How a Community Rallied to Save Dubai's Iconic Camel Soap Factory

Two months after the Iran war began in February, entrepreneur Stevi Lowmass faced the prospect that her 13-year-old Dubai business might not survive the sharp drop in tourism. The Camel Soap Factory, which Lowmass had built from a home operation into a manufacturer whose products are sold across the UAE, had always relied heavily on visitors. As tourist numbers fell, so did sales, leaving her scrambling to cut every cost she could. Among those cuts was Lucy Bradley, founder of Dubai marketing agency Plug, who Lowmass had worked with for several years to promote the brand.

“We took all the actions, including terminating Lucy,” Lowmass tells The National. “I had to phone to say: 'Lucy, we have to cut every single cost possible, which meant really cutting all our contractors.'” Bradley was given one month's notice. But rather than simply seeing out the remaining weeks, she decided to use them to try to help save the company. “I’ve got a last hurrah here,” Lowmass recalls Bradley telling her.

That last attempt became Save Our Soap. Bradley's idea was simple: ask the community for help. “I remember messaging the brand manager, and I went: ‘Let’s go to the public. Be really honest. Tell them the situation,’” Bradley recalls. She came up with the line: “Does camel soap float? Yes, if Dubai backs it.”

The Camel Soap Factory would aim to sell 25,000 bars of soap in three months – enough to keep its staff employed, its factory operating and give Lowmass time to shore up the business. It was a plan, Lowmass admits, she found hard to accept. To make it work, she would have to publicly acknowledge that the company was struggling. “Nobody wants to share with the wider public that you might fail,” she says.

Since the Save Our Soap campaign began at the end of May, more than 22,500 bars have been sold, putting the company within reach of its 25,000 target. Customers have placed orders, other businesses have shared its appeal and companies have resurfaced to ask what they can do to help. “I cannot tell you what it’s done in terms of almost uniting companies and people behind,” Lowmass says.

For Lowmass, what began as an attempt to keep a struggling factory afloat has become a demonstration of the value the UAE community places on its home-grown businesses. It is also a marketing success story. Rather than spending money on advertising or influencers, Bradley wanted to talk directly to people who already knew the company using a database of about 7,500 customers, corporate clients, and previous online buyers.

The prospect of losing the company was particularly painful for Lowmass because of how unlikely its beginnings had been. She had spent her career working in FinTech and technology before a family holiday in Western Australia inspired her to start The Camel Soap Factory. Moving to the UAE in 2002, she settled on camel milk as the ingredient that could give the products a distinctly local identity.

The business grew with the UAE until the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the company to broaden its range beyond soap. When tourism was hit again this year, the response forced Lowmass to reconsider her customers, introducing the brand to a domestic market it had never seriously pursued.

Inspired by its success, Bradley created Homegrown 25, an initiative through which local businesses with their own customer databases can support one another. Looking beyond the immediate crisis, Lowmass plans to develop markets outside the GCC, taking her camel milk products to a wider audience while appreciating the powerful support of the local community.