The cosmetics designer
Penélope Jirón develops personal care products from natural ingredients
She never imagined her professional life to turn out the way it has. “I had sworn never to become self-employed. I saw how exhausting it was for my parents,” says Penélope Jirón. The original plan was to have a steady job, a manageable workload, evenings off that you could count on. That was the original plan.
For ten years now, Penélope Jirón has been running a company that develops and manufactures natural cosmetics. She’s responsible for a team of ten employees, makes investment decisions, negotiates with clients, plans product lines—and now says: “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I think I would be a lousy employee.”
Her company Azba Cosmetics is rooted in a Adlershof tradition that goes back decades. The acronym even refers to the site: Analytisches Zentrum Berlin-Adlershof, AZBA for short. This was the name of a laboratory for environmental analytics, launched by Penélope Jirón’s parents in 1996.
Her father is from Nicaragua. He grew up in Jinotepe, a town south of the capital Managua, and came to Germany on a scholarship. He studied chemistry, married a fellow student, and together they built a life as entrepreneurs. At Technology Park Adlershof, they found an inspiring environment to do so. “I grew up here,” says the now 36-year-old daughter.
At first, she had no desire to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Instead of chemistry, she studied graphic design and then completed a master’s degree in business administration, specialising in project management. Before graduating, her father approached her and asked whether she would support him with realising a new idea.
Thus, Azba Cosmetics was founded as a spin-off of her parents’ analytical company in 2015. Penélope Jirón has been its sole managing director since 2018. The company sees itself as a service provider for established cosmetics brands, designing and producing new product lines on their behalf. “We provide the scientific expertise. We know how active ingredients work and how the theory behind the recipe works. That’s what this laboratory is about.”
One core principle underpins everything: Anything applied to human skin must be “as natural as possible”. Synthetic additives are only used where no alternatives exist. “We want people to feel that they are benefiting their skin by using our products.” The same green philosophy also guides the company’s production of nutritional supplements.
A new, larger building is under construction next to the company’s current site on Liebigstrasse, creating space for both more offices and more production to grow. “The way things are now, we argue about meeting rooms and lack of labs. The place is bursting at the seams.”
Being the mother of a seven-year-old daughter, there’s one thing she really appreciates and enjoys daily: “We are all in one building. Two cousins, my husband, my brother-in-law, my brother, and of course my parents. There was a time when I wanted to do my own thing. After ten years of experience, I am really glad to have my family around me. When push comes to shove, I know that I’m not alone.”
Dr. Winfried Dolderer for Adlershof Journal