AMINA GRIMEN - Cofounder, Power Beauty
Amina is a Co-founder of Powder, the region’s first and most comprehensive destination for insanely good, obsession-worthy products with a conscious DNA, hand-picked from around the world by beauty devotees who want to educate and empower everyone to shop based on their personal values, without compromising a thing.
In 2018 Amina cofounded Powder as a passionate, but frustrated beauty consumer disappointed by the lack of choice and guidance in the regional beauty market. Powder is the pioneer of conscious beauty in the region. As the trusted guide for safe, sustainable, and transparent products that are kinder to both our bodies and to the environment. Powder is committed to brands that embody the values of our conscious customers but will only ever stock what’s truly worthy of a spot on our shelves and, more importantly, yours.
Amina has over 10 years’ experience as a corporate communications professional and she has extensive experience working with financial services, legal, technology and lifestyle businesses in the Middle East. Amina has been based in Dubai for the past 16 years and holds a MA in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
AMNA ABBAS - Consultant, Beauty & Fashion Middle East, Euromonitor
Amna Abbas is Senior Analyst at Euromonitor International in the UAE. An expert on Beauty and Fashion in the Middle East, she focuses on analyzing topics such as beauty and personal care, personal accessories and eyewear, apparel and footwear, consumer health and luxury goods within the retail landscape. Her professional interests include understanding the continuing dynamics of beauty and fashion within the Middle East region, with keen interest in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. Along with regular interactions with major global and regional beauty and fashion industry players, she has been proactive contributor to articles and interviews through various platforms such as exhibitions, TV, radio and press media on the same such as Beautyworld, CNN, Forbes, Euro News, Dubai Eye, Gulf News and Images Retail ME.
Amna holds a Master of Strategic Marketing, top graduate, from the University of Wollongong. She has been active in the field of market research intelligence for more than a decade, bringing with her rich insights on the region.
BILAL AL-GBURI - Managing Director, CLC Cosmetics
A chemist and professional skincare formulator based in the United Kingdom, Bilal has created hundreds of unique and innovative formulations for internationally recognized brands and retail stores over the past 10 years. He is a qualified safety assessor and the Responsible Person for several brands in the UK.
Since 2008, the Middle East region has been going through a production boom. With the increased number of small manufacturers, a market gap has been created for supply of raw materials for beauty products to the region. Bilal has been working to provide high quality materials for start up manufacturers to create their beauty brands locally and providing technical and machinery setup advice larger production units.
EDYTA SATCHELL – Founder & CEO, Finelle
Edyta Satchell is a renowned global speaker, coach, consultant and wellness practitioner.
Edyta connects beauty and travel in a unique way. She helps beauty companies to rejuvenate their revenue and profits by creating highly customized, easy to implement comprehensive product and sales programs targeting travelers and the travel industry.
Edyta has been featured in many prominent beauty, travel, wellness, spa, health, and business media outlets. She has given over 40 TV interviews, and she has been published in many magazines focused on wellness, travel, and traveler wellbeing.
In her latest book Beauty and the Travel Beast, she helps travelers to overcome health and wellness challenges that occur before, during, and after travel.
She is a certified integrative nutrition health coach who has more than 20 years of global travel executive leadership experience working with dozens of A-listers, including CEOs of key Fortune 500 companies.
Edyta is also certified in Oncology Esthetics.
EVE EL GEMAYEL – House of Beauty
Eve El Gemayel, the visionary behind HOB – House of Beauty, has pioneered innovation in the beauty sector. Her multifaceted approach, spanning product distribution, comprehensive training solutions, and event management, has redefined the standards of excellence. Eve's journey transcended mere corporate ascent; it was a voyage of self-discovery and unwavering passion. Driven by her profound love for the beauty industry, she embarked on a transformative chapter with L’Oréal Team Bahrain as a Kerastase Business Consultant and trainer. Here, her influence was profound as she nurtured the growth and excellence of numerous salons, leaving an indelible mark. Eve played a pivotal role in shaping Kerastase's presence in Bahrain, with a dedicated focus on salon client experience, sales techniques, protocol training, product guidance, application procedures, and hair and scalp diagnosis. Her efforts resulted in the successful implementation of numerous Kerastase training programs and product launches.
