Campinas businesswoman Soraya El Khatib was the winner of the Unicamp Entrepreneur of the Year Award, announced at the 16th Unicamp Ventures Annual Meeting held this Thursday (21/10) at Inova Unicamp. With a trajectory focused on socio-environmental impact, the pharmaceutical company has dedicated itself to developing a natural nasal gel to combat Covid-19. The drug, developed from mugwort, has the potential to be as effective or more effective an ally than the mask.
Founder and CEO of Unicamp's daughter company S Cosméticos do Bem, Soraya was selected among four finalist initiatives of the Unicamp Entrepreneur Award, carried out by Inova Unicamp in partnership with the Unicamp Ventures group. Graduated from the Unicamp Technology-Based Business Incubator (Incamp), Soraya was one of those responsible for the launch, in 2020, of first dermophytocosmetic sustainable in the Brazilian market registered by ANVISA. Its new product, a healing product with rejuvenating properties based on Anniversary Artemisia - a plant of Asian origin that was adapted to the Brazilian climate in the 70s - was developed using a supercritical extraction technology patented by Unicamp.
For the businesswoman, who says she “carries entrepreneurship in her DNA”, being the first woman and former Unicamp student to win the title of Entrepreneur of the Year shows the potential of female leadership in startups and companies. A S Cosméticos do Bem It is mostly made up of women. “Women are more resilient and multifunctional. What we lack are opportunities”, says Soraya. In 2020, the startup was among the top ten companies platform biotechnology 100 Open Startups.
Soraya's entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 5, mixing her mother's perfumes to produce new fragrances. At 8 he was already producing plays and painting t-shirts to sell to friends. In adolescence, the dream changed. Soraya wanted to be a doctor, but she didn't pass the entrance exam with her first option and went to study Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Pharmacy brought me more possibilities than medicine, especially with entrepreneurship.”
The master's degree and doctorate in Functional and Molecular Biology at Unicamp followed, as a natural path to teaching, but the academic trajectory reserved a special encounter for the rediscovery of one's vocation. “I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, it's something that comes from my ancestors, as my grandfather was an entrepreneur. After graduating, I became a teacher and traveled a lot, before setting up the company.”
Soraya saw the opportunity come to fruition with the support of Unicamp's entrepreneurial ecosystem. “Professor Maria Angela Meireles had this entrepreneurial culture and recommended me to Inova, which also helped a lot in this process.” In 2011, S Cosméticos do Bem was founded. In 2015, it became a technology-based company and was incubated at Incamp until last year. “AS Cosméticos do Bem was born with the purpose of developing innovative, truly sustainable products, based on clean technologies and with maximum use of vegetable raw materials.”
following the trend Farm to Face (“farm for the face”), the startup follows the entire process, from planting the raw material to the waste produced. Soraya is proud to inform that the products generate only 2% of carbon and highlights that, in addition, they can be recycled. The solid waste generated in the extraction of bioactives from mugwort can be used as charcoal for industry or in the production of ecological bricks.
In 2021, the startup received support from Biotech Town, Eretz Bio e Senai Innovation. Soraya's challenge now focuses on scaling the market and technology. It is looking for new partnerships to continue testing nasal gel against Covid-19, at the same time as it works to expand negotiations with companies, in the B2B model. “We achieved unprecedented results for a natural product, with 99,9% inhibition of the virus. We are still in the pre-clinical phase and we have a long challenge ahead.”
The cost of this challenge was estimated by Soraya at 5 million reais. This is the amount necessary to carry out the tests necessary for approval of the new antiviral product. Even though the road is long, the entrepreneur is not discouraged. “Entrepreneurship is investing our time and money today to reap the rewards in the future.”
original article published on the website of the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency.
