L’Oreal celebrates its 100th birthday, along with the 67,500 employees in 65 countries where the group is present. The small, single brand company, started by a visionary chemist, Eugene Schueller, in Paris, France in 1909, has grown to become a leading beauty company.

Commenting on this important milestone for the group, L’Oreal CEO Jean-Paul Agon said: “Our centenary is an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our vision and our values: a robust scientific approach, a constant quest for innovation; a taste for real challenge; respect for diversity. And of a deep rooted belief in the valuable role that beauty plays in society.”

In conjunction with the celebration of its centenary, L’Oreal announced the rollout of 100 citizen projects designed to assist and support the most vulnerable communities on a local level through concrete initiatives. Each project, initiated and supported by the group’s subsidiaries around the world, reflects the company’s long-term approach to Corporate Social Responsibility.

The 100 projects are based on the three central axes of the group’s corporate philanthropy activities: education, encouraging self-esteem, and the promotion of scientific research.