Making things runs in Hamed Alaghebandian's family.
Alaghebandian's father, uncle, cousins — his whole family, it seems — are all in manufacturing or farming. Family businesses have manufactured glass and cement, and farmed pistachios — a combination of industrial and agricultural goods Alaghebandian describes as agroindustrial.
Alaghebandian's latest venture is something of a departure. In 2013, Alaghebandian bought the intellectual property of a company that was closing to create Happy Farm Botanicals, a development and manufacturing facility for natural personal care products in Odenton.
"Now when I walk through the manufacturing plant my shoes don't get dirty," he said.
It's not just Happy Farm Botanicals' cleaner floor, free of cement dust and debris, that's a refreshing change from the family-run plants Alaghebandian remembers from his native Iran, where he lived until age 6.
Alaghebandian grew up in Germany and moved to the United States to study international affairs at George Washington University. He most recently led operations at the family pistachio farm in California.
Happy Farm puts Alaghebandian in the driver's seat of a new family business and allows him to indulge his creative side because developing and manufacturing organic beauty products requires more innovation.
"It may sound silly, but I like to create things," he said. "I like to look at things outside the box and see where one can be innovative."
At Happy Farm's lab, Alaghebandian and his 13-person staff help companies develop new products or fine-tune their formulas. Those products are made at Happy Farm's manufacturing facility.
The company recently worked with celebrity hairstylists Philip Wolff and Chief Behr to create a new line of WolffBehr hair products. Other products made at Happy Farms have been sold at Urban Outfitters and on Target's website.
As part of the development process, Happy Farm works with customers to figure out the best way to package its products. Colors, label designs and bottle shapes all determine whether someone will grab their selection from the shelf at the store. But companies also must think about the quality of their product and whether it will meet expectations — that's what will make people buy it again, Alaghebandian said.
One challenge specific to natural and organic products is educating consumers that they are as effective as traditional products.
"There's a lot more involved than creating a piece of glass," he said.
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Family: Single
Hamed Alaghebandian
Title: president and CEO of Happy Farm Botanicals
Age: 35
Previous job: managing director, Chaparral Farms
Education: bachelor's degree in international affairs, George Washington University
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Birthplace: Iran