Why the Queen of Clean is working 20 hours a day

Dr. Iman Alashkar used to sell shampoo … now she makes hand sanitizer, and it’s flying off the shelves

A couple of weeks ago, trade in the products Dr. Iman Alashkar’s company makes was brisk, although perhaps unspectacular. Now the pharmaceutical scientist in Dubai is working 20-hour days, fueled mainly by adrenaline, and her goods are flying off the shelves at a rate of nearly 100,000 a week.

The reason? Dr. Iman’s company, Marssai, makes hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial hand wash — and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has turned them into gold dust. “I’ve been working 24/7 for the past 10 days,” she told Arab News. “I’m not exaggerating but I worked at least 20 hours, and am running on adrenaline.” Before the coronavirus outbreak, Dr. Iman’s factory in

Dubai Science Park produced mainly shampoo. But as the virus spread, supermarkets and pharmacies found themselves struggling to keep pace with the soaring demand for hand sanitizers.

With its factory well placed to make hygiene products, Marssai was able to enter the market very quickly. Now Dr. Iman’s plan is to rapidly increase production.

“The good thing is just being set to meet any demand the market has,” she said. “The brainstorming needed for ramping up production made me aware of where the bottlenecks lay. It’s a very nice thing to do.”

At the same time, she is under no illusion about the potentially temporary nature of the spike in demand for hand hygiene products.

“I hope the threat from the coronavirus will disappear,” she said, “but as long as people need something to counter it, you should do your best to meet the demand.”

I hope the threat will disappear, but as people need something to counter it, you should do your best to meet the demand.