• Entrepreneur The Spanish who wants to revolutionize the beauty routine with her devices
  • Cosmetics Creams created with the grounds of wine grapes and orange peel

The story of entrepreneurship of Natalia Olmo (Alcoy, Alicante, January 8, 1986) is an example of the no evil that for good does not come from the proverb. A skin problem was the trigger for her to create her own brand of natural cosmetics in 2017. When the current boom did not yet exist where "every day there are more new brands than mushrooms grow," admits the journalist laughing.

Natalia Olmo -you may sound like seeing her on television-, today she is an entrepreneur in the world of beauty, but 10 years ago she presented the news in the Valencian Community and underwent long sessions of makeup and hairdressing. "It caused a pimple rash and I had to go to the dermatologist. I was diagnosed with cosmetic acne, a condition caused by the use of comedogenic products, as many cosmetics carry some toxic substances," she says.

This is how she became interested in natural cosmetics and oil-free makeup as early as 2012. "In Spain we were light years ahead of other countries and the prices were very high, almost prohibitive, so I began to study and formulate them myself for my own consumption," she recalls. As a good communicator, she made a Facebook page because she had too much product. "I'd make five litres of a shampoo and say, 'Does anyone want to?' What was I going to do with so much? They tried them and loved it," he says.

FROM THE KITCHEN TO E-COMMERCE

"Our formulas are admitted, registered and approved so that they can be sold throughout the territory of the European Union. Each batch of product that we put on sale passes a series of tests that allow us to put it on the market, "he says.

Many friends now tell her that she was an influencer of her time, although she runs away from this word. "I started making my cosmetics in the kitchen at home, nothing sophisticated, with my glass jars, and always wanting to communicate it to help other girls." Vocational deformation. It was the embryo of his online store. Now, with all the process professionalized, "it could no longer operate like this health," he points out, it is still very protagonist in its social networks of a universe that it has baptized as Maminat.

"Mommy because it reminds me of the way they cook, with that simmering affection. And Nat is a play on words; my name, Natalia, and nature, evoking what my formulas are like. If I had not had such bad skin, I would never have undertaken in the world of beauty, "he is sincere. She was also pushed, in a way, to devote herself to her new passion exclusively. From the media he went on to lead the communication of Catholic schools and was a teacher in ESO.

"I created a Limited Company (S. L.) and presented the Maminat project to a business incubator of Juan Roig, the president of Mercadona. I was selected but it required exclusive dedication and I left everything, "she says. They granted him a 0% loan that suited him, because he had no idea what it meant to be an entrepreneur, he confesses. "It's better than a master's degree."

A CONFUSING MARKET

It manufactures natural and ecological products suitable, for the most part, for vegans, with organic ingredients and actives, coming mostly from the Mediterranean, free of toxic substances, without silicones, parabens, or sulfates.

It has online stores in Portugal and Spain and sells through small distributors in herbalists and beauty centers. He admits that there are many projects that champion this philosophy of the natural. "It is normal for the consumer to feel confused with organic, bio... You end up thinking that a shower gel with aloe vera is natural. They are hackneyed terms and there seems to be a war with the synthetic, when it does not have to be negative, since there are emulsions with natural raw materials that are synthetic processes. When we make lentils by cooking, we also do chemistry."

How to clarify? "Not being guided by marketing, colors or names that evoke naturalness, and taking more into account the origin of the ingredients and respect for the environment." All of its containers are made of recyclable glass or reusable as containers for nuts or pâté, he says, and he does not use vinyl or plastics for labels. "They're made of mineral paper. What we offer complies with the Responsible Declaration of Manufacture of Cosmetic Products of the Spanish Association of Medicines and Cosmetic Products", he clarifies.

As if it were jars of jam or nuts, and without plastics, the image of any kitchen.

Nor does it have the typical pharmaceutical laboratory. "The whole formulation is our own, it is our great differential value". A hired laboratory technician prepares the batches and she herself makes a very close communication, where she even tells what happens to her skin. These are 100% fresh products. "They have an expiration date, which is found on each package: 14 months from its manufacture. From the moment you open the product, it will last you six months."

HELP OTHER WOMEN

The brand was born by the skin problems of the presenter, in search of more respectful solutions for her.

For starters, she relied on crowdfunding, the crowdfunding that allowed her to launch disposable cotton substitutes through washable wipes. And he wanted to reverse that social cooperation. "We work with Mil una Sagunt, a project that helps women in situations of social vulnerability to develop at all levels, since the majority belong to ethnic minorities or do not have economic resources or studies."

The best thing about having created this brand is how free she feels when it comes to being able to manage her company as she wants. "Every day I learn in every possible terrain." The least positive, that it is difficult for her to draw a border between Maminat and herself. "I don't remember the day when I didn't have a thought about how to improve the firm in some aspect, and that leads you to not know how to disconnect. You are more of a slave than a wage earner," he jokes. That is why it is forced in the agenda to do yoga and meditation. "I write it down and do it. It's my time."

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