< PreviousCOVER STORY | 20 Vol. 24/06, 15 May - 31 May 2023 COVER STORYarabianbusiness.com 21 | YO U M N A K H O U R Y arabianbusiness.com 21 Social media superstar Youmna Khoury already owns and runs one of the region’s fastest growing beauty empires, is undergoing massive regional expansion, and investors from Iraq to Jordan are desperate for a slice of the action. But if the day job is tough for the 26-year-old, it’s nothing compared to her harrowing past. WORDS BY ANIL BHO Y RUL • PHO T OGRAPH Y BY FA NN Y TURCOT TECOVER STORY | 22 Vol. 24/06, 15 May - 31 May 2023 Brand builder Youmi Beauty continues to grow at the back of Youmna’s solid social media followers 2.4M The number of people who follow Youmna Khoury on Instagram Youmna Khoury likes to talk about shades – different shades of makeup, hair colours and even contact lenses. More interesting are the many shades of her personality, all of which make an appearance during an hour’s conversation. First o is Youmna the hard-nosed businesswoman. “I was an employee for three years, but I didn’t like taking orders. I had another vision.” Then comes Youmna the social media superstar. “I have the market- ing platform that everyone needs. People trust me. When I say buy this, they buy this.” And nally, the real Youmna that lies behind the very public face. A proli c entrepreneur and workaholic, with a harrowing past that has shaped her today. “I know what it is like to have absolutely nothing and no-one. I have been there.” Welcome to the world of Youmna Khoury, the Lebanese-born entrepre- neur taking the beauty world by storm. Smart, elegant and driven, her Youmi Beauty empire sells everything from false eyelashes to hair accessories. Name a beauty product, chances are not only that she sells it, but someone you know will have bought it. Her . million followers on Insta- gram hang on her every word (and picture), a major expansion is under- way in Saudi Arabia, while investors from Iraq to Jordan are falling over themselves to get a franchise for what is now one the fastest growing busi- nesses the region has ever seen. Not bad for a -year-old who only launched the company two years ago after a self-imposed two-year break “to plan it all properly.” “People are always asking me why, as an in uencer, I don’t go to events. Every day they invite me. It’s because I am just too busy. I just want to focus on my brand, I have put all my money into this. I can’t stop even if I want to. When you have a vision and a plan, every day you want to see that the plan is growing.” Khoury, who majored in Business Administration, first started out in business by opening a unisex salon called The Onyx in Beirut – a novelty in the country. It was an instant hit. But the economic climate forced her to move to Dubai in 9. By then, her social media following was going through the roof. She has, without ever trying, become one of the best- known beauty influencers in the region. She decided to channel the following into a business and open an online shop for beauty products. But just as fast as she started, she decided to pause everything. Over the course of the next two years – with zero income – she rebranded, trav- elled the world to source everything from new products to new packaging, before nally launching what is now known as Youmi Beauty. “It wasn’t easy. I cried a lot, every night. I was not earning anything, and I was putting all my money into this. arabianbusiness.com 23 | YO U M N A K H O U R Y It is very important to have a social media presence, it makes it easy to market and sell your product. I do a lot of collaborations with big brands, and so people trust what I say. When I say buy this, they buy it COVER STORY | 24 Vol. 24/06, 15 May - 31 May 2023 When you see big brands around you, you feel scared. But the rst week of the launch, the first minute, the amount of people that went to the website was incredible. I suppose they had been waiting for years, and I had been talking about the new products that I was going to launch. I was teas- ing it for years. It worked,” she says, adding: “What helps me is I am an in uencer, so I have the marketing platform that everyone needs, even the big brands. It is very important to have a social media presence, it makes it easy to market and sell your prod- uct. I do a lot of collaborations with big brands, and so people trust what I say. When I say buy this, they buy it.” She can say that again – since the relaunch, demand continuously outstrips supply, and many lines completely sold out on launch. Many I was there, I have been there, I know what it’s like to have nothing. That is why I am doing this with the foundation, and that’s why my business will succeed items are now only available on pre-order. The Dubai o ce has over sta , while a second Saudi o ce (where 8 percent of her followers are based) is on the cards. Franchise deals are being considered for Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait, while a second salon is to be opened soon. It’s early days, but big beauty brands are already looking closely over their shoulders, while