Founders Nada and Nabaa draw on their professional experience, cultural heritage and personal journeys to build a UAE-based skincare brand centred on botanical ingredients and simpler formulations.
The skincare industry is crowded with products promising healthier-looking skin. For entrepreneurs Nada and Nabaa, building a brand meant looking beyond trends and returning to something more personal: their experiences with wellness, traditional ingredients and the role skincare plays in everyday life.
Their company, SAAF, is a UAE-based skincare and wellness brand that brings botanical ingredients into face and body care. Its approach centres on cold-pressed oils, shorter ingredient lists and formulations designed around selected natural ingredients. The founders’ individual journeys helped shape the philosophy behind the business.
Two different paths to the same idea
Nada’s professional background was not originally in beauty. She spent 17 years working in the technology industry, helping startups develop their businesses with an emphasis on user experience and customer needs.
Her interest in holistic wellness developed alongside that career. Yoga teacher training introduced her to Ayurvedic health principles and encouraged her to explore traditional approaches to self-care. Her Iraqi heritage also provided a connection to ingredients such as frankincense and myrrh, which have long histories of use in the Middle East.
That combination of professional experience and personal interest eventually informed her move into skincare entrepreneurship. Her experience in technology offered a foundation in understanding customers and developing products around their needs, while her interest in botanical ingredients gave the business a distinct direction.
Nabaa’s journey began from a different place. Originally from the United Kingdom and of Iraqi heritage, she grew up learning about natural remedies through her mother. Those early experiences influenced her approach to health and personal care.
Her perspective became more personal after she was diagnosed with three autoimmune diseases. The experience prompted her to reconsider the products she used and pay closer attention to their ingredients. She began incorporating botanical products into her routine and went on to study organic skincare.
Nabaa also tested formulations on herself and people close to her as she explored ingredients and their uses across different skin and hair types. This hands-on process helped shape her interest in developing skincare that reflected her own priorities.
The two women had both made the UAE their home for 14 years when their shared interests brought them together in Dubai. Their different backgrounds offered complementary perspectives: Nada’s experience in technology and customer-centred business development, and Nabaa’s personal interest in botanical skincare and natural alternatives.
SAAF emerged from that shared vision.
A philosophy built around the ingredients
The brand’s approach places ingredient selection at the centre of product development. SAAF states that its formulations use a deliberately limited selection of ingredients, with an emphasis on cold-pressed oils and the inclusion of key ingredients near the top of product ingredient lists.
The range features botanical ingredients such as frankincense, myrrh, prickly pear oil, jojoba oil, rose water, chamomile and lemon oil. These appear across products designed for different parts of a personal care routine.
The collection includes face oils, body oils, face mists and eye-care products, alongside items such as balms and facial cleansing products. Frankincense oil is a recurring ingredient across the brand’s range and forms part of its identity.
SAAF also states that its products are fragrance-free, non-comedogenic and cruelty-free. These are important elements of the brand’s stated formulation philosophy, particularly for consumers who pay close attention to ingredient labels and product-testing practices.
The emphasis on shorter ingredient lists reflects the founders’ preference for keeping formulations focused. It also gives the brand a clear framework for explaining its product choices to customers who want to understand what they are applying to their skin.
Connecting heritage with modern self-care
Frankincense and myrrh have deep historical associations with the Middle East. Their place in SAAF’s product range reflects the founders’ interest in drawing from traditional botanical ingredients while presenting them through contemporary skincare products.
The company’s ingredient sourcing also connects it to the region. According to its website, SAAF works with small regional farmers and sources ingredients from Oman, Yemen, the UAE and Iran.
That regional connection gives the brand a story that extends beyond product formulation. It links the ingredients to their places of origin and to the cultural knowledge that first drew the founders towards them.
For Nada, the connection reflects her interest in ingredients rooted in her Iraqi heritage. For Nabaa, it aligns with the natural remedies she encountered growing up and the personal exploration that followed her health diagnosis.
Their approach brings these influences into a commercial setting without separating skincare from the wider routines and values that shape how people care for themselves.
Turning a shared belief into a business
Building SAAF required the founders to translate personal convictions into products that customers could understand and use. That meant developing a range, communicating ingredient choices and creating a brand around a consistent approach to self-care.
The company’s online store offers products across face, body and related care categories. SAAF also reports that its products are available through selected spas in Dubai and online retailers, alongside its own website.
The business reflects two different forms of entrepreneurial experience. Nada’s background in technology brought years of exposure to startups, customer experience and business strategy. Nabaa’s route was more closely tied to family traditions, personal health experiences and a focused exploration of botanical skincare.
Neither story alone fully explains the brand. Together, they show how professional skills and personal experiences can inform the direction of a business.
A continuing journey in conscious skincare
SAAF’s story is ultimately about the decisions behind a skincare brand: which ingredients to use, how to formulate products and what values should guide the business.
For its founders, those decisions are connected to their own experiences. Nada’s work in technology and interest in holistic wellness helped shape her approach to building the company. Nabaa’s family influences and personal health journey informed her commitment to exploring natural alternatives.
Their shared venture brings those perspectives together in a brand that draws on regional botanical ingredients and a considered approach to formulation.
As consumers continue to examine skincare labels and ask questions about what goes into their products, SAAF has built its identity around making ingredient choices central to the conversation. The next chapter of its entrepreneurial journey will depend on how the brand continues to develop its range, serve its customers and translate its founding philosophy into a lasting business.