With the success of International Women’s Day, International Confectionery sits down Mars Wrigley’s Vice President of R&D Nadia Attar-Bashi to discuss her achievements in this huge industry.
Where was the Mars Wrigley brand born?
Mars has been proudly family owned for more than 100 years, creating the world’s favourite sweet treats and so much more since then. We still live by this family-run ethos, allowing us to invest in the legacy of household brands to ensure the long-term future of our business, people, and planet.
International Women’s Day is around the corner – why is it important that we celebrate this day?
It is a day for everyone (women and men) to come together to celebrate the amazing contribution of women throughout history and how critical they are to create a better future for us all. It’s an opportunity to recognise the incredible women that have inspired us and to show girls and young women the possibilities for the future.
But it’s also an opportunity for us to pause, and while we celebrate our progress, recognise that today gender inequality and discrimination against women continues to persist throughout society at many levels. This includes women at all intersections of society, whether it be race, religion, ability or sexual orientation.
Awareness of, and action against this discrimination by individuals, societies, businesses and governments continue to be vital for achieving gender equality. It is only by empowering women that we can drive real change, and International Women’s Day serves as an important reminder to us all.
You yourself have a proud history within Mars Wrigley for almost 18 years, can you tell me more about the company’s stance on equality?
I’m proud to be part of Mars Wrigley for over 18 years, and the length of my career here is testament to the progressive approach of our business to drive diversity and inclusion, and to nurture women’s career paths.
Women are at the heart of Mars Wrigley’s success. They work in our offices, labs, factories, supply chains and they also make up more than half of our consumer base. That’s why, amongst other initiatives, we are committed to reaching 100% gender balanced leadership teams, ensuring equal pay across our global business, and are a signatory of the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles.
What new developments are occurring to promote more women into STEM fields like R&D?
It’s a privilege for me to lead a team of inspiring women at Mars Wrigley Europe who are so passionate about R&D. But there’s work still to do, with only 24% of women making up the UK STEM workforce, and an average of 43% of women leaving full-time work in STEM roles after maternity leave.
I believe that as an industry there is more, we can do to encourage women in STEM careers, and to continue nurturing STEM talent so that women are retained within the workforce and are supported into leadership positions.
I’m proud of the work we’re doing at Mars Wrigley to nurture female talent through STEM education and career development at all levels of our organisation – as shown by the fact that over 60% of our R&D team and over 70% of our global Mars Wrigley R&D leadership team is comprised of women. I’m passionate about bridging the gap between educational and organisational practices and how we can support and retain women across the workforce. One way of attracting more women into STEM is by giving them real life examples of seeing women working in STEM careers.
As Head of R&D, what are you responsible for and how does Mars Wrigley ensure innovation in manufacturing, processing and packaging?
As Head of R&D at Mars Wrigley, I am responsible for leading our strategic direction and delivery across areas of quality & food safety, innovation and efficiency by driving a highly capable and diverse team to deliver the best product experience to our consumers and customers.
Innovation is a cornerstone of how we develop and deliver our product and packaging but also how we develop technologies and processes to ensure the best for our consumers, customers, and our planet.
What is the secret behind Mars’ success and how vital is research in ensuring the smooth running of the company?
Our success is driven by our outstanding Associates. Our business invests a great deal of time and resource into ensuring that our Associates are provided with tools and support to develop and forge their own career paths whilst driving the industry forward. For example, we have programmes such as Women Leading Purposefully, in collaboration with Harvard University, that aim at developing our leaders that can champion our diversity and inclusion purpose.
Mars Wrigley R&D is pivotal to delivering on our commitment to quality, scientific leadership, and innovation. I am proud to work alongside outstanding women in R&D and across our business – it is these women that I am celebrating today on International Women’s Day.
How does Mars ensure that their ingredients are responsibly sourced and how is Mars becoming more sustainable?
Sustainability is top of the agenda at Mars Wrigley. With the impacts of climate change ever increasing, we know how important it is as a business to take the lead in tackling environmental and societal issues head on. In 2017, we launched our Sustainable in a Generation Plan, a framework on how Mars Wrigley ensure a healthy planet and inclusive society, and we continue to track our progress against these goals.
From an ingredient’s perspective, we’re reviewing our supply chains holistically. This includes focusing on tackling deforestation, improving ingredient traceability, and empowering farmers to find more sustainable methods for our critical raw materials, including cocoa, peanuts, dairy and mint. As we continue to take bold actions to meet the biggest sustainability challenges, we are committed to learning from the process in order to enact real, sustainable change for all.
Read more of the latest industry news and developments here: March 2022 Single Issue form – International Confectionery Magazine (in-confectionery.com)
Media contact
Roshini Bains,
Editor, International Confectionery
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922
Email: editor@in-confectionery.com