big-buck investors are eyeing whether they can get a piece of the action. But they are wasting their time. Khoury is dismissive of all the action and noise around her. “No, no way will I sell. Yes, there is a price, a number, but not now, this is my baby I am not selling,” she says. Even if she was offered $ m? “No.” $ m? “No…. not even $m. This is my child.” As the percent owner of the company, Khoury makes and takes all the decisions. She says she isn’t a tough boss but expects results and has had to change her core team along the way. She gets involved in everything from packaging to the P&L. She explains: “Finding the right team is the most important thing, I had to change it a lot in the begin- ning. When I give a plan, I do not want For the modern women Youmna Beauty’s rst product launch was a line of contact lenses, and later on added lashes and hair extensionsarabianbusiness.com 25 | YO U M N A K H O U R Y to redo it. Also, as an in uencer I have a lot of enemies, a lot of people after me, they are jealous. They ask why Youmi, in this short time, did very well, they ask who is behind her? People are always asking this. They see me on social media, and they think that my life is very glamorous, that I get dressed up all the time and have a lot of fun. Really? The truth is I work a minimum of ten hours a day. Believe me it is a tough, hard journey that I am on.” If Khoury’s journey is hard today, it is nothing compared to the one she took to get here. At the age of just four, after the death of her father, she was put in an orphanage by her mother. It is a story that, when she tells it, brings tears to her eyes even today. “My mother told me I am taking you somewhere where you are going to have new friends and enjoy. I thought it is a normal day out. She took me to an orphanage, and I didn’t come back home for 12 years,” she says. “Maybe because I grew up for 12 years as an orphan, I had to plan for my future. I needed a lot of self-disci- pline. It was really hard. But it made me want to be more successful. It’s not enough for me to talk about it, for you to even begin to understand what it felt like,” Khoury says. So determined is she to now help others in similar situations, she has set up a foundation through which 25 percent of all income generated by her company is channelled. Last year, the Youmi Beauty Charity Foundation helped support 500 school children in Lebanon, and families in Syria. “I was there, I have been there, I know what it’s like to have nothing. That is why I am doing this with the foundation, and that’s why my busi- ness will succeed.” Not surprisingly, comparisons are already being made with Huda Kattan, and her Huda Beauty billion-dollar empire. For once, Khoury looks unim- pressed. “Huda is not my role model. Elon Musk is.” The truth is, Khoury is neither Kattan or Musk, she’s something alto- gether more unique. Helping hand Youmna started the Youmi Beauty Charity Foundation, which focuses on giving back to children’s orphanages, charities and countries in need, with a current focus on Lebanon and Syria International standards Youmna Beauty is set to grow on a global scale with its high-quality products catering to womenLEADERSHIP | 26 Vol. 24/06, 15 May - 31 May 2023 How women business leaders are working di erently in the Arab world The future of the region depends on strong female leadership, writes Madiha Bee, a transformational coach popularly known as Awakened Woman LEADERSHIP | Whenever the discourse shifts to women’s work- force participation in the Arab World, I remember a profound quote by renowned Islamic scholar and Su mystic Rumi: “Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and right-do- ing, there is a eld. I'll meet you there.” Though subject to multiple interpre- tations, this quote always seemed straightforward to me: A proclama- tion urging us, the collective, to tran- scend beyond the self-imposed and culturally sanctioned limitations; to connect at a higher level of truth. I have always viewed women’s empow- Opening opportunities The internet has played an empowering role in women’s workforce participation by providing virtual mobilityarabianbusiness.com 27 | LEADERSHIP Women empowerment It is heartening to see how regional women leaders are blazing the trail for the younger generation, says Madiha Bee erment through the prism of that school of thought. Today, cities like Dubai have embodied the capacity to realign the bounds of conventions and social mores, enabling women to break the “glass ceilings” and set good prece- dents for their kind to follow suit. However, women business leaders are not merely holding themselves to the standards of their male counterparts; they are manifesting inherent qualities and strengths that the conventional, largely male-de ned business para- digms weren’t acquainted with: Compassion over cut-throat corporate culture and collaboration and commu- nity over unhealthy competition. That di erentiation is now rebalancing the business equations in the region. The world is their oyster After coaching hundreds of successful Arab women