilities followed by a technical interview and common HR questions (e.g. academic background and skills).
Marico offers plenty of career development opportunities through several programs, which are unique to an applicant’s home country.
The Personal Development Planning (PDP) program allows employees to choose a career path in the company. Marico uses the evaluation system to measure individual performance and potential. The PDP system is different from the Performance Management Process, which lets you move up the corporate ladder by following a pre-determined course.
Job listings at the company may also be concentrated in Dhaka, where the company has its corporate office and manufacturing facility. Graduates with a degree in brand marketing, logistics and supply chain will likely find more opportunities to join Marico.
The Summer Trainee Programme (STP) gives an in-depth view of the company’s operations within just two months. You’ll have the chance to prove your competency through competitions held for choosing the best projects for every batch of STP participants. Marico offers a INR1 million cash prize to the winning team and other material awards like iPads.
Recent graduates can join the company through the Management Trainee Programme (MTP). The nine-month training stint involves a three-level review process every two months. MTPs gain a thorough understanding of Marico’s business functions by rotating in different roles within the training period.
The compensation structure at Marico depends on your location, but standard benefits include leave credits and performance incentives. Some employees in India can work from home. They also have health and life insurance coverage and pension plans.
An area sales executive earns between BDT 465,000 and BDT 508,000 per year. Interns and entry-level employees reportedly earn lower salaries. There’s little information about the company’s compensation structure. Some employees said that the company contributes to their 401K plans, provides annual leaves, lunch subsidies and overseas travel opportunities.
Interns earn an average of INR37,000 per month and a cash prize if they win the competition for the best project. The average annual salary of management trainees is around INR1.88 million.
Marico prefers to describe its employees as members. Everyone can dictate the pace of their careers, create unconventional solutions and be innovative. The company encourages employees to experiment and take ownership of their work. Marico’s horizontal company culture also allows prospective employees to learn continuously with a job rotation system.
A clean work environment and friendly colleagues seem to be the trade-off for an uneven work-life balance and long hours, especially if you work as areas sales executives and territory managers.
Great Place to Work Institute India has named Marico among the top 25 employers in the manufacturing industry. The company also joined the list of the top 50 companies in the first People Capital Index in 2018. You should be aware, however, that the fast-paced work environment at Marico can be overwhelming. Those who have little to no difficulty in working independently are likely to thrive in their roles.
The company’s biggest competitors in the local and international FMCG industry are Colgate-Palmolive, Dabur India, HUL, ITC Ltd, L’Oréal, Nirma Ltd and Procter and Gamble.
The Marico Innovation Foundation handles the company’s corporate social responsibility projects, primarily with a focus on agriculture. In Bangladesh, Marico partnered with the Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) to educate around 3,000 out-of-school children in Melandah, Jamalpur. The joint venture lasted for three years between 2014 and 2017 for the construction of 75 non-formal education centres in the area.
A job in the consumer goods sector requires willingness to work long hours because of the industry’s fast-paced activity. Key performance indicators and targets will be quite high, particularly if you work in brand marketing and sales at Marico. Graduates should be willing to accept below-average pay if they want to join the company. Prospective applicants can still benefit if they become a member of the organisation, primarily because of Marico’s strong brand value and learning opportunities in different market segments.