São Paulo – The conglomerate Nazih Group, from the United Arab Emirates, wants to invest in the Brazilian cosmetics sector. The idea is to open a factory and a distribution center in the country to deal in national and international brands.
“Brazil is one of the areas where Nazih Group is still not present, and we recognize that we should be there. Its economy outweighs all other South American countries, and it indeed is expanding its presence in the world market. With Brazil expected to become one of the five largest economies in the world, we cannot afford not to be in it,” says entrepreneur Nazih Hamad, in an interview via email to ANBA.
He says the intention is to set up a factory and a distribution center in São Paulo. “The first phase of this investment will be more than US$5M”, he revealed. Hamad was in the country in the beginning of February, when he met João Carlos Basílio, president of the Brazilian Association of the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Industry (Abihpec, in the Portuguese acronym), and Andréa Vieira, director of Brazilian Secrets Hair, a company which he already does business with.
“We plan to open a distribution centre in Sao Paulo for Brazilian Secrets Hair brand and other international brand in the Beauty industry,” says Hamad. Brazilian Secrets Hair is a company in Rio de Janeiro which was created with a focus on the foreign market. Since last year, the Nazih Group became the exclusive distributor of the Brazilian brand in Middle East.
According to Hamad, his company is interested in working with Brazilian keratin-based products. The group also wants to develop cosmetics with typically Brazilian ingredients. “We plan to invest in the Amazon, to build Amazon concept and product distribution to all markets worldwide”, he said.
The investments in the country are planned to start this year in a partnership with Brazilian Secrets Hair and other companies in Europe and the United States of America.
The Nazih Group is over 35 years old and is based in the Sharjah Emirate. Besides the cosmetics sector, it also operates in the food, beverages, furniture, construction and pharmaceutical industries, among others.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