business leaders, I unearthed a recurring element in their success stories: The ability to decouple from the stereotypes, stigmas, and repressive dogmas associated with patriarchal systems. Encouraged by their self-beliefs or family members, those leaders refused to be indoctri- nated into cultural limitations and didn't take “no” for an answer. But instead of resorting to overt dissent, they took refuge in alternative avenues such as the internet. As it turns out, the internet has played an empowering role in women’s workforce participation by providing virtual mobility. The new-found ability to connect to prospective employers and collabora- tors globally ignited in many women an entrepreneurial zeal that had eluded them historically. As nearly 90 percent of business functions boil down to networking, which the inter- net facilitates without geographical limitations, women who enhanced their digital dexterity have excelled. While operating in the comfort of their homes, many have driven measurable business outcomes far and wide. In fact, I can tell, from my hands-on experience of supporting several budding entrepreneurs, that many The increase in women leaders is thus the rise of positive qualities in business ecosystems – a welcome development. In the Arab World, women leaders exude such character strengths at a higher rate and intensity. That is because, despite their growing work- force participation in recent years, they continue to be severely outnumbered by their male counterparts, leading to higher fraternisation between them- selves. So, women leaders in the region have forged close-knit communities where different perspectives are brought to the table, challenges are acknowledged, solutions are brain- stormed, and support is rendered. Women’s leadership is an untapped opportunity Arguably, one can ascribe a “butter y effect” to women’s leadership – the probability of a woman leader inspiring several young girls to follow in her foot- steps and setting o a chain of events. Today, it is heartening to see how regional women leaders, notwithstand- ing their small numbers, are blazing the trail for the younger generation. So, there is an obligation and an incentive for regional governments to empower women further because their trailing workforce participation, OECD says, is costing MENA nearly $575bn annually in lost opportunities. The untapped value is not only quantitative but also quali- tative – an impediment to more collab- oration and compassion-led leadership in business ecosystems. Fortunately, policymakers in growth economies such as the UAE and KSA are subscribing to the notion of promoting women leaders to unlock multi-fold value, as evident from a host of supporting policies and reforms in recent years. For global organisations, such shifts call for a re-evaluation of prevailing hesitancies, if any, about women’s place in the Middle East’s business economics. As nations in the civilised world collectively gather their e orts toward common causes such as sustainability and the balance of power, unlocking the full potential of women’s leadership in the Arab world could prove to be monumental. Unlocking the full potential of women’s leadership in the Arab world could prove to be monumental $12TR The boost in global GDP by 2025 through raising women’s participation in the labour force to the same level as men, according to an OECD report solemnly believe the only person who can stop them today is themselves. Collaboration over competition Multiple studies have substantiated that women are better at collaborating. Exploring the reasons, a Harvard Busi- ness Review report said that women’s pro ciency in collaboration boils down to their biological capacity to care for the collective. Unlike men, who by design are known to internalise a collaborative e ort, women are gener- ally wired to ensure every member succeeds in a team. Likewise, empathy and compassion, too, are women’s forte. Such qualities were brought to the fore by the pandemic when wide- spread crisis called for greater compas- sion than corporate calculations. LEADERSHIP | 28 Vol. 24/06, 15 May - 31 May 2023 Soft skills are hard to get right: Here’s how organisations can do better The problem is that teaching soft skills is a lot more di cult than teaching welding LEADERSHIP | But McKinsey research has consist- ently found that employers are putting a higher premium on “soft skills,” such as empathy, communication, adapt- ability, critical thinking, and initiative. That makes sense. The McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that time spent on work that requires higher cognitive and social/emotional skills will rise substantially by ( and percent respectively). The organisation of the future will rely ever more on teamwork, initiative, and cross-functional collaboration. The problem is that teaching soft skills is a lot more di cult than teach- ing welding. A survey of human resource professionals found that a third or more are nding it di cult to recruit problem-solvers who can deal with complexity or have the needed creativity skills. In