MONAT Global - Entrepreneur of the Year

Company: MONAT Global, Miami, FL
Entry Submitted By:Sunwest Communications
Company Description: Global healthy aging haircare and skincare innovator MONAT Global Corp (MONAT) was founded in 2014 by the Urdaneta family to enter the multi-billion-dollar haircare market. Since then, MONAT has established itself as a revolutionary haircare and skincare brand that beautifully unites the best of both nature and science, using the latest scientific technologies and clinically proven ingredients.
Nomination Category: Entrepreneur Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Entrepreneur of the Year - Retail

Nomination Title: MONAT Global CEO Ray Urdaneta

As Co-Founder and CEO of MONAT Global, Ray has led MONAT from humble beginnings in a small Miami, Florida warehouse to a multi-million-dollar global beauty brand in just a few short years. A native of Venezuela, Ray immigrated to the United States with his wife Carolina in 2000 with only $800 in his pocket. Following stints at Sears and as a door-to-door salesman, Ray founded Alcora Corporation, which would later become the parent company of his most successful venture to date: MONAT.

A second-generation direct sales entrepreneur, Ray found his love for the industry at a young age after seeing the impact it had on his family. He found inspiration for MONAT when he recognized a lack of awareness that your hair ages and that scalp care is just as important as skincare. As he dug into the multi-billion-dollar haircare industry, he made two key discoveries: there were no direct selling companies focused on haircare as their signature product line, and there were no haircare products focused on healthy aging. Ray saw an opportunity to disrupt both the beauty and the direct selling industries in a major way, and in 2014, he officially launched MONAT as a direct selling, healthy-aging haircare company – the first of its kind.

Under Ray’s leadership, MONAT has revolutionized the haircare and skincare industry on an international level. In the short five years since it was founded, MONAT has gained traction and is now a top competitor in the beauty industry. Consumers have responded to MONAT’s unique business model, and the success speaks for itself. MONAT is carving a distinct niche in the haircare, skincare and direct selling markets by taking a holistic approach to hair and skin health in a way that no other company has done. The result has been lightening-paced growth.

In September 2019, MONAT hosted its fourth-annual MONATions United Conference in Columbus, Ohio. More than 8,000 MONAT independent Market Partners convened at Nationwide Arena for the four-day event. At the event, MONAT made the biggest announcement since its launch, expanding its innovative approach to naturally based healthy aging beyond haircare with the introduction of MONAT Skincare: an eight-piece, clinically proven luxury collection. The rollout sold a record-breaking $4 million in its first 36 hours and 50% of its aggressive 2019 forecast in just three weeks, selling out of select products in its first production run and amassing a 13,000-person waitlist.

In 2020, MONAT announced unprecedented success in its expansion from haircare and skincare into wellness. The rollout of MONAT Wellness, a five-piece, custom-formulated and scientifically backed collection, sold a record-breaking $10 million in its first 24 hours, nearly three times the brand's first-day projection and 10% of its aggressive first-year forecast. MONAT Gratitude raised a total of $700,000 during MONATions Impact Week 2020, a virtual event which took place Sept. 9-13.

MONAT Gratitude raised over $500,000 through limited-edition product sales for nonprofit organizations supporting at-risk youth, veterans and first responders. Gratitude hosted Feast with Gratitude in November of 2020 and distributed more than 80,000 lbs. of food (67,000 meals) to families in need at the COVID-19-friendly drive-thru event. Gratitude also raised over $27,000 during its annual Gratitude Week virtual event. Gratitude also donated $500,000 to provide relief to nonprofit organizations in the United States, Canada and the UK amid the pandemic.

From 2016 to 2020, MONAT increased revenue from $42.58 million to $804 million—a growth of 1,788%. The 469-employee, Miami-based global brand attributes its rapid growth to the company’s effective products, its VIP (loyal) customers, and its independent sales force, known as Market Partners.

-South Florida Business Journal 40 Under 40 class of 2020
-South Florida Business Journal’s Power Leaders of 2020
-Hosted fourth-annual MONATions United Conference in Columbus, Ohio with more than 8,000 MONAT independent Market Partners who convened at Nationwide Arena for the four-day event.
-Introduced MONAT Skincare: an eight-piece, clinically proven luxury collection, which sold a record-breaking $4 million in its first 36 hours and 50% of its aggressive 2019 forecast in just three weeks, selling out of select products in its first production run and amassing a 13,000-person waitlist.
-Rolled out MONAT Wellness, a five-piece, custom-formulated and scientifically backed collection, which sold a record-breaking $10 million in its first 24 hours - nearly three times the brand's first-day projection and 10% of its aggressive first-year forecast.
-MONAT celebrated its 5th anniversary with more than $1 billion in cumulative revenue.