Designing an AI hub for Unilever International’s 100+ markets
Unilever International set out to build an AI centre of excellence. The design work showed a standalone team would sit too far from the P&L, so it became a hub run by the business, with about half its cost co-funded by government.
Markets served by the business unit
Of programme cost co-funded by a government agency
Damien Kopp's AI strategy and transformation advisory.
About the client
Unilever International is a Unilever business unit headquartered in Singapore. It serves more than 100 markets.
The challenge
Unilever International wanted AI to carry a large share of its growth plan. The first idea was the standard one: build an AI centre of excellence, a central team that develops AI for the rest of the business.
Before building it, the business needed an operating model for that team, a short list of where AI would pay off first, and a way to fund it.
The solution
Damien Kopp advised the program as AI centre of excellence advisor, through his firm RebootUp.
The design work showed that a standalone centre of excellence would sit too far from the P&L, so the mandate changed. The team became a Market Scaler Hub, a business initiative powered by new AI capabilities and run through a new operating model. Damien’s work covered:
- The hub’s operating model, including structure, roles, decision rights, and governance.
- How AI capabilities serve the market-scaling process, inside the business rather than in a separate technical unit.
- A prioritized portfolio of AI capabilities.
- The funding model, including a co-funding partnership with a government agency.
Impact
About half the cost co-funded
A co-funding partnership with a government agency offsets about 50% of the programme’s cost.
Marketing first
The first AI use cases focus on marketing, with team setup and hiring underway.
Because the hub belongs to the business, each AI capability it builds answers to a market’s results rather than a technical roadmap.
