Iberchem Expands In Dubai
Iberchem’s new Dubai office and creative hub will boost innovation and sustainability in the Middle East
Iberchem's new Dubai office, complete with R&D labs and a creative centre, marks a key step in its Middle East expansion. In an interview with ParfumPlus, Managing Director José Balibrea and General Manager Erkan Karsli reveal how this move will enhance innovation and sustainability across the region.
ParfumPlus : Iberchem has a significant global presence with facilities and commercial reach across 120 countries. How does this align with your broader global expansion strategy?
José Balibrea : The F&F industry is a fast-moving sector that re-invents itself constantly. In my opinion, Dubai is a great example of this fast and always-evolving creativity, with influence far beyond the Middle East, we see more and more customer preferences for Middle Eastern perfumery across Europe, Asia and even Latam.
Since Iberchem’s foundation 40 years ago, the Middle East has been a fundamental pillar in our commercial footprint. We are proud of our distinctive position in emerging markets, in particular in this region where we have deep knowledge and understanding of the local trends and customers’ requirements.
We are proud of our long-term partnerships with our customers, with whom we’ve grown considerably over the years. Many of our best customers are in the Gulf area, and we are supporting their new launches, and their innovative scents on a daily basis.
A few months ago, we closed our Strategy Update with new ambitions for 2030. The Middle East, in general, and GGC in particular, is a key pillar of this plan.
PP : Since Iberchem was acquired by Croda four years ago, how has this partnership influenced Iberchem’s growth and operations? What synergies have been most beneficial?
JB : Following over 20 years under different Private Equities ownership, Iberchem is now part of a very respectable listed company in the UK and a solid organisation that will celebrate its
centenary very soon.
Croda is the name behind sustainable high-performance ingredients and technologies featured in many of the world's most successful brands. Through Croda, we have access to an impressive network of customers worldwide who can buy innovative ingredients and now, fragrances and flavours. Due to a much larger scale effect, Iberchem, Parfex and Scentium can benefit from some global supply agreements through Croda. More than 1.200 employees in the F&F division are very proud of being part of Croda and its 5,000 employees.
We are also working together on innovative AI solutions for our perfumers and flavourists. Last but not least, there are some exciting upcoming initiatives to use some of Croda’s captive ingredients in our palette.
PP : Iberchem will be relocating to a new office next October, complete with a modern CreativeCenter and R&D labs. How will these facilities contribute to your company's growth and innovation?
JB : We are a customer-centric organisation. We always put our customers and their success at the front of our daily activities and strategic decisions. We listen to our customers every day and we’re strengthening our organisation in Dubai in order to provide the best-in-class service they deserve.
Thanks to this new R&D lab we will increase even more our sampling and creation activities locally. Our local perfumers are working with a wide palette of premium ingredients fully coordinated with the headquarters in Spain and the rest of the 17 overseas centres all over the World.
We have the advantage of relying on a global platform with a local understanding of collaborative business. This new creative space will increase our intimacy and response to customers very soon. We are already planning the next stage of our expansion in a relatively short period of time. The best is yet to come.
ParfumPlus : Iberchem places a strong emphasis on sustainability and innovation. How will the new creative centre and R&D labs in Dubai contribute to these goals? Can you share any upcoming projects or initiatives?
Erkan Karsli : As part of the Croda Group, we are committed to becoming the most sustainable supplier of innovative ingredients, and this is well recognised with our awards and certifications. Of course, as Iberchem, we are committed at the same level and have set sustainability and innovation as key pillars of our growth strategy.
The new creative centre and R&D labs in Dubai will undoubtedly contribute significantly to Iberchem’s emphasis on sustainability and innovation.
Our new centre will focus even more on developing sustainable fragrances, improving the sustainability score of our palette of ingredients and further contributing to reducing the company’s carbon footprint to become a Net Zero organisation by 2050. We also want to share our deep know-how by hosting workshops and training programs at our new creative centre for the benefit of our clients and relevant partners.
PP : Given Iberchem’s philosophy of being a global player that responds to local requirements, how will the Dubai office help serve the Middle East market’s specific needs?
EK : Iberchem has been around in the Middle East since the early 1990s and is therefore well aware of the local requirements.
Via our new facility, we will ensure to continue offering an effective service that responds to the evolving needs of our customers. Thanks to our local competent team which will be backed up with state-of-the-art installations, we are now in an even better position to capture the preferences and the trends of the region.
We are expanding our team with new perfumers and evaluators who will be located in Dubai. They will be working on developing tailored fragrances for the Middle East which has always been and will always be a strategic region for Iberchem.
Diversifying further our product range to serve the various segments of the market is another capability that will even get better with this new creative centre.
PP : Looking ahead, what are your key objectives for the Dubai office in the first year, and how do you plan to achieve them?
EK : Of course, with our clients and our team sitting in the heart of our organisation, we want to make sure that our new facility is fully operational as soon as possible, focusing on the customers’ needs and providing an outstanding working environment for our team.
With the new facility in place and enhanced regional R&D capabilities brought with it, we will continue our strong market expansion and customer engagement. Agility is crucial in the Middle East and our project management skills will be further improved with faster completions and fit for the regional customers’ needs.
We have clear targets in customer engagement, project management, innovation and sustainability and have a clear strategy for how to deliver them. With our new office and creative centre in Dubai, we will jointly work towards these objectives and set up a stronger foothold in the region.
