The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) is a global leader in prestige beauty. The company manufactures, markets, and sells high-quality skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products. Founded in 1946 by businesswoman Estée Lauder, ELC today has net sales of USD15.61billion (FY2024), thanks to its wide portfolio of brands. These include the eponymous Estée Lauder, as well as others such as Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty, La Mer, M·A·C, Clinique and Origins to name a few.
Malaysia has been a key location for ELC for the past 37 years. This position was reinforced in 2022, when ELC set up its Asia-Pacific hub for integrated shared services in Greater Kuala Lumpur (Greater KL). Cheryl Joannides, General Manager of ELC in Malaysia, highlights the factors that influenced the company to do so.
“The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) builds consumer-beloved brands, and we serve as a steward of these luxury and prestige brands globally.
When ELC first launched in Malaysia in 1987, it was our second market in Southeast Asia as well as the fifth market in the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Over the years, we have expanded our footprint to meet changing consumer behaviours and preferences. Today, we reach our consumers through around 60 free standing boutiques and brand websites, as well as through retailers such as Sephora, Lazada and department stores. This has, I am delighted to say, enabled us to maintain our leadership in prestige beauty.
On a personal note, I have had a long and fulfilling career with ELC, starting out as a Marketing Assistant for the Clinique brand in the UK. Since then, I had the opportunity to work in various positions, spanning different brands and regions within ELC. And before taking up my present role I was the Vice President/General Manager of Jo Malone London for the UK and Ireland region.
I moved to Malaysia in October 2018 together with my husband and two children, and we quickly fell in love with Kuala Lumpur and its vibrancy, diversity, food and nature.
Why Malaysia
Malaysia has been, and remains, a key market for us, as it is one of the most developed and fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. Our commitment to Malaysia, and to Greater KL, is further reflected by the decision to locate our Asia-Pacific hub for shared services here.
The decision to do so started a few years ago when ELC identified the need to integrate shared services in order to better serve our various brands, functions and regions, enabling the company to scale efficiently and effectively.
Greater KL is the perfect location for the Asia-Pacific hub as it has a strong reputation for being a key destination for global shared services, thanks to a high-quality talent pool, advanced telecommunication services and well-developed infrastructure. Since its official launch in 2022, the hub has been a key focus of ELC’s operations in Malaysia.
Developing Local Talent
At ELC, we are always looking to drive impact in local communities. In Malaysia, we are leveraging on the country’s reputation as a technology hub by partnering our Global Technology Center with universities in Greater KL such as Monash, Sunway and UCSI.
InvestKL has been a vital partner in these efforts as it has given excellent support by connecting us with these local universities. This has enabled us to tap into a large network of students with strong skillsets in STEM, particularly in digital science and technology, to join us as interns and management trainees.
I am pleased that one such intern is now working with us full-time as part of our shared services team, and we hope for more success stories in the future. We are already exploring ways to deepen our collaborations with universities and the Human Resource Development Fund to co-design training programs that continue to foster a pipeline of skilled local IT resources.
Commitment to ESG
As a company, we push ourselves to have a positive impact within our business and the communities we touch, with a focus on women’s advancement, product sustainability, representation, and climate and the environment.
Being a female-founded company, ELC seeks to carry on the legacy of our founder through our commitment to building a world where women have limitless possibilities. We do this by championing women’s health, developing women entrepreneurs and leaders, as well as advocating for women’s and girls’ education.
We have partnered with The Asia Foundation’s STEM ConnectHer programme, which encourages and equips young women to pursue and excel in STEM careers by providing them with practical guidance, access to role models, and opportunities to develop their skills and network.
We also work with local NGOs, such as the Breast Cancer Welfare Association, Cancer Research Malaysia, College of Radiology and National Cancer Society of Malaysia, as part of our Breast Cancer Campaign.
This campaign has been ongoing for more than 30 years and is a cornerstone of ELC’s investment in women’s health. Together with The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, it has funded more than US$131 million for lifesaving global research, education, and medical services.
We are also dedicated to managing our environmental impact and are focused on incorporating more sustainable concepts into our prestige packaging to reduce their environmental impact. We have made significant progress through innovation, working towards achieving our goal to have 75-100% of our packaging to be recyclable, refillable, reusable or recoverable by 2025.
I’m very fortunate to have spent most of my career working for ELC, which champions people leadership, inclusion, diversity, and equity, and women’s empowerment. As part of this, I’m very proud to be one of the Executive Sponsors of our Women’s Leadership Network in Asia-Pacific.
Our CEO, Fabrizio Freda, sums up our company beautifully, ‘Our extraordinary and coveted brands, with their high-quality, sought-after products, and our best-in-class employees, are what make this company exceptional – and this really is what makes us unique and loved by consumers.”
