Q&A with Abida Halstenberg, CEO & Founder of SAMAYA Ayurveda

Abida Halstenberg is the CEO and founder of SAMAYA Ayurveda, an all-natural skincare brand. Abida worked at Goldman Sachs from 1998 to 2000 in Investment Banking in New York.

1. How did you start your career at Goldman Sachs and what did you learn during your time here that helped you in the next phase(s) of your career?
I was an Analyst at GS from 1998 until 2000 in Corporate Finance, Investment Banking. We had a fabulous Analyst class and shared a terrific camaraderie.

GS instilled in me a very strong work ethic and an unrelenting focus on clients as well as invaluable analytical skills. I carried these values with me when I moved to McKinsey and then went to Harvard Business School. During my summer internship in business school, I worked for the Head of Skincare at Unilever. That’s when I knew I could make a living while indulging my passion for skincare.

GS also taught me the importance of giving back to one’s community. I always participated in the GS Community Teamworks initiatives as well as volunteered throughout the year. I continue this practice of giving back to my community in multiple ways, including donating SAMAYA products to worthy causes.

GS set the highest standards of integrity and excellence and I always tried to bring these qualities to all my subsequent roles. The concept of going all out to over-deliver and pulling out all stops to get a job done well has stood me in good stead in every role I have had since GS.

2. Almost 16 years after you left the firm, you founded SAMAYA, an all-natural skincare brand. Tell us about what inspired you to start the business, the meaning behind the name, and your journey from inception of the idea to now.
My maternal grandmother inspired me to make Ayurvedic skincare at a very early age. She taught me the benefits of different herbs and how to create all-natural, yet effective cleansers, masks, exfoliants, oil blends and so on, that not only made one’s skin look good but also made one feel good. Different herbs balance different constitution types and this led me to coin SAMAYA which means ‘place of balance’ because when people use our products they are transported to a place of balance. Sama means “balance” in Sanskrit and Alaya means “place”, so I simply combined the two to form SAMAYA.

I moved to London after business school and could not find anything close to the high-quality natural products that I had grown up with. There was clearly a white space in the skincare market. After conducting research and lots of lab samples later, I launched SAMAYA, an all-natural skincare brand based on Ayurvedic principles of Indian holistic wellness that also delivers visible results via clinically proven actives.

Exactly seven years ago in December 2016, I was fortunate enough to launch SAMAYA at Fenwicks, a legendary department store on New Bond Street in Mayfair in London where we still enjoy tremendous success. Since then, SAMAYA can also be found at other stores in London, such as John Bell & Croyden in Marylebone and at the Whole Foods flagship store in Kensington. In addition to select international retailers ranging from Bahrain to Estonia and Singapore to Switzerland, we also sell globally on our website.

3. How do you differentiate SAMAYA from other skincare brands on the market? How did you build your following?
SAMAYA is the only premium skincare brand that owns a trio of benefits: it is all-natural, authentically holistic, and highly functional. So, SAMAYA delivers visible results without using any nasties, through stress-alleviating luxurious formulations that allow you to incorporate personalised balance and wellness through your daily skincare routine. For example, we use Ashwagandha which is an adaptogenic stress-relieving herb as well as other Ayurvedic botanicals to impart a tangible sense of tranquillity through our skincare. Skin is our largest organ and is often overlooked as a medium capable of delivering holistic wellness.

It’s the relentless focus on excellence that GS instilled in me that drives me to search the most effective actives and create award-winning products that people can trust year-after-year to look and feel their best.

We have a streamlined approach: each range has only five products (cleanser, exfoliant, cream, oil and eye cream) and everything is under £99 to create an affordable luxury. All of our products are sustainably made in small batches and are housed in frosted glass bottles that are recyclable. SAMAYA is Vegan certified and Cruelty Free (Leaping Bunny approved).

Our customers are drawn to honest, good value, clean skincare that not only does what it claims, but also over-delivers. We provide a very personal approach and I am deeply involved in all aspects of the business. This commitment manifests itself in the quality of our products and in our devotion to our customer’s needs.

We have a growing community of organic followers on Instagram, samaya_ayurveda, where we share useful tips and advice. I am proud to report that SAMAYA has won 64 prestigious beauty awards to date.

4. What are you most proud of accomplishing since founding SAMAYA in 2016?
What makes me most proud is the very positive customer feedback I receive regularly. We are fortunate to have loyal consumers who help to grow SAMAYA using word-of-mouth recommendations to their friends and family. SAMAYA has also grown since Covid as people have been embracing greater self-care and mindfulness in their post-pandemic daily routines.

Customers want more from their skincare and SAMAYA delivers. The herbs we use in each of our ranges have been used for millennia to balance particular dosha (constitution types). Helping people who suffer from skin issues ranging from acne to eczema has been the most satisfying. From anxious brides-to-be to stressed bankers to everyone in between, I regularly receive emails from customers thanking me for the difference SAMAYA has made to their lives. Their positive experiences are what motivate me and make me most proud. 

5. As you look to the future, what are your ambitions for SAMAYA over the next few years?
SAMAYA has huge potential and has only scratched the surface of possibilities. I intend to grow the brand further in the UK as well as internationally while raising the profile of Ayurveda. The spa service side of our business is gaining traction and was featured in the top five facials in the United Kingdom in The Sunday Times Style in October 2023.