GAELLE DORÉ – General Manager, Cent Degrés
CENT DEGRÉS is an international strategy and creative agency founded in 1988 in Paris. Specialized in brand creation and intelligence, visual identity, product design, packaging, and architecture. With 14 offices worldwide and 100 talents, CENT DEGRÉS works with the most famous international brands in beauty, food & beverage, fashion, jewelry, services etc.
With more than 10 years of experience in the creative and design fields, Gaëlle Doré started her career at CENT DEGRÉS Paris for 6 years as a Project Manager, before being appointed General Manager of CENT DEGRÉS Dubai in 2014.
Gaëlle Doré is passionate about brand creation & brand transformation, and her main mission is to support international and local brands in boosting their creative development within a particularly dynamic local and regional market.
KAREN WELLS – Brand Director, Mikyajy
Karen Wells brings over 25 years of comprehensive expertise in the Beauty Industry, offering a 360-degree perspective. With a distinguished career spanning various facets of the industry, including front line retailing and buying, Karen has established herself as a prominent figure. Notably, she served as the Head of Beauty Buying and Merchandising for the esteemed Selfridges group in the UK.
Throughout her career, Karen has showcased her prowess in brand management, country management, product development, and manufacturing. Her expertise extends to marketing strategies, successfully launching B2B and B2C products for both renowned and private label brands. With an unwavering commitment to excellence, Karen has navigated the complexities of domestic and international markets, ensuring success for her ventures.
LAUREN O'CONNELL – Beauty Editor, Cosmopolitan Middle East
American beauty expert, Lauren O’Connell, is the Beauty Editor for Cosmopolitan Middle East magazine and a science geek. Or geek chic as she likes to say. Lauren has a Bachelor of Science in bio-mechanical engineering, a Master of Science in nursing, and a memorable way with words. She combined her passions for beauty, wellness, and science to create skincare and makeup ingredients-focused content with a cosmic twist for her social media platforms and website, planetlauren.com.
Lauren frequently interviews celebrities and beauty brand founders, including Huda Kattan, Mario Dedivanovic, Jo Malone, and Charlotte Tilbury. She moderated the fireside chat at the Futr World summit in Abu Dhabi between Michael Ward, CEO of Harrods, and Kerem Atasoy, Vice President of Farfetch. She’s also hosted panels and events for Beautyworld Middle East, Cosmoprof, Cosmopolitan Middle East, The Retail Summit, and The Sustainable City Equestrian Show.
After the success of Lauren’s Instagram Live series, Cosmic Chats with Lauren O’Connell, she’s in the process of launching her podcast, Planet Lauren, where she interviews influential people in the beauty, holistic health, and wellness industries about anything and everything under the sun. Forever on a journey of self-exploration, Lauren aims to uplift other women while figuring out how to navigate her own internal compass.
Lauren is a New York Film Academy certified broadcast journalist. In addition, she’s trained extensively as a TV and events presenter under the tutelage of Gareth Davies, creator of the Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars television programs. She’s guest starred on Dubai’s DXB Today news show and The Real Housewives of Dubai. She’s the author of her Manifest Like Lauren e-book, where she shares her tips and tricks to manifesting her dream life. Lauren’s also a social media influencer with over 70,000 followers and is currently developing her own beauty brand.
Lauren lives in Dubai with her husband, two children, and labradoodle puppy, Teddy. She’s known to frequently answer the age-old question, “Mom, what’s for dinner?!”.
