In Comoros, an essential oils doyenne has plans for her country’s unique yields
Bottles of varying sizes were filled with scents, serums, potions and lotions – all made with Comoros-grown items that were refined, blended, and packaged in Comoros.
Sitting in Ibrahima Sittina Farate’s sparse living room amid an afternoon downpour, her Biozen-branded products were lined up on a side table: she described the ingredients in each one and their unique, therapeutic properties.
Having studied agronomy at the University of Madagascar, her business is creating what she calls “biocosmetics,” specialty items perfumed with ylang-ylang, infused with cloves and tinged with vanilla. Those components are also her country’s specialty – high-value export crops – but she is putting them to many new uses.
“I want to do things differently. Just because we’ve been doing something for hundreds of years doesn’t mean we should continue to,” she said. “Why can’t we change?”