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Saudi Arabia’s Halal Products Development Company (HPDC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the kingdom’s sovereign-backed Public Investment Fund (PIF), has invested in the Singapore-based Believe, a firm specialising in halal cosmetics and personal care products.
As a part of the deal, Believe will relocate its headquarters to Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom sets itself up as a hub for exporting halal products worldwide.
In a bid to localise the cosmetics and personal care production capabilities, HPDC will also set up a factory to manufacture Believe-owned brands locally, in addition to providing contract manufacturing services for local brands initially, before extending to global names in the future.
The investment also aims to transfer research and development capabilities to empower local companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, by providing other value-added services alongside contract manufacturing, HPDC said.
“Our investment in this sector marks a very important initial step that acts as a key catalyst for the development and localisation of halal cosmetics and personal care manufacturing, enhancing the sector’s efficiency and supporting research and development efforts to elevate services provided locally and globally,” Fahad Al Nuhait, CEO of Halal Products Development Company, said.
According to a study by Canadian-firm Precedence Research, the global halal cosmetics market size topped $38 billion in 2022 and is expected to hit around $118.55 billion by 2032 with a registered CAGR of 12.1%.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
