(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA))
São Paulo – With entrepreneurship in her DNA, Lebanese descendant Soraya El Khatib (pictured above) began her business career incredibly early, more precisely at the age of five. As a child, she mixed her mother's perfumes to create fragrances, painted t-shirts, made sachets, developed plays, and sold tickets to support herself.
Years later, after obtaining an undergraduate degree in Pharmacy, El Khatib studied for a master's and doctorate at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo. And, in 2021, heading her company S Cosméticos do Bem , she received the Entrepreneur of the Year award from UNICAMP. The brand develops dermo-cosmetics and is considered a daughter company and graduated from UNICAMP, as it went through the incubation process in UNICAMP's Technology-Based Companies Incubator (INCAMP).
Now, El Khatib is preparing for new goals, to conquer the B2B market with its products, expand sales in Brazil, and reach the foreign public.
The pharmacist spoke with pride about being the first woman and former UNICAMP student to win the Entrepreneur of the Year award to ANBA. A talent inherited from her grandfather, who arrived in Brazil in 1946 from Lebanon. El Khatib had always wanted to undertake but in a sustainable, effective, and safe way. Based on this tripod, she built the mission of S Cosméticos do Bem.
In 2020, after ten years in the company, research, and arduous work, she launched the first product, the Rejuvenating Serum. The entrepreneur explained the Serum acts on the skin, accelerating cell regeneration and reducing aging signs. In addition, it has a probiotic action on the skin.“Our acceptance rate reached 92%. Something unprecedented in this area,” she said.
For the market, the company is still developing five more products: An anti-COVID nasal gel, whose process was halted due to lack of resources, two healing products — one for pets, to fight atopic dermatitis, another for humans — and a natural repellent. All are made using Artemisia annua, an Asian plant widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, which has over 3,500 bioactives with therapeutic properties.
In the businesswoman's opinion, the market yearns for sustainable and daring proposals. El Khatib advises those who want to innovate to build a strong business plan to avoid deviating from their goals.“Entrepreneurship is difficult in Brazil due to the lack of incentives, and it takes focus, a lot of studies, and knowledge,” she pointed out.
A bit of history
The entrepreneur's resilience and persistence also come from her dedication to sports. El Khatib was a Brazilian athlete and runner-up in 100 metres track athletics. But it was from her grandfather the main lessons came.“My grandfather was a source of inspiration, and we have a gift for business in our genes, and it inspired me to start my work,” she revealed.
Her grandfather, she said, upon arriving in Brazil bought a farm for growing coffee in the countryside of the state of Paraná and a grocery store. The grandfather's priority, says El Khatib, was to support the family. When the children needed to go to a university and look for work opportunities, the patriarch did not hesitate and moved to Campinas, in the state of São Paulo.
There, El Khatib even thought about studying Medicine, but her dedication and commitment in the Pharmacy area made it possible to open other paths.“Pharmacy is a course with several fields of work such as inspection, legislation, and laboratory,” she emphasized. After her undergraduate course came the master's and doctorate, and she taught at universities for over 20 years.
But the Lebanese descendant had always wanted to undertake and saw the opportunity to make her dream come true with the support of the UNICAMP ecosystem. In 2011, S Cosméticos do Bem was founded. Four years later, in 2015, it became a technology-based company and was incubated within the university environment until 2020.
The startup follows the entire process, from planting the raw materials to the waste produced. This approach is called“farm to face.” In addition to the products generating only 2% of carbon, they still can be recycled, as the waste can be used as charcoal for industry or in the production of ecological bricks.
* Special report by Lisiane Mossmann for ANBA
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
The post Soraya El Khatib's Lebanese entrepreneurial roots appeared first on Agência de Notícias Brasil-Árabe .
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