Apotheca Beauty: Innovative Skincare & Make-Up Solutions

Your company is known for bringing niche beauty brands to the region. Other than being specialized in using natural ingredients, what do all your brands have in common?
Not all of the companies we work with use all-natural or organic ingredients, but they all do use quality ingredients and are luxury, high-end brands. Another commonality with all the brands is that they are also all niche – they are specialized in a particular category. We always work with companies that rank the best amongst their competitors.

What can customers find in the curated online shop and boutique in Kuwait’s Salhiya Complex, other than high-end make-up and skin care products?
They can find a range of beauty products – aside from make-up and skincare, we sell hair-care, men’s skincare, baby skincare and are soon carrying beauty tools as well. We try to always bring interesting new beauty brands, regardless of their category, to our customers.

Are you planning to open boutiques throughout the GCC as well?
We have lots of surprises for the region, but for now we are focused on expanding our Kuwait boutique as well as launching our online web shop within the first few months of 2017.

What are the most important properties you look at when searching for new products that meet Middle Easterners’ needs ?
We look at a variety of criteria, but foremost, we make sure we are consumers and fans of the products themselves. Then, we dig deeper into the formulas and ingredients of the products, as well as the brand philosophy. We try to target brands that are interesting and unique. Finally, we look at how the brand preforms in its own market and if its relatable to our customers in the Middle East.

So what do you feel Middle Eastern customers are really searching for in beauty products?
The Middle Eastern customer search for, often, what all beauty customers are looking for: quality, value and variety. We try to make sure we meet this demand by bringing really special, high-end niche brands that aren’t present in the market.

You all used to work in finance, so how did you come up with an idea within the realm of beauty?
In 2012 a contact approached us in Los Angeles about distribution in the Middle East – we took the opportunity to then study the market, and see if it was viable. At that time we realized there was a gap in the market for niche brands, and little variety existed. The market, at the time, was largely composed of high-end generic retail brands. Being massive beauty-fans ourselves, we felt marrying our passion for beauty and experience in finance created the perfect opportunity to launch Apotheca.

And what did you find to be the most difficult aspects of the beauty industry?
There is a range of challenges – such as legal processes and registrations can take a lot of time, and be difficult to complete particularly when we enter new countries. Also hiring is always difficult, and finding quality staff can be a challenge. Probably the largest challenge, though, is educating the market on the importance of skin-care being equal to that of cosmetics.

You have all travelled extensively, how do you feel this has helped your business know-how?
In addition to creating important contacts, it’s helped us understand the beauty market on a global scale, as well as the differentiation amongst the markets. The products each market produces is also fun to experiment and play with – another aspect of the job we love!

Why the name Apotheca?
The word “Apotheca” derives from the ancient Latin word, of Apothecary. As we know, an apothecary is a modern day chemist or pharmacist. Although we don’t work with pharmaceuticals, we do view our business as sourcing effective remedies and quality products to meet our customer’s beauty needs.

What’s it like being in business with sisters?
The most challenging is surely having our boundaries – we literally never stop working! There’s always at least one of us ready to take a call, answer emails or research at 1a.m. on a Friday or during the week. The most rewarding is how close it brings us all and how, because we are family, we are comfortable challenging each other, therefore, helping us grow and evolve all the faster.