LUCA PISSIMIGLIA – International Sales & Digital Director, Estetica
As international sales and Digital Director, Luca boasts 15-years’ experience in designing and selling digital services, industry events and project management. He started his career in London in 2008 and today he manages Intl advertising budgets and keeps customers satisfied and coming back for more by setting up business models thanks to his knowledge of the hair Professional industry. Luca family owns Estetica Network - the world leading publisher of Hair Industry - and he runs the company as the third generation: Estetica has been established in 1946 by his Grandfather
NATHALIE FEISTHAUER – Perfumer, LabScent
Nathalie is an internationally recognized and multi-awarded woman. Her exceptional talents have garnered her numerous accolades throughout her career. Notably, she was honored with the prestigious "Perfumer of the Year" FIFI Award in 2019 for her remarkable creations. In the same year, her work for Nomenclature - fluo_ral earned her the esteemed "Exclusive Niche" award.
In 2020, Nathalie's outstanding contributions led to her receiving the "Best Newcomer" prize for her remarkable launch of the Sous le Manteau collection. She further solidified her reputation in the industry when she was awarded the "Selective Distribution - Niche Perfumery Bronze Award" for Burdin - Amoroso by CosmétiqueMag. Notably, in 2021, Nathalie's fragrance L'ORCHESTRE parfum - Electro Limonade won the coveted "Customer Choice - Niche Fragrance" FIFI Award
NIDHIMA KOHLI – CEO and Founder, My Beauty Matches, Beauty Matching Engine, Venus Digital
Nidhima Kohli is a T shaped Entrepreneur who has launched 3 beauty tech businesses including one Private Equity backed. She has been awarded "Top 10 Beauty Entrepreneurs” by Vogue, "Top 50 Beauty Innovators for Europe and India” by The UK Parliament, the “AI Award for Europe” by The Data Science & AI Awards and Top 5 Places to shop Beauty by The Financial Times during Covid. She also provides Advisory services to Top 100 FTSE 100 Companies as well as to Tech and Beauty Scaleups. On the side Nidhima is also an investor and a big fan of meditation and women's advancement. You can see her Featured in Forbes, Financial Times, Fast Company, Vogue, Glamour, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, amongst many others.
OCEAN GRALL – NEZ
Following the completion of a master's degree in 360° communication from ISCOM, she delved into the world of perfumery, acquiring expertise in international marketing through master's degrees from both ISIPCA and ESSEC. In 2020, Océane became an integral part of the NEZ team, taking on the role of project manager. Her contributions have been instrumental in driving the growth of initiatives like the Nez podcast channel and the Niche by Nez magazine
RONNY FROEHLICH – Co-Founder, COO, Chief Consumer Brands Officer, Golden Scent - KSA, UAE
As a founder of the company, I have directed, set up or been involved in practically all departments of the company, its operations, its growth from zero to multi-million USD market leader in its category, from conceptualising visions to their realizations. I’m also very involved in the creation and growth of brands, where we work with world class fragrance houses and supply chain partners across Europe, Middle East and Asia as well as make use of state of the art data infrastructure in search of the latest consumer trends in order to create world class consumer products.
Golden Scent pioneered fragrance & beauty e-commerce in the MENA region when it launched in 2014. Today, GoldenScent.com has the largest fragrance library worldwide covering more than 20,000 products from perfumes to home fragrances, aromatherapy, beauty products and much more. Headquartered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and with hubs across the region, Golden Scent delivers to across the GCC region and to over 80 countries worldwide.
SADIF NAZ – Training Manager, Al Futtaim
"For as long as I can remember, my go to to feel good, would be shopping & what better way to feel better than buying the latest offering in the beautyworld.
That’s where it all began for me.
I possess 15 plus years of being in the Beauty Industry. An accomplished make-up artist who started at Iman Cosmetics, then Mac Cosmetics where I honed my craft, was exposed to make up artistry on a larger platform, I went on to do backstage for London Fashion Week, Music Festivals & the annual Jingle Bell Ball at the O2.
Being a people person & having gained all the knowledge over the years, I wanted to share that & so the next step was a very natural foray into the educator/ trainer role for myself. I went onto become the Resident Trainer for Mac Cosmetics Middle East Qatar.
