Shamsa and Kaltum, the co-founders of Afiya Beauty, approached the Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis (CNPMC) to incorporate upcycled organic waste materials into their formulations to create a unique and effective product that addresses a common skin concern for their customers.
Working with the team at Loyalist College, they were able to research and develop a new technology that supports their mission of creating sustainable skincare products and differentiates their business within the clean beauty space.
To learn more about the partnership between Afiya Beauty and the CNPMC at Loyalist College, keep reading the story below.
Tell us your company story.
My name is Shamsa and together with my sister Kaltum, we are the co-founders of Afiya Beauty. At Afiya, we are committed to using new technology and conscious manufacturing practices to develop plant extracts from recovered waste. Our goal is to be a leader in this field, developing high-performance inclusive skincare products sustainably produced with low environmental impact.
Tell us about why you came to the Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis.
Upcycling is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials or discarded objects into new materials or products. Food and beverage waste represent the main source of materials that can be upcycled into beauty products since these materials contain food grade ingredients with rich properties for the skin. Currently, the upcycled cosmetics market is mainly represented by scrubs, oils and soaps however; our company is researching how to use upcycled ingredients to make sophisticated serums, rich in vitamins and antioxidants that solve our customers most pressing skincare concerns.
We were referred by GreenCentre Canada to the Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis to help us incorporate using organic waste materials into our formulations. Research performed at Loyalist validated that fresh produce has vast amounts of enzymes, vitamins and active ingredients that can be extracted and converted into high- performance extracts that can be used in cosmetics.
Our goal is to use these high-performance natural extracts from food waste to create a unique and effective product that addresses a common skin concern in a safe, non-toxic and environmentally friendly way. We want to rely less on foreign ingredients and to be able to sustainably create an ecosystem that is closer to home.
Tell us about your experience.
Working with the team at Loyalist has been such a great experience for our start -up. We found it really easy to communicate our vision and the team was instrumental at helping bring our innovative product to market. We would highly recommend the CNPMC to any start-up/SME looking to develop, scale up and commercialize their ideas with the added bonus of transforming the results of research into high-quality products. We are super happy with the results of our formulations and look forward to working on more product lines in the future.
Tell us about the results.
The project helped Afiya to research and develop a new technology that can be integrated within our products and supports our mission of creating environmentally and socially sustainable skincare products. This helps the growth of the organization by providing value that differentiates our business and maintains our competitiveness within the clean beauty space.
To learn more about Afiya Beauty’s products, visit their website.