São Paulo – Prolab, a hair product manufacturing company based in Diadema, in the Greater Metropolitan Area of São Paulo, should sell its first batch to the Arab market between late this year and early next year. The company is in the final stages of shipping an order placed by Qatar, in the Middle East. The bulk of the batch consists of hair straightening products, according to partner and founder Miguel Torres Neto.
The initial contact leading to the sale took place at the Cosmoprof exhibition in Bologna, Italy in April this year, and was followed up during Beautyworld Middle East, in Dubai, last May, which Prolab also attended. Apart from the Qatari order, Prolab is in talks with the United Arab Emirates and Iran – a non-Arab Middle East country. Torres plans on sending a technician to demonstrate the products in these countries in the next few months.
Prolab is also in the process of obtaining halal certification and becoming a member of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. Once these two are in place, in addition to the fact it has already shipped product to the region, the company expects to gain an even stronger foothold in the region by attending Beautyworld Middle East and Cosmoprof in 2015.
The Diadema-based enterprise works with four different brands: Ativare, for thin straight hair, Nutrat, for thicker, curlier hair, Iluminata, for colored hairs, and Tonalittá, for hair toning. The former three include all types of products, such as moisturizers, shampoos, finishers, sprays and straighteners for different hair types.
The company’s flagship products is straighteners. Torres explains that instead of using formalin, Prolab uses carbocisteine, a raw material approved by the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), which regulates the industry, often based on European rules. According to him, carbocisteine has its caveats: if the instructions are not followed, it can potentially remove the hair’s colour. On the other hand, it poses no risk to the health of consumer and professional alike.
Neto stresses that ethics and respect to consumers have always come first for Prolab. He believes there is plenty of space for the company’s product line in the Arab world. “Our lines are very focused. Arab hair is typically thick, not curly but bulky, voluminous, and they want hair that is easier to tame and not as fluffy,” says Torres, referring mostly to women. “Those who have tried out realized our product is ideally suited to their hair type,” he says regarding Arab consumers.
This should be Prolab’s first time selling to Arabs, but the company has shipped product to other foreign markets in the past. It has clients in Portugal, Spain, England, Colombia and Costa Rica and should begin selling to Uruguay and Chile in 2015. Presently, 20% to 30% of the company’s output is exported.
Torres founded Prolab 15 years ago. A native of Brazil’s Alagoas state, he has lived for 36 years in São Paulo, where he first started working in the industry. At first, Torres used to sell cosmetics manufactured by his brother in Rio de Janeiro. As the market opened up to imports and increasingly strict market requirements, Torres decided to become a manufacturer. He started out with a backyard company and then expanded. Prolab owns a manufacturing facility in Diadema and has 18 employees. Only two of the company’s products are made by third parties, but will be made at Prolab’s own plant soon.
Prolab owns a laboratory for product development and creation with two chemists. Domestic sales are outsourced. All of the company’s products are designed for professional use by hairdressers. The company is run by Torres and his wife and partner Eliana Guerra Torres.
Prolab
Website: www.prolab.ind.br
Telephone: +55 11 4053 7544
Email: migueltorres@prolab.ind.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
