Dubai: Youngsters with a nose for success are being given the chance to enter a unique competition, which will earn them the title of ‘Young Perfumer’ 2013 as well as Dh25,000 prize money — and an internship.
The late Haji Ajmal Ali, founder of Ajmal Perfumes, once said: “A fragrance is all that it takes to travel through time, such is the bond between memory and smell.”
After 62 years, these wise words still live on within the current Ajmal generation steering the family business towards a prosperous future — through interacting with youngsters.
It is the first competition of its kind open to all nationalities living in the UAE aged 16-21 years.
“This idea was the brainchild of my late uncle who was the chief perfumer at Ajmal,” said Abdullah Ajmal, general manager at Ajmal Perfumes.
Partnered with the Swiss company Firmenich Perfumes, this talent hunt will consist of 20 young people (ten male and ten female) creating their own perfume in 90 minutes — to be judged by a panel of perfumery professionals. This will be done during the final event on November 15 at the Westin Hotel in Dubai.
“We are proud to be the first inaugurators in the world to identify a unique perfumery talent. We are pleased to partner with Firmenich to fortify this initiative and to accentuate the personal growth and a possible career path for the youth residing within the UAE,” said Ajmal.
Ajmal Perfumes was founded in the late 1950s in India — and is now run out of Dubai. It has established a strong retail presence providing more than 300 fragrances, with more than 150 retail outlets across the GCC — including one flagship outlet in Kuala Lumpur.
Firmenich has been creating perfumes for more than 100 years — since it was founded in 1895. It is still run privately within the family with the current CEO being Patrick Firmenich.
“The values we have in common with Ajmal perfumes are our passion for smell and passion for perfumes. What is unique here in the UAE is that there is a notably high consumption of perfume — there is a clear passion for perfume,” said Louis Lecoeur, general manager at Firmenich in Dubai.
Sixteen ingredients will be provided along with the perfume being based on a ‘fragrance theme’ — the same theme as the one given on the day of training.
The training day will be on November 9, where the industry’s professionals will teach the chosen contestants the magical techniques of perfumery — involving theory and practical work.
As well as partnering with the world’s largest privately-owned company in the perfume and flavour business, Firmenich, Ajmal has also partnered with the UAE-based youth magazine, Emirates Diaries.
“About 65 per cent of the population in this region are young and we want to connect with the youth,” said Ajmal.
Roadshows
“The idea is to truly engage with the youth because the youth are very creative and passionate here in this region — perfumery is all about passion,” he added.
Prior to the final competition, there will be roadshows across the UAE at Ajmal outlets and five universities — one of which will be the American University of Sharjah.
The roadshows will entail a three-step process to understand the level of perfumery knowledge the candidates have. Shortlisting will be done based on their responses to the test.
What do these mysterious tests include?
‘The triangle test’ will reveal three bars of soap, two of them will contain some fragrance and one will be different. ‘The ladder test’ will showcase one fragrance with different concentration levels. Candidates need to put them in descending order — the strongest to the weakest. ‘The blind test’ involves five different ingredients; the contenders have to identify and describe what they smell.
These tests are devised to understand if the candidate is able to smell, identify and differentiate between different fragrances. Based on these tests, 20 candidates will be shortlisted by Ajmal and Firmenich teams, to compete in the final competition — where the top five winners will be selected.
The lucky winner will receive an opportunity to be part of the making of the next ‘youth fragrance’ by Ajmal; as well as a three-month internship programme at Firmenich in Dubai — plus Dh25,000.
The second prize winner will receive Dh15,000, the third prize winner Dh10,000 and the fourth and fifth winners will win Dh7,500.
No one will go home a loser. All 20 finalists will receive an Ajmal goodie bag, each worth Dh1,000.
Registration is open until October 31 — followed by a day of training for the chosen 20 candidates on November 9.
“We hope to open the doors of perfumery in this part of the world. Perfumery started in the East and drifted off to the Western world — we need to bring it back to the East,” said Ajmal.
