Biainili Brands Brings Traditions of Armenia to 21st Century Beauty Products
With a passion for producing beauty products, Victoria Arakelian founded Biainili Brands in April 2014 in New York City. However, Biainili is not the typical American beauty product company. Using her knowledge of Armenia’s rich herbal traditions, Arakelian and her partners, husband Pankaj Mathur and friend Aaron Hoffman, all three MBA graduates of Hult Boston, have developed and produced a unique set of cosmetics, beauty products and fragrances set on the country’s heritage.
“I believe Armenia and the entire Caucasus region has a lot to offer the beauty industry. France and Italy are the leaders when it comes to beauty products, but I feel Armenia has an important heritage to share with the world. For me, Armenia can become a new beauty destination,” Victoria Arakelian said.
It is that heritage and destination that Biainili is offering customers, who can find the company’s products online, and the group’s website is filled with items from bath and body to skincare.
“It is a start-up company, but we have big ambitions. We want to be a top brand in the beauty industry. Things are moving very fast and we launched selling in the spring of this year.”
With orders being filled around the clock just after two months of the website going live, Biainili hopes to open a brick and mortar store in near future.
Biainili’s goal is to have its own set of stores, giving customers the chance to sample and purchase its products. Although the company has been receiving orders from all over the world, it is a necessary step that Arakelian and her partners believe will open the company up to a whole new audience.
“Obviously, these are big plans. Initially, we plan to have a store in New York City in 2017. We also intend to open a store in Los Angeles due to large Armenian population in southern California, and we intend to be the beauty company to represent them.”
However, Biainili has its sights set outside the USA as well, and plans to open a store in Armenia next year. It has been the interest from customers abroad that has really taken Biainili by surprise, leading them to ship many of its daily orders outside the country.
“There has been a pretty big interest from Armenians in Europe and Australia. Because of that awareness in Biainili, we had to introduce international shipping earlier than we expected.”
A product, embraced with open arms by the Armenian communities in the US and abroad, Arakelian hopes that word of mouth and advertising will help Biainili reach the rest of the world.
“I think our products have a potential with the world beauty market. If we can provide people with high-quality items, we can reach people that want new, innovative products.”
As part of her project with Biainili, Arakelian hopes to support farmers and producers back in Armenia. With many of the products coming from her homeland, Arakelian feels Biainili can provide people in Armenia a chance to continue to grow traditional crops.
“I would like to make a link between these small Armenian villagers and farmers and the world,” Arakelian said.
For a company that has only just begun its life, Biainili is observing growth that has backed up its ambitions. With a wealth of products, available online and in stores on tap for next year, Biainili is poised to grow, making one woman’s passion a top seller in beauty industry.
By Sirarpi Aghababyan
