ABU DHABI // Called the "white gold of the desert", camels' milk is rich in vitamins and minerals, has a deep-rooted cultural significance and lends itself to a wide variety of uses. But soap?
Step forward the Camel Milk Soap company to fill that gap in the market.
Diana Wallis, the company's co-founder, is the woman behind the concept. Her son, Monal Zeidan, former general manager of a car company, takes care of the business side.
"I came up with the recipes and ingredients myself through my interest in soap-making as a hobby in the United Kingdom," said Ms Wallis, who now lives in Dubai.
"Being in touch with locally available products such as black cumin seed, which is very valued in UAE culture, helped me to combine various formulations depending on people's skin needs," she said.
The company's website offers different camels' milk soap recipes for making bars of different shapes, including gingerbread men, iced biscuits and cheesecake.
The handmade soap is claimed to be a natural antiseptic, and the makers say it also has anti-fungal features.
Mr Zeidan said: "We started this because we don't see any 100 per cent organic soap in the market and we know the benefits of camels' milk. We tested it with our friends and family and one person with a skin disorder felt a positive difference."
Ms Wallis said she researched the benefits of camels' milk and came up with the idea because she felt it was appropriate for the region.
Camel's milk, she said, is "even better than cows' and goats' milk".
The company's signature soap bar is made from camels' milk, olive oil, shea butter and honey, weighs 90g and costs Dh40.
"We want to turn it into a product that people can enjoy because it's an affordable luxury," Mr Zeidan said.
The company also produces custom-made bars that take a week to prepare, adding sandalwood, Dead Sea salt or almost any kind of ingredient to the camels' milk.
The mother and son plan to talk to mall managers to make their soap easily available to consumers in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. They would like to set up booths in flagship malls by the end of this month and export the soap globally next month after inquiries from the United States, Canada and Australia.
"We haven't decided which malls yet, but we are looking at outlets that cater to an audience who want a premium product," Mr Zeidan said. "Our plan is to market and export it worldwide through the internet."
The company has already received a substantial order from a potential sub-distributor in Kuwait who was interested in the product, and a company in the Far East that sells organic cosmetic products.
"They called us recently and said they were interested in taking bulk orders from Hong Kong and Singapore," Mr Zeidan said.
He said that worldwide only two companies - one in the US, the other in Israel - were making camels' milk soap, and to his knowledge they did not export it.
LINK: Europe may soon get taste of camel's milk
Camel milk contest promotes desert's 'white gold'
