Azeco Cosmeceuticals is performing well in the European market, but has the ambition to expand to the United States. “Export is still mainly people work,” says CEO Claudie Kessels.
Some 15 years ago, owner John Herfs began the project that resulted in the creation of the sister companies Azelaic Products and Azeco Cosmeceuticals. That these both begin with “aze” is no coincidence. For both companies, azelaic acid is a key ingredient. That is an active ingredient used in the medical world in creams for acne skin, among other things, and which Azeco Cosmeceuticals also applies in cosmetic products. Azeco Cosmeceuticals now successfully exports to several European countries, including France and Germany, but now has the United States in its sights. The company is therefore pleased with its nomination for the Oranje Handelsmissiefonds (OHMF).
Quality levels
The companies are currently still located in a multi-company building in Herten (under the smoke of Roermond), but in early November they will move to new, larger premises. “We have been operating since 2014 and are still growing every year,” says Claudie Kessels, CEO at Azeco. She acknowledges that working with a medical ingredient like azelaic acid gives a quality boost to cosmetics. “Pharma is a very specific line of business, with complex regulations attached. This is quite understandable, because there must be control over the active ingredients used in medicines. The big difference with cosmetics is that the regulations for them are less complicated. Azeco distinguishes itself in the market by maintaining the same levels of quality in cosmetics that are used for pharmaceuticals. Our product is the highest quality and does a lot for the skin. It also has another function for hair growth.”
Multinationals and indie brands
Extra interesting, according to Kessels, is the product’s plant-based origin. “In the current era of sustainability, this is by now a prerequisite in the cosmetics industry. Moreover, our Azepur99® has few side effects.”
The fact that Azeco has the same quality requirements for products for cosmetics as it does for pharmaceuticals means that it can count mainly international cosmetics manufacturers among its main customers. Another customer group Kessels aptly describes as indie brands. “These are generally somewhat smaller independent companies that have a very strong focus on, for example, ‘100 percent natural’ or ‘not too many preservatives.’ Of course, there are also cosmetics manufacturers who are satisfied with a somewhat low-quality formulation and thus want to meet certain market needs, but our Azepur99® doesn’t fit in with that.” In other words: Azeco goes for the highest quality and that was part of the deciding factor in its nomination for the OHMF.
Wish List
Viewed properly, Azeco has not even been exporting to the cosmetics industry for that long. “Until 2020 we didn’t have that many cosmetics customers, but in that year we shaped the cosmetics marketing approach. From 2021, we actively started working for the cosmetics business,” Kessels explains. “The Netherlands is not really the biggest player in cosmetics, so we quickly look for it in other countries. Europe is almost a ‘domestic’ market for us. Of course, we first looked at what the most important cosmetics producing countries are and that’s where we are focusing our sights. Last year, for example, we were very active in approaching the French and German markets. Now our wish list includes breaking into the United States. That is also the country we are targeting with our submission to the OHMF; we want to be able to tackle the American market professionally and for the long term.”
People work
At the same time, Azeco already has reasonable successes in countries outside Europe. Thanks to a contact at a trade fair, Mexico came into the picture, tentative steps have been taken in strict Japan and a British distributor is helping to overcome export problems caused by the Brexit. “Each country has its own way of doing business, its own culture and its characteristics,” Kessels knows. “In one country, signatures and stamps are still very important, and in a country like Japan, quality standards are again incredibly high. In Japan it doesn’t happen overnight, it’s steps every time.”
Kessels is proud of her team, which takes a lot of preparation and paperwork off her hands. “It’s always a team effort, when something succeeds or goes well. I think, summing everything up a bit, that in the end, exporting and developing new markets remains primarily human work. In a world dominated by artificial intelligence and all kinds of technology, it comes down just as much to contact between people. It is often the case that you solve something much faster in a personal conversation than with a hundred emails going back and forth.”
Source: https://www.evofenedex.nl/magazines/azeco-wil-doorbreken-in-vs