The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is helping MÁDARA Cosmetics Group, Latvia’s leading manufacturer of organic, sustainable beauty products, to strengthen its new business model and contribute to a sustainable beauty market.

The Bank will assist the company in improving its new business-to-business white-label beauty product platform, which will reduce energy use and the CO2 emissions associated with product development and delivery. MÁDARA is the first SME in the Baltic states to benefit from EBRD support and the initiative will be funded by the European Union (EU)’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Through its subsidiary, Cosmetics NORD, MÁDARA has launched a new self-service platform, www.selfnamed.com, which aims to make circular and clean beauty available across Europe and to create eco-conscious white-label cosmetic products on demand, through an innovative print-on-demand business model. With fast lead times and no minimum order quantity, the platform makes sustainable skincare products more available and reduces over-production.

As part of its support package, the EBRD will finance improvements to the selfnamed.com platform and enhance the digitalisation of the business model. New drop-shipping functionality and the integration of selfnamed.com with ecommerce platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce will help reduce transport CO2 emissions and lower entry costs for new brands, as products can be shipped directly from the manufacturer to the end customer. A mock-up generator will allow customers’ individual designs to be placed automatically on product images, doing away with the need for printing samples and photo shoots, reducing resources and costs.

MÁDARA Cosmetics Group’s warehouse facilities, powered fully by green electricity, will be used for its storage and drop-shipping activities, further reducing the firm’s carbon footprint.

The EBRD is committed to helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve sustainable resource efficiency and to innovate in three areas vital to the economies in which the Bank invests: energy, water and materials. Through its Green Innovation Programme (GIP), funded by Horizon 2020, the EBRD helps firms in the EU-12 countries conduct research, development and deployment activities, as well as invest in products, technologies and business models that have a positive green economy transition impact.

“We are delighted that MÁDARA Cosmetics Group has become the first SME in the Baltic region to benefit from EBRD support,” said Ian Brown, EBRD Associate Director and Head of the Baltic States. “Its commitment to sustainability mirrors the Bank’s own ethos, and we are happy to help MÁDARA Cosmetics Group become even more green and digital. Our joint work will enable the more efficient use of resources for MÁDARA Cosmetics Group and its clients, while also contributing to a greener and more efficient beauty industry.”

“We are pleased to partner with the EBRD, an organisation whose commitment to sustainability matches our own,” said Uldis Iltners, CEO of MÁDARA Cosmetics Group. “The EBRD’s support will enable us to strengthen our new business model and increase access to circular and clean beauty for everyone in Europe and beyond.”

The EBRD has been working in Latvia since the country regained its independence in the early 1990s. To date, the Bank has invested almost €1 billion in the country through 99 projects.