Wednesday Nov 05, 2025
Wednesday Nov 05, 2025
Monday, 15 September 2025 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The world’s largest consumer packaged goods companies have hit an inflection point. Multiple leadership changes and sweeping job cuts have been announced over the last 18 months. Analysts point to slow sales growth and sluggish profits as the catalyst for this upheaval.
The churn at the top of these multinationals is not just a cyclical correction. Their long-successful playbook is under threat. For much of the last century, multinational corporations (MNCs) built consumer aspirations through the development and global roll-out of ‘Power Brands’ – household names that leveraged scale to dominate markets.
In emerging economies, consumers gravitated towards these brands because they carried an aura of prestige and promised access to a more global lifestyle. In these markets, MNCs continued to reinforce colonial era insecurities to sell everything from laundry detergent to fairness creams.
Today, that paradigm is shifting. A Bain & Company study found that independently owned brands accounted for 39% of growth in 2024 in categories like food and personal care, up from just 17% the year before. Whether it is a craft condiment outpacing legacy ketchup brands, a home-grown snack brand using local flavours, or a beauty startup launching products suited for tropical weather, the pattern is clear: local brands are setting the pace.
For today’s connected consumer, particularly in emerging markets, the meaning of aspiration is being redefined. There is an interest in seeking out brands that genuinely serve their needs, celebrate local culture and care for their communities. In contrast, the faceless, one-size-fits-all global brand is becoming increasingly out of touch. Moreover, the playing field has levelled. Home-grown companies can now access global supply chains, technologies, and digital channels at a fraction of what it cost a decade ago. This makes them well positioned to enter markets with the same (or better) quality standards that was historically associated with MNCs.
In short, the stage is set for homegrown brands to outperform MNCs, not by replicating their strategies, but by playing a totally different game all together. The game is built on leading the charge by building brands that create an eco-system where customers, culture and community can all benefit.
(The writer is the Managing Director of the Consumer Cluster of Hemas Holdings PLC. She oversees the expansion of the company’s beauty and personal care and learning portfolio across Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. A former Head of Legal Research at Verité Research, Sabrina has published widely on public policy. She is an Attorney-at-Law with a First Class LLB from the University of Durham, an LLM from Harvard Law School, and is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School.)
