For Cosmed Group, the upheaval of the last two years has been unexpectedly good for business. Based in East Tāmaki, it’s the leading New Zealand-owned contract manufacturer (OEM and ODM) for the skincare, cosmeceutical, cosmetic, baby care, hair care, pet care and personal care industries.

Co-founder, Dr Olga Garkavenko, says the pandemic came into this world unexpectedly and changed the way society operates. “This has caused a lot of businesses to rethink their strategy. Not only are the established successful brands switching to us, but there’s also many new players too,” she says.

Dr Garkavenko’s core strength is in Biotechnology R&D, but she says it is a team effort all round. “I’m proud of all of our dedicated and enthusiastic team members. We have more than 100 years of combined experience across all the services.

“This includes Cosmetic Science Research, Ingredient R&D, Business Management, Quality Management, Environment Management, GMP Production, Cosmetic Care, Personal Care, Health Products, Consumer Products, Supply Chain, Engineering and Customer Services”.

Who and what

About eight out of ten of Cosmed’s clients are based in New Zealand. Most of these clients want help in developing formulation of their own brand, ensuring quality across each stage of the process. Cosmed Group creates a unique business package for each client, including VI Design, packaging solutions, product IP issues and registration.

Sustainability and ethical sourcing

A big selling point for Cosmed’s products are that they are made in New Zealand which has a good reputation overseas for its natural and sustainable products. The demand for natural ingredients in cosmetics is on the rise globally, and environmental issues are growing in importance, making sustainability, ethical sourcing and their related labelling schemes more prominent.

Changes in consumer behaviour and lifestyles are also creating openings for natural ingredients.

Cosmed Group is BioGro NZ Organic Certified and a member of Natural Health Products New Zealand, which allows them to formulate, process and manufacture certified organic products to get global market access.

How it works

The Cosmed team of qualified in-house chemists offer an industry best-practice product research and development service. They not only create new products but also work collaboratively with clients to solve their product issues and offer improvements to existing products.

“Reformulation of products can be a simple way to improve a product’s quality or price point,” says Olga

The R&D team has extensive experience creating quality products for both local and global markets; understanding client needs and their target markets is essential for the creation of unique products.

Where the magic happens

The complete manufacturing process takes place in their East Tāmaki factory on Crooks Road. Everything happens here, from design, planning, production, packing and execution. They’ve implemented ISO9001 & ISO14001 certification, the world’s leading management system standard.

 “That’s why every product and every batch we manufacture goes through rigorous quality control processes to ensure our client gets superior quality products,” says Olga