Creating a better cosmetics world

COSSMA: You have been working in the beauty industry for several years. What made you decide to work in this sector?

Dr Fernando Ibarra: I studied chemistry in an interdisciplinary approach with focus on natural and biologically active systems. My PhD was in the field of chemical ecology, a discipline that studies the communication of animals through pheromones in close collaboration with biologists. After some years in the world of nanotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, the step into the beauty industry was a relatively small and logical move, because in our industry we are dealing with chemical and biological systems likewise and it is an interesting crossover of chemical raw materials, formulation science, cell biology in humans and finally microbiology as well. This is a perfect environment that still thrills me from a scientific and personal point of view.

What is the attraction of this industry for you? What is so special about it?

The personal care industry offers a fantastic mix of a science driven, fast moving economy and innovative, energetic people working in so many different roles. While in the pharmaceutical industry it takes many years to develop active ingredients and the carrier system is less important in the cosmetic industry raw material developers, formulation chemists, and manufacturing specialists have to work hand in hand to develop a great product. On top, there are scientists involved to prove the activity in clinical studies, microbiologists check the safety and stability of the product while regulatory managers have to make sure that the product complies with laws all over the world.

The work is completed with the design of functional and attractive packaging plus beautiful marketing campaigns. It is a truly holistic approach from all members of our 
in­dustry together and everybody can see the results on the shelf – and use them in their own bathroom.

What has been your most impressive professional experience so far?

I have been lucky to work in a science driven company that was and is still seen as pioneer in an important field of the raw material world. I have been Director of Sales and part of the team working on innovations and new launches. At the time, we developed new systems of multifunctional ingredients that have ever since been used to reduce or even replace traditional preservatives. Back in those days, there was no “free-from”, or natural trend. Many formulators were reluctant to believe in the efficacy of those systems. After almost 20 years of history and solid scientific proofs, these alternatives to chemical preservatives are very established and used in thousands of products.

Personally, with our new company, I continue to work in this field and educate customers as well as the cosmetic community that from a microbiological point of view there is no difference in chemical vs natural or traditional vs alternative preservation. These concepts are man-made and what counts is the efficacy of such raw materials that is tested according to scientific methods. We do need solid science in our industry rather than scare stories and unfounded marketing claims.

Anyone who is so committed to their profession has vision. What were yours at the beginning and how have you changed?

During my time at university, I was devoted to science to learn about nature and understand biological systems. Everyone doing a PhD knows that this is usually a niche that will reach only a very small scientific community. Each of those small circles, experts for a specific field, can be seen as a bunch of nerds. But without them there wouldn’t be the level of knowledge that we find in the world today.

In my professional career this obviously changed and the interest in science usually funnelled into specific goals, e.g., developing a new broad-spectrum antimicrobial or an emulsifier with great sensorial profile. That doesn’t mean that you necessarily become only focussed on economic success and you forget your values and how you can be of use in society. I think as an entrepreneur you have a lot of responsibility and the choice of doing good things more than in many other roles.

My vision is to keep up with science while creating a safe working place for our employees and all our stakeholders. The driving force for starting our company was mainly to create a modern and family-friendly working environment and not getting rich as company owners. We have implemented a working culture in which everybody is respected regardless of who they are, getting a fair share of the profit regardless of the position and finally we are working to serve all our business partners, production partners as well as clients to make their business easy and their planning safe.

What do you want to achieve in your professional environment? What would you like to change?

We are living in a quickly changing society. People in my generation grew up with other ‘values’ like living in a male dominated world with no equal opportunities for all people. We have to address social inequality as well as the climate crisis and reduction of biodiversity among other topics.

The older generation, usually the ones in power and equipped with financial wealth, needs a radical change of mind, and use their position to empower those necessary changes. We can’t continue discussions about gender equality, standing up against racism or how much sustainability is good for the business but instead need to act now. We want to make our point and give our humble contribution to all the above.

How do you see the beauty industry changing in the next few years? Where is it heading?

The raw material trends that we see today, especially regarding sustainability, will continue to grow and leave the status of a trend. It is common sense today that we need to become better in protecting our planet. It will be interesting to see which developments every player in our industry will be able to deliver and contribute to a positive future in which we want to see our children grow.

On the other hand, I see a turning point in the choice of suppliers after the big supply chain disruptions that we witnessed in the last two years. Consolidation in the market, mergers and acquisitions will always be part of the industry.

However, I have had many deep discussions with customers, from small, medium, and large companies, who realised that it is not a safe way to rely on multinational companies and producers as suppliers only. After being let down by those large raw material suppliers, many customers suddenly realised how important smaller and medium sized suppliers are, because they are more flexible and make extra efforts when availability issues arise. I think this is an important learning from the industry that probably will lead to a shift into more diversity in the supply chain to achieve additional security in raw material supply.

You are a member of the new COSSMA Expert Advisory Board. What attracted you to this role and what do you want to achieve?

I felt honoured to be invited to this group and working with other colleagues and experts from the industry. I hope we will do our part to shape the content and targets of an important journal in our industry as well as raising the bar for an even higher level of substantive science especially in technical articles.

I think it is a very good move from COSSMA to implement this group and as a part of the advisory board I will be happy to share my knowledge, experience, and ideas to support our industry and hopefully give a little impulse towards the values that are important today.