Fredericton Natural Cosmetics Company Debuts At Farmers Market
FREDERICTON – Mariam Ismail immigrated to Canada from Egypt two years ago.
While working as a pharmacist in Egypt, she began working on what would become Vivera Natural Cosmetics – a series of products using entirely natural products.
When she moved to Canada, she knew she wanted to continue her work.
“It took me a long time, actually, to figure out the regulations and the whole process, then one of my friends had recommended me to join the Summer Institute,” she said.
Over the past three months, Ismail has worked as part of the UNB incubator, the Summer Institute, to get her business off the ground. She has been selling some of her cosmetics online, but attended her first Boyce Farmers Market as a vendor on Saturday, August 7.
“What I am trying to achieve in Vivera is to provide natural cosmetics in a safe way,” she said. “I’m trying to combine both my m
iddle eastern culture and my scientific background with natural ingredients.”
Her experience in pharmacy was what led to the beginning of her entrepreneurial pursuit. She says that since she was a child, she had a deep love of chemistry which carried her forward in her career.
“We study every product that we make. We know what we do, being a pharmacist, so I have a really deep experience on cosmetic formulation.”
Right now, Ismail offers three main products with hopes to expand to more cosmetics in the future: natural soaps with ingredients including coffee and honey, natural deodorant, and Moroccan soap.
“I find it to be new here, not a lot of people know about it, but at the same time I find people who tried it are welcoming to it,” she said of the Moroccan soap, which she describes as Vivera’s main product. “I can see a very promising opportunity to introduce this product.”
Moroccan soap is a black soap with a gel-like consistency and an olive base used across the world to help cleanse, moisturize, and exfoliate the skin.
“It’s mainly used in ritual cleaning routines,” said Ismail. “I’m trying to educate people to try and do this type of practice.”
Customers can check out and buy Ismail’s products on Vivera Cosmetics’ social media pages for local purchases and weekly at the Boyce Farmers Market.
“I hope to first establish by presence to get people to know the product, to conduct and retain trust toward my product,” Ismail said. “The second thing is to introduce new lines of products, I hope that I can introduce hair products and also more skin products. Eventually, I want to be able to be known across Canada.”