Empowering women by keeping things fresh

“Before we go, I just want to show you this,” said Ms Asha Gupta, the Asia-Pacific group president of Tupperware Brands, as we were about to get up and leave after lunch at The St Regis Singapore’s LaBrezza restaurant.

She pulled a bright red plastic steamer out of its carrier bag and proceeded to highlight — in the middle of the Italian restaurant — its key features, such as how the grooves on the side drain water away from the food so the food does not become soggy, as well as how it was modelled after a traditional bamboo steamer and designed to be used in a wok.

It was a throwback to her early years at Tupperware in India where, as part of efforts to build a sales force from scratch, she threw Tupperware parties — the engine that still drives the company’s sales — which conjure up images of apron-clad women proudly demonstrating how they keep food fresh, surrounded by stacks of airtight containers with brightly-coloured lids.

In person, Ms Gupta, who is the first woman to lead Tupperware’s Asia-Pacific division, was sharply dressed in a tailored grey dress and seemed a world away from such retro images of domestic bliss. But holding the iconic Tupperware parties was key to building the largely-female sales force from the grassroots, so that the company could gain a foothold in a country with a booming middle class that was ready to spend.

“For me, it was about understanding how we could go out and convince women that they can do this business easily. About 25 per cent of Indian women work, so there’s a good 75 per cent who don’t ... it’s about getting started with the family or it’s a perception of the home and what you are allowed to do, so we had to counter that,” said the Chennai-born Ms Gupta, 42, who is moving to Singapore from India as part of her appointment to her current position, which took effect this year.

SALES PITCH FOR A DIFFERENT GENERATION

Tupperware — whose home party sales concept in the 1950s propelled it from a languishing business to the US$2.7 billion (S$3.38 billion) company it is today — has long marketed itself as a business that empowers women by offering them a means of financial independence in an era where a woman’s place was in the home. Ms Gupta used the same approach when she set out in 1997 to convince women in India to join the company’s sales force.

“We had to convince people, ‘You can do this, you can do it at your convenience, you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t have a boss who tells you when to show up to work,’” she said. “(For a woman), she works in an environment of women, it’s non-threatening ... and when she becomes successful, she’s changing the life of her family ... (and then) her family starts to encourage other women in the family and their neighbours and friends to join in.”

Demonstrating the fine points of plastic was not Ms Gupta’s first brush with sales — she got her start when she joined British textile conglomerate Coats Viyella as a management trainee after graduation. “The hardest part about that job was when they posted me to a very small town in India, and it was the peak of summer and I had to go sell thread at the doorstep of every tailor. You literally pick up the bag and go out and sell, sell, sell,” said Ms Gupta. “It was the best training I ever got because it really brought you up to speed on the realities of the world around you, and you empathise with people who would be working with you, to know how they have to schlep around a box of thread and do their job.”

Tupperware has a direct sales force of 2.9 million around the world. Last year, the Asia-Pacific region was Tupperware’s biggest market, bringing in 31 per cent of the company’s sales, followed by Europe, Africa and the Middle East at 29 per cent. Sixty-five per cent of the company’s business comes from what it calls emerging markets. Indonesia led the way with 33 per cent growth and China saw 20 per cent.

The company is faring less well in developed markets, where its sales are not only declining but, in some instances, the size of its sales force as well, as younger women, now less restricted where job options are concerned, pursue other aspirations.

The challenge, said Ms Gupta, is getting the younger generation to recognise what Tupperware can offer them. “Their aspiration is, ‘I’ve got a degree, but I don’t want to do a conventional job. I want to do something that is different, I want career advancement that is very quick.’ They want things fast, they want recognition,” she said. “I feel we have everything to offer that generation, because we can offer careers with incomes that are significant, with flexibility, and really having fun, and we have programmes that allow you to learn and develop yourself.”

The company is trying to build that “bridge” and has been reaching out to the younger generation while they are still in school. Ms Gupta stressed, however, that the future of the firm was not only about appealing to this demographic.

“People are in it for different reasons. People who are retired come and work for Tupperware, and they’re like, ‘I was just getting bored, I want a second ending, I’m having more fun now, I work on my terms, I like the social energy,’” she said. “(Working at Tupperware) means different things within different age groups, markets, and we just have to work within each group to mine this.”

And certain trends cut across markets. “From a business standpoint, I find these unifying factors between the developed and the developing world,” said Ms Gupta. “People have the same (issues) — paying off their credit card bills, better education for kids — these are the same fights, but the scale is different. So, what we represent for women is having empowerment, and you can pick and choose what is best for you.”

WOMEN CAN EXCEL IN THE WORKPLACE

Asked whether it was odd that a business that prides itself on empowering women took so long to appoint its first woman president for the Asia-Pacific market, Ms Gupta was quick to point out that Tupperware has a sizeable number of women in senior management. She was among them, as managing director of Tupperware India, before she was promoted to her current role.

“I’m pretty proud to say that our company has many female managing directors, so it was just a matter of time before I became a group president, for instance, and if you look around, most companies don’t have this population of women, and Tupperware has quite a few,” she said. “Our biggest market in the world, Indonesia, is run by a woman (Ms Nining W Pernama).”

Key to promoting women leadership is to have “front-runners” to show that it is possible. Married with a four-year-old son, Ms Gupta said marriage and children were often seen as “constraints” and it was important to have networks for women to tap. “It’s not just important to have role models, it is also important to have networks where you can swap and share concerns and talk about the ways to get things done,” she said.

Ms Gupta recalled how she was told by an audit form that women made up 60 per cent of staff recruited at entry level, but “they could count on one hand” how many were made a partner. “The lower middle (level) is where you see the biggest attrition. And when you speak to women who are leaving, it’s, again, work hours, travel, starting a family,” she said. “That is where I think you can be more resilient and have more support — and support is not just within companies, you need support within families too.”

She counts herself lucky to have a support from “all quarters” — husband, parents and in-laws. Her husband, who works at Coca Cola, will leave his high-powered job to accompany her in Singapore. “He said, ‘Well, I could just think of this as a signal that I could do something different,’” said Ms Gupta, adding that she would do the same for him if it “made sense, collectively” — as she did when she left Tupperware for a year and moved to Saudi Arabia, where her husband had previously been posted.

Her parents and grandmother were also “cheerleaders”. “Typically, Indian girls marry young, but they just said, ‘Do what you have to.’ That was fantastic ... allowing me to study outside our city, allowing me to go work outside the city,” she said. “Because they gave me that freedom to go explore and do stuff, I’ve been pretty ambitious. I’ve always wanted to do better for myself. I was never satisfied.”