A woman of vision

MANILA, Philippines – Know where your passions lie and explore that path as much as you can. Soon you’ll be doing something you love while making a difference in people’s lives.

Age Defying Solutions founder and CEO Aiza Diuco has always had a clear grasp of the importance of beauty. For this reason she founded a company that would provide safe, high-quality, and proudly Philippine-made beauty and whitening products.

Before she put up her own business, Diuco had worked at her father’s confectionery manufacturing company. However, the desire to carve a niche for herself proved too great to ignore that she decided to gain more work experience somewhere else. The beauty industry was the perfect fit for her for making people feel good about themselves. It had always been one of her top priorities.

Diuco started Age Defying Solutions, a SEC-registered corporation in May 2009. The company started in her garage with a handful of people. After a year, they transferred to a 250-sq.-m. office in the growing industrialized district in Marikina.

From only a few products, Glupa now boasts a wide array of health and beauty items to cater to the needs of the ever-growing market. Glupa Skin Whitening Soap, Glupa Whitening Capsules, Glupa Whitening Lotion, Glupa Whitening Cream, Glupa Skin Solutions Plus, and Glupa Skin Solutions for men  are only some of the innovative products that Age Defying Solutions has to offer.

However, Diuco is not one to rest on her laurels. She has dreams for her company, the people who work for her and the people who benefit from the products. “In five years I want Age Defying Solutions to be a major player in the beauty industry in the Philippines.” She also has her sights on conquering the international market, something which she has already started to do.

When asked if her products are available abroad, she said, “Yes, in the Middle East and England. In London in particular. We also have distribution offices in Texas, San Francisco, Malaysia and South Africa.”

Her products are also available online. Diuco, being a young entrepreneur, sees the Internet, in general, and social media, in particular, as the most important and cost-effective medium to reach one’s target market. “The office workers are there, and so are the housewives. Everyone is on Facebook. Everyone has an Instagram account.”

She may not be a chemist but she’s a researcher with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. “I was a product researcher and a marketing management practitioner.” She personally researched the formulation of Glupa, a combination of two of the most potent whitening ingredients — glutathione and papaya.

Some might ask, What’s so important about the beauty industry? Aside from being a multi-billion dollar industry, the business of beauty is more philosophical than one might think. The idea of beauty has been extensively discussed inside many a university hall, together with the concepts of truth, good, and evil.

Diuco weighed in when asked what beauty means to her. “There are so many sayings about beauty like ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ or ‘Beauty is only skin-deep.’ But let’s face it, the first thing you see is the outward appearance. The skin is the largest organ in the body and it’s what protects us, so we have to take care of it. However, having said that, a person should not only strive to be beautiful outside. The most attractive people I know are the ones who are beautiful inside and out.”

As an entrepreneur she has this to say to young people who want to have their own business someday. “Equip yourselves with knowledge and skills. Work for other companies. You will learn a lot from your boss, your co-workers. Benefit from trainings to develop your skills. My greatest passions are learning and research and I like sharing what I have learned with others by creating innovative products — products not yet available in the market.”

It is not that easy to dismiss Diuco as “just a pretty face,” especially not after the enlightening conversation I had with her. She knows the ins and outs of the beauty industry like the pro that she is. Her company’s dedication to constantly innovate to give the clients world-class products makes her a formidable contender in the local beauty industry.