ParfumPlus

I would definitely say that balancing creative freedom with conscious responsibility has been the most defining evolution within my career so far. PP: YOU JOINED EUROFRAGANCE IN 2023 TO LEAD ITS CREATIVE CENTRE BEFORE BECOMING GENERAL MANAGER – MIDDLE EAST IN 2026. HOW HAS YOUR CREATIVE BACKGROUND INFLUENCED YOUR LEADERSHIP APPROACH? OT: I believe having a creative background teaches you to listen to everything around you - clients, colleagues, markets and also the things that aren’t said, such as emotional cues, and this really shapes how I lead. When I joined Eurofragance in 2023 to lead the Middle East Creative Center, my focus was on building a collaborative, client-centric environment. Perfumery isn’t created by just one person; it is a collective of creativity at work. Now in my role as General Manager, I apply the same philosophy. I believe in empowering our teams by creating space for ideas to flourish and encouraging our creatives to experiment with both ingredients and techniques. Leadership in such a creative industry is trying to balance figures and feelings, intuition and data, technology and experimenting. We don’t get it right all the time, but we do have fun learning along the way. PP: EUROFRAGANCE BLENDS THE AGILITY OF AN INDEPENDENT HOUSE WITH THE STRENGTH OF A GLOBAL COMPANY. HOW DOES THIS POSITIONING SUPPORT YOUR REGIONAL STRATEGY? OT: Our positioning is one of our greatest assets. As an independent house, we move with agility, and we can adapt quickly to regional trends, bespoke projects, and maintain close relationships with clients. At the same time, our global infrastructure provides us with access to technical excellence, advanced production capabilities and sustainably sourced proprietary ingredients. PARFUMPLUS: WITH OVER 21 YEARS IN THE FRAGRANCE INDUSTRY, WHAT KEY TRANSFORMATIONS HAVE SHAPED YOUR PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY? Oumayma Tabet: With more than two decades in the fragrance industry, my journey has been shaped by both continuity and evolution. One constant throughout has been the industry's unwavering focus on performance. Long-lasting diffusion and technical robustness have always been fundamental pillars of perfumery and they remain just as essential today. What has evolved over time is the depth of what we build around that performance. Today, creation is not only about how a fragrance behaves, but also about the emotion it evokes, the story it tells and the values it represents especially in a region like the Middle East, where scent is deeply tied to identity and memory. My early years as a fragrance developer gave me a strong technical and creative grounding. It taught me to innovate, to understand raw materials intimately, and to push for excellence under any constraint. That foundation never left me. Recently, though, moving closer to the consumer and our people has truly transformed my perspective. In the Middle East, fragrance isn’t just a product. It’s an expression of identity, part of traditional rituals, and forms a large part of people's memories. That deep cultural connection pushed me to think beyond formulation and think about creating fragrances that are rooted in storytelling, giving consumers an experience every time they smell the scent. I think the biggest shift for me has been the industry and particularly Eurofragance, taking ownership and responsibility. Creativity must go hand in hand with sustainability, authenticity, and cultural respect - these are no longer optional; they define modern leadership. P A R F U M P L U S 23