Daily Times

LAHORE: Depilex, Pakistan’s leading beauty clinic and institute, focuses on intensifying its services by further expanding its network, bringing constant innovation and hence, channelising and revolutionising the entire cosmetic industry.

While talking exclusively to Daily Times, Depilex Group Chief Executive Redah Misbah Qureshi said that Depilex began as the first of its kind beauty clinic in the country, setting a trend for others in the cosmetic industry to provide exceptional quality and a wide range of services, with an aim to change the conventional concept of a ‘beauty salon’.

Established in Karachi in 1980, the group’s visionary founder Massarat Misbah launched Depilex with an intention to create an institution for beauty services, where quality hair and skincare was not just accessible and affordable, but most importantly, hygienic. Now under the leadership of Massarat’s daughter Redah since 2008, the Depilex Group includes a diversity of personal care and humanitarian initiatives including the Depilex Beauty Clinics, Institute and Health Centres, Depilex Men, The Lounge by Depilex Men, Santé the Salon, Depilex Smile Again Foundation, Depilex Live and the Depilex College of Cosmetology.

“When my mother started her salon, there was no proper concept of professional and affordable beauty clinics across Pakistan,” she said, adding that through constant innovation, passion to revolutionise the cosmetics industry and through her untiring hard work, the group has not only been able to excel in the market but has also inspired many young and aspiring women entrepreneurs to take up this profession.

Today, after 35 years of success and with 42 branches worldwide, including the UK, USA and UAE, Depilex over the years has proved its unparalleled presence in the industry, she affirmed.

The young entrepreneur feels the need to further educate the masses on cosmetics and plans on establishing a governing body, which apart from providing the necessary trainings in cosmetics, would also cover the entire fashion and catering sector through proper certification.

“The idea came three years ago when we did a survey with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which revealed that catering, fashion and beauty were among the top three businesses in Pakistan that women take up,” Redah said. “We felt that it was important to educate women regarding all these fields and streamline the whole system of the industry. The trainings that we provide are entirely in line with the standards of ILO.”

Explaining her vision behind the launch of Sante the Salon, she said the main intention behind the launch was to provide services to the younger generation, mostly school-going girls who cannot afford expensive prices of some high-end establishments. “The response has been overwhelming and our statistics have shown constant improvement for the past couple of years,” she observed.

Redah expressed her pride over the fact that the use of technology had made it easier for people to stay in touch with modern fashions and trends.

On a query, she said, “We follow international trends but customise them according to our local needs. There are a lot of new make-up trends in the international market but not all are applicable on Pakistani skin tones, so we have to be careful about what would be more suitable for a particular type of skin in this part of the world.”

Redah believes management of time is of utmost importance in order to successfully run a company. “I was fortunate enough to learn from my mother, who pioneered the industry and inspired me in more ways than one. The amount of challenges she had to face to establish her brand is an inspiration for me, which I would surely like to carry forward and share with the new generation.”