'We want to be where the future of skincare begins'

Head of Ventures and New Business at Beiersdorf Korea Jacek Brozda poses in his office in Seoul, Nov. 2. / Courtesy of Beiersdorf Korea

By Kim Jae-heun

Jacek Brozda, head of Ventures and New Business at Beiersdorf Korea, founded the NIVEA Accelerator (NX) together with general manager Endrik Hasemann in June 2019.

NX is Beiersdorf's first global beauty startup accelerator program which aims to empower selected Korean beauty enterprises by forming strategic partnership agreements with the Hamburg-based cosmetic company that operates NIVEA, Eucerin and La Prairie.

Believing that Korea is the frontrunner in beauty and digital technologies, Brozda and Hasemann decided to make Korea the flagship location for the NX.

"In fact, no other location in the world has the combination of a leading-edge startup ecosystem, technology ecosystem and beauty ecosystem. This brings Korea into the best position to develop new skincare trends," Brozda said. "In other words, with NX we want to be where the future of skincare begins."

Brozda first came up with an idea of this project with a belief that the beauty industry will change more fundamentally in the next 10 years compared to the changes made in the past 100 years.

"We see open innovation and entrepreneurship as core elements for success. The purpose of NX is very clear. We want to identify high-potential beauty startups to accelerate the business of the startups, as well as of Beiersdorf," Brozda said.

As the first global beauty business accelerator in Korea, NX already has strong presence in the domestic cosmetic market.

The first batch of NX showed average growth rates of over 130 percent and it launched several co-innovation projects with the startups.

Brozda thinks the speed of innovation and the sophistication of consumers make the Korean market special.

"Korea is the third largest exporter of cosmetics in the world and it has been growing significantly over the past years. The global demand for Korean cosmetics is definitely rising," Brozda said.

According to Brozda, Koreans are among the most-demanding consumers in the world, who have an appetite for innovation and new product formats.

"Also, they are very sophisticated in terms of their skincare routine. This creates a high standard for cosmetic brands in Korea, because only the most competitive brands survive over long-term," Brozda added.

The co-founder of NX believes Korea is a true innovation hub for skincare products, especially in Asia.

"Our strong presence and efforts in Korea also have strategic importance. We want to become the leading beauty business accelerator in Asia by 2022," Brozda said.

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