This article first appeared in Options, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 13, 2018 - August 19, 2018

In the personal care industry, L’Oréal Group has asserted itself as the indisputable market leader with a stable of high-performing brands and hunger for constant innovation. L’Oréal Malaysia managing director Malek Bekdache speaks to Petrina Fernandez about his decades in the beauty business, accelerating growth locally and the man beyond the job title.

When browsing the shelves of beauty products, consumers tend to focus on attractive packaging and marketing script, paying particular attention to well-known labels. But those familiar with the contents of these tubes, jars and bottles are aware just how much know-how goes into each formula. No one is better acquainted with this than L’Oréal Group, one of the pioneers of the beauty industry.

In 1919, young chemist Eugène Paul Louis Schueller registered the company after successfully developing hair dye and care formulas sought by Parisian hairdressers. Research and innovation are therefore the genetic codes of L’Oréal and as the company approaches its centennial celebrations, these pillars have never been stronger. An army of scientists — chemists, biologists, biophysicists and experts in robotics and green or sustainable chemistry — wage war on behalf of human health and vanity, and in the process, advance the industry by leaps and bounds. And what in-house talent does not cover, acquisition does.

---

For the full story, pick up a copy of The Edge Malaysia (August 13, 2018) at your nearest news stands or visit optionstheedge.com.

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.