late , McKinsey launched Forward, a free -week online learning programme that equips recent entrants to the labour force Workforce Training employees may be expensive, but the price of not training them is even higher 400-800M The number of individuals who could be displaced by automation and need to nd new jobs by 2030 around the world, according to a research by McKinsey & Company BY GEMMA D’AURIA, SENIOR PARTNER, MCKINSEY & COMPANY’S MILAN OFFICE, AND MAY WAZZAN, FORWARD PROGRAM LEAD FROM THE DUBAI OFFICE The working world is changing fundamentally; that means that employees will need to acquire new skills to succeed—for their own sakes and that of their organisations. Of course, specific workplace skills, whether it is welding or digital marketing, are essential. arabianbusiness.com 29 | LEADERSHIP The human factor As automation and AI evolve, social and emotional abilities will become more important, Wazzan (left) and D’Auria believes with soft skills. So far, Forward has enrolled more than 190,000 young people from across Africa and the Middle East, as well as Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Turkey. While the feedback has been posi- tive, this has admittedly been a process of trial and sometimes error. One thing we have understood more deeply is that teaching soft skills at scale is more than just transferring knowledge. At least half the battle is instilling a growth mindset in which individuals accept that they will always be a work in progress, and that they therefore need to embrace adaptability and inten- tional learning. Building soft skills is not like a crash diet. Instead, it is more like an exercise programme, requiring steady application. Based on our research and experi- ence, here are three principles for organisations to keep in mind as they do the hard work to get soft skills right. Learning is social. We start from three premises: curiosity can be culti- vated, learning itself is a skill – and both of these are best done in collab- oration with others. At Forward, participants are eager for peer interaction, with broad participation in discussion boards and offline study groups. Those who interact with faculty and peers early on the journey are twice as likely to complete the course as those who do not. We have also seen how healthy peer pressure can encourage learn- ing. For example, individuals who think they are lacking in specific skills become more willing to face their fears and work to improve in the context of a group where others are relying on their input. And here’s a small but important thing: Offer regular breaks. Down time allows participants to get to know each other and improves learning outcomes and skill acquisition. Use a mix of formats. Digital learning predominates in most programmes. That makes sense for reasons of scale and cost; even so, it should not be used exclusively, espe- cially not for soft skills. The best Practice needs to meet purpose. The point of soft-skills training is to meet the needs of individuals when and where they need it. The workplace itself is the context and provides the most useful situations in which to practice and receive real-time feed- back. Timing also matters. Learning and practicing new soft skills when one is seeking, or just had, an expan- sion in responsibilities, will likely yield better outcomes. For extra motivation, behavioural-reinforcement tools can encourage people to put their new skills into practice. The implication is that programmes that try to cater for a very wide range of learners who are at di erent points in their careers may not be as e ective. As automation and arti cial intel- ligence evolve, social and emotional abilities will become more important. Moreover, the reality of an intercon- nected and complex world makes skills like adaptability even more valuable. Research has proved that companies that emphasise adaptability deliver better returns than those that don’t The case for organisations to upgrade soft skills, quickly and at scale, is that is in their own best interests. Even so, many leaders hesitate, citing uncer- tainty and cost. There’s an answer to that: Training may be expensive, but the price of not training is even higher. Learning and practicing new soft skills when one is seeking, or just had, an expansion in responsibilities, will likely yield better outcomes results come from combining online content with other methods, such as games, simulations or expert and peer coaching. Almost 90 percent of Forward participants said that simulated group work and interactive work- shops helped to reinforce their digi- tal lessons. Digital instruction itself can apply the same principle, by incorporating videos, quizzes, scenarios, and case studies. Teaching skills to colleagues is another way to reinforce learning. One manufacturer developed an app that coached supervisors on how to recog- nise people for good work. And then, because learning is social, user-gen- erated content – stories, photos, messages – was added to the app. The results were positive, measurable, and almost immediate. Next >