L'Oréal

L’Oréal for the Future: Leading Sustainable Change in Egypt

Transforming Production, Empowering Suppliers, and Redefining Impact

Project Overview

Over the span of 18 months, I led one of the most ambitious projects of my career: helping L’Oréal Egypt bring its global sustainability goals to life, locally. As part of the L’Oréal for the Future mission, I lead a full transformation of how we produced marketing materials, displays, and campaigns within the Professional Products Department.

This wasn’t just about making eco-conscious choices, it was about changing the mindset of an entire production ecosystem, from suppliers and manufacturers to internal teams. Through persistence, cross-functional collaboration, and hundreds of hours of hands-on effort, we achieved:

A 60% reduction in production costs
A shift to 80% sustainable materials
Deep alignment with 20+ supplier teams
The launch of L’Oréal Egypt’s first-ever Supplier Sustainability Summit

The Challenge: Turning Global Vision into Local Action

When L’Oréal introduced its Design for Sustainability mission, the vision was inspiring but the path to get there wasn’t simple, especially in a market like Egypt.

We faced three major challenges:

Material limitations: Sustainable materials were hard to source, expensive, or unfamiliar to local vendors.
Knowledge gaps: Many suppliers had never worked with eco-conscious design before and needed real guidance.
Brand expectations: Despite constraints, we had to uphold L’Oréal’s high standards of quality and luxury.

This wasn’t a switch we could flip overnight. It required time, experimentation, and trust-building at every step.

My Role: Leading Strategy, Design, and Change

Actual Product made out of 80% recycable and sustainable material

I took ownership of both the vision and the implementation. My role evolved across three phases:

1. Strategy & Material Transformation

Audited our entire production pipeline to identify where we could reduce waste, swap materials, and improve efficiency.
Researched local material alternatives and tested new substrates for print, packaging, booth construction, and POS.
Ran trial-and-error experiments to ensure replacements were durable, cost-effective, and brand-appropriate.

2. Supplier Education & Alignment

Co-developed supplier toolkits that translated L’Oréal’s sustainability guidelines into actionable design and production practices.
Led over a dozen workshops with supplier teams hands-on sessions focused on sourcing, assembly, and minimizing environmental impact.
Acted as a bridge between global brand goals and local supplier realities — ensuring every change was realistic and scalable.

3. Summit Design & Delivery

Designed the full experience of the L’Oréal Egypt Supplier Sustainability Summit, from visual identity and content to in-person facilitation.
Brought together internal teams, supplier leads, and external experts to align on L’Oréal’s sustainability vision and how each partner could contribute to it.
Positioned the summit as a turning point for how sustainability would be implemented at scale across the region.

I took ownership of both the vision and the implementation. My role evolved across three phases:

1. Strategy & Material Transformation

Audited our entire production pipeline to identify where we could reduce waste, swap materials, and improve efficiency.
Researched local material alternatives and tested new substrates for print, packaging, booth construction, and POS.
Ran trial-and-error experiments to ensure replacements were durable, cost-effective, and brand-appropriate.

2. Supplier Education & Alignment

Co-developed supplier toolkits that translated L’Oréal’s sustainability guidelines into actionable design and production practices.
Led over a dozen workshops with supplier teams hands-on sessions focused on sourcing, assembly, and minimizing environmental impact.
Acted as a bridge between global brand goals and local supplier realities — ensuring every change was realistic and scalable.

3. Summit Design & Delivery

Designed the full experience of the L’Oréal Egypt Supplier Sustainability Summit, from visual identity and content to in-person facilitation.
Brought together internal teams, supplier leads, and external experts to align on L’Oréal’s sustainability vision and how each partner could contribute to it.
Positioned the summit as a turning point for how sustainability would be implemented at scale across the region.

My Role: Leading Strategy, Design, and Change

I took ownership of both the vision and the implementation. My role evolved across three phases:

1. Strategy & Material Transformation

Audited our entire production pipeline to identify where we could reduce waste, swap materials, and improve efficiency.
Researched local material alternatives and tested new substrates for print, packaging, booth construction, and POS.
Ran trial-and-error experiments to ensure replacements were durable, cost-effective, and brand-appropriate.

2. Supplier Education & Alignment

Co-developed supplier toolkits that translated L’Oréal’s sustainability guidelines into actionable design and production practices.
Led over a dozen workshops with supplier teams hands-on sessions focused on sourcing, assembly, and minimizing environmental impact.
Acted as a bridge between global brand goals and local supplier realities — ensuring every change was realistic and scalable.

3. Summit Design & Delivery

Designed the full experience of the L’Oréal Egypt Supplier Sustainability Summit, from visual identity and content to in-person facilitation.
Brought together internal teams, supplier leads, and external experts to align on L’Oréal’s sustainability vision and how each partner could contribute to it.
Positioned the summit as a turning point for how sustainability would be implemented at scale across the region.

L'Oréal for the Future Sustainability Summit

What was achieved:

This wasn’t just a successful initiative it was a transformation. The impact was clear and measurable:

60% cost reduction across the department by optimizing materials and eliminating production waste
80% of materials converted to sustainable alternatives within 18 months
20+ supplier teams trained and aligned to L’Oréal’s sustainability standards
Fewer material failures and lower returns due to improved durability and testing
A repeatable model now being referenced by other departments and regional teams

And most importantly: we didn’t sacrifice design quality or brand presence to make these changes we elevated it.

L'Oréal for the Future Sustainability Summit

L'Oréal for the Future Sustainability Summit

This wasn’t just a successful initiative it was a transformation. The impact was clear and measurable:

60% cost reduction across the department by optimizing materials and eliminating production waste
80% of materials converted to sustainable alternatives within 18 months
20+ supplier teams trained and aligned to L’Oréal’s sustainability standards
Fewer material failures and lower returns due to improved durability and testing
A repeatable model now being referenced by other departments and regional teams

And most importantly: we didn’t sacrifice design quality or brand presence to make these changes we elevated it.

What was achieved:

This wasn’t just a successful initiative it was a transformation. The impact was clear and measurable:

60% cost reduction across the department by optimizing materials and eliminating production waste
80% of materials converted to sustainable alternatives within 18 months
20+ supplier teams trained and aligned to L’Oréal’s sustainability standards
Fewer material failures and lower returns due to improved durability and testing
A repeatable model now being referenced by other departments and regional teams

And most importantly: we didn’t sacrifice design quality or brand presence to make these changes we elevated it.

What was achieved:

The workshop

The team

Why this project matters to me

This project taught me what real design leadership looks like. It wasn’t about making things look good it was about bringing people along with a mission, solving messy real-world constraints, and staying persistent through uncertainty.

There were moments when suppliers pushed back, when materials failed in testing, and when timelines felt impossible. But through every challenge, I kept the vision in focus: a better, more sustainable way of working for the brand, for our partners, and for the planet.

This project became the foundation of a new standard for how L’Oréal Egypt creates and it’s one of the most meaningful contributions I’ve ever made as a designer.

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