Working for a brand such as Mac enabled me to be exposed to all other brands, that were in the Estee Lauder group of companies portfolio, both luxury & affordable. Being a freelancer meant I was always on the look out for the next IT product. Over the years, I have become very passionate about products that are coming into the market, the concept, the inspiration or the need from which the product has evolved. I am always amazed at new formulas, trends & how we are getting better, not just for us consumers, but on a whole, as a planet, where clean beauty can be obtained, where sustainability is in place without compromise.
This brings me to my latest role, as Trainer for Watsons, the worlds leading Health & Beauty Retailer. I find myself on familiar grounds doing what I absolutely love in regards to training & once again I am exposed to brands from all over the world & that really excite me, as a consumer that I can share with like minded people."
DR. SAMEH MEGRHI – Founder & CTO, O MY NOTE
Dr. Sameh Megrhi earned her Ph.D. in computer vision from the University of Paris 13 and boasts over 12 years of experience within the realm of Artificial Intelligence. She commenced her career as an adept data scientist, spanning multiple sectors such as healthcare, education, and luxury, before giving birth to the concept of O MY NOTE. This B2B platform is meticulously crafted to guide consumers in swiftly discovering the most exquisite fragrance and scent products, all thanks to the pioneering virtual perfumer assistant, OlimpIA.
OlimpIA, the astute virtual assistant, can seamlessly interact with consumers through audio, video, or text interfaces. This trailblazing AI technology has a lofty vision: to revolutionize and streamline how Generation Z engages with perfumes, thereby rekindling the consumer's affinity for fragrance products. It endeavors to upend the conventional paradigms of in-store and online perfume experiences while deepening Generation Z's connection with perfumes.
In addition to her role as Founder & CTO, Sameh Megrhi is an esteemed speaker and a recognized expert in data-driven transformation.
SERGEY BORISOV – Edtior, Fragrantica
Sergey Borisov embarked on his journey of curating a collection of fragrances, while also sharing his insights on perfumes through various local platforms such as Siberian radio, newspapers, and online perfume forums under the moniker "moon_fish." His evocative perfume features have graced the pages of esteemed Russian publications like GQ, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Interview, The Rake, Glamour, Collezioni, Allure, TSUM Magazine, Departure, Robb Report, and many more. In 2013, Sergey became an integral part of the Fragrantica international team, taking on the roles of English-Russian editor and journalist. His areas of expertise encompass emerging niche and local brands, as well as the captivating history of perfumery.
VALERIE LOVISA – Founder, ABTYS LOVISA
Valerie Lovisa is a sustainability specialist, B Leader & founder of ABTYS, a purpose-driven consultancy, with the objective to embed sustainability within the fragrance & cosmetic industry.
VIRGINIE GERVASON – Founder & CEO, Resperfuma
Virginie is founder and CEO of Resperfuma, an independent marketing and communication agency dedicated to Perfumery métiers and luxury.
Before to set up her own agency, Virginie has worked at Firmenich for almost 15 years, in various executive roles, including 10 years as Global Marketing Director for the Ingredient Division. She knows the codes, the production secrets, the creative hands that bring into being, the formulas as well as everything that goes on behind the scenes of the entire perfumery value chain, every step of the way.
Feeling, sensing, sharing... from matter to emotion, from science to communication, Virginie embodies this complementary duality of a creative vision coupled with business strategies awareness. Engineer by training, she combines the art and science of perfume marketing, effectively grasping the entire life cycle, from ingredients’ sourcing, innovation patents, branding to sales.
By creating her marketing solutions agency named Resperfuma "Les Choses du Parfum" (The Matter of Perfume), she tells and shapes stories, images, packaging and atmosphere. Embracing customers’ demanding needs, she leads every projects with a focus on service and experience design, setting the direction and nurturing the culture of the practice, with the aim of driving growth through relevance.