Mouna Abassy
CEO
IZIL BEAUTY, UAE
Born in Morocco, Mouna Abbassy grew up in a country where beauty rituals formed a part of essential social affairs as far as females were concerned. She witnessed her mother and other women in the community prepare their own beauty recipes with the raw and natural ingredients.
So, the creative force behind izil and a true inspiration, Mouna Abbassy started her company in 2013 after a successful marketing career in prestigious multinational companies in Dubai.
Her passion and her commitment to excellence earned her many prestigious awards like the Hadafi Award and the Cartier Women’s Initiative award and a place in the top 5 Women in Business by Arabian Business Startup and in the top 5 Arab Women that Are Changing the Beauty Game by Vogue Middle East. In 2019, only 6 years after she started, she was ranked 18th in the list of Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands by the prestigious Forbes Middle East magazine. She has been mentioned in the same list by Forbes in 2020 and 2021 as well. The list of awards and recognitions continues to grow with the brand izil.
Fueled by the passion and knowledge from her rich culture, Mouna started off with selling Moroccan beauty products on Facebook pages and exhibitions in the UAE. Because the products provide instant fantastic results, the demand quickly grew enough for her to open a kiosk in Dubai Festival City. Mouna’s Marketing background, and her 1 year program on cosmetic science at the UK Cosmetic Science Society quickly helped her scale up the business. Between 2014 to 2016, izil opened 6 kiosks and started to be noticed as Mouna started receiving multiple awards and accolades. In 2016, Mouna merged all the kiosks into one major one at Dubai Mall, and launched an e-commerce website. As sales skyrocketed, izil opened its own GMP certified manufacturing facility in Ras Al Khaimah in 2019 which was a massive step. A year later, Mouna finally took the plunge and launched a rebranded, high-end flagship store in Dubai Mall, which now also houses izil’s own deluxe spa (2020), and a Moroccan Hammam facility (since 2021).