Meet Filipina fuelling viral Dubai perfume trend in Philippines

Madelaine “Madz” Gonzaga Mortillo is the owner and CEO of Mad Kolektiv. ARCHIVE

There is a particular kind of Dubai memory that follows Filipinos home: the scent of oud in a hotel lobby, the sweet trail of perfume lingering through a shopping mall, the elaborate fragrance bottles displayed like jewellery, and the discovery that Arabian perfumery extends far beyond the traditional oud many people associate with the region.

For Madelaine “Madz” Gonzaga Mortillo, that fascination has become a business.

At 24, the Filipina entrepreneur is building Mad Kolektiv, a fragrance business with operations in the Philippines and the UAE, while also making her mark in Dubai’s oil and gas sector as a general manager.

Her entrepreneurial journey began long before she arrived in the UAE, but Dubai gave her a new perspective on fragrance, business and the possibilities of connecting two markets she knows well.

In this Expat Media exclusive interview, Madz shares how an early teenage hustle evolved into an international business, how a major business setback pushed her and her husband to Dubai, and why she believes Arabian fragrances deserve a bigger place in the Filipino fragrance market.

From Divisoria to Dubai

Madz’s entrepreneurial instincts surfaced early. At 16, while many teenagers were focused primarily on school and social life, she was already looking for products she could resell. “I would go to Divisoria and buy things there that I could sell,” she recalls.

That first experience of buying, pricing and reselling products introduced her to the fundamentals of commerce. With the support of her then-boyfriend, now husband, she eventually moved into online selling, initially focusing on ready-to-wear fashion.

The business grew, and by 2020, the couple was dealing directly with factory owners in Bangladesh. The experience gave the young entrepreneur an early education in international sourcing, production, negotiations and supplier relationships.

It was also a lesson in how quickly a business can change. In late 2021, a partnership with a local manufacturer collapsed, leaving the couple facing a significant financial setback. More than the money, however, Madz remembers the responsibility she felt toward their customers. “We wanted to compensate our customers, even though what happened wasn’t our fault,” she says.

The experience changed the way she thought about business. It also contributed to the decision to move to Dubai and rebuild. Rather than allowing the setback to define her, Madz used it as a lesson in due diligence, accountability and resilience.

A new chapter in Dubai

Dubai opened another door. After arriving in the UAE, Madz joined a company in the oil and gas sector. Her ability to adapt, make decisions and work across different areas of the business eventually led to rapid career progression and a general manager role.

For a young entrepreneur, the corporate experience became an unexpected business education. Working across departments exposed her to management systems, supplier accountability, operational structures and strategic planning. It also reinforced a lesson she had learned painfully from her earlier business experience: trust is important, but it needs to be supported by proper checks and processes. That corporate discipline would later influence the way she built Mad Kolektiv.

At the same time, living in Dubai placed her in the middle of one of the world’s most distinctive fragrance cultures. The UAE is a market where perfume is deeply woven into everyday life, from oud and bakhoor to modern Middle Eastern fragrance houses and increasingly globalised perfume trends. For Madz, being surrounded by that culture changed the way she understood scent.

From a passion for perfume to Mad Kolektiv

Madz describes herself as a fragrance enthusiast, and her interest in perfume eventually revealed what she saw as a gap in the Philippine market.

High-quality and distinctive Middle Eastern fragrances were becoming increasingly visible among Filipino fragrance enthusiasts, but access to many of them was still limited. For consumers accustomed to traditional designer fragrances, Arabian perfume houses could also feel unfamiliar.

Madz saw an opportunity to bridge that gap. That became the foundation of Mad Kolektiv. The name was deliberately chosen to suggest something bigger than a single fragrance business. “‘Kolektiv’ was intentional,” she explains. “It represents a larger vision of building a collective of businesses, not just one.”

The ambition is reflected in the way she approaches the brand. Mad Kolektiv is not built around simply putting as many bottles as possible in front of customers. Madz focuses on curation, recommendations and storytelling, introducing customers to fragrances she genuinely believes are worth discovering.

“I don’t believe in selling everything. If a scent smells like everything else, it doesn’t belong in my shop,” she explains.

That philosophy is particularly relevant in an era when perfume recommendations can spread across social media within hours. Viral fragrances can generate enormous demand, but Madz believes consumers also need guidance to understand what they are actually buying.

For her, fragrance is personal. A perfume should fit the person wearing it, rather than simply being popular online.

Changing the way Filipinos see Arabian fragrance

One of Madz’s goals is to challenge the idea that Arabian perfume begins and ends with oud.

“A lot of people think Arab fragrances are just oud, but there is so much variety and depth in that space,” she says. That variety is increasingly visible in the Philippines, where fragrance communities have embraced Middle Eastern perfume houses and the social media phenomenon surrounding affordable, high-performing scents.

Names such as Lattafa, Rasasi and Afnan have become familiar to Filipino “fragheads”, while fragrances including Lattafa Yara and Khamrah have developed cult followings online. More recently, Lattafa Eclaire has benefited from the wider obsession with creamy, caramel-heavy gourmand perfumes.

The appeal is not difficult to understand. Middle Eastern fragrance houses have become known for offering distinctive scent profiles and elaborate presentation at prices that are often significantly lower than luxury designer and niche fragrances. In the Philippines, where perfume enthusiasts contend with a hot and humid climate, performance is another major consideration.

For Madz, however, the attraction goes beyond price or longevity. It is about introducing Filipino consumers to a wider fragrance vocabulary.

Dubai gives Mad Kolektiv an edge

Being based in Dubai has given Madz direct exposure to a fragrance market that is far more mature and diverse than the one she first encountered in the Philippines.

It has allowed her to explore different scent profiles, observe how fragrances are presented and understand the expectations of consumers in the Middle East. That exposure has also brought opportunities beyond the UAE.

Earlier this year, Mad Kolektiv was invited to a fragrance event in Qatar, giving Madz the opportunity to connect with people in the regional fragrance industry and learn more about potential partnerships.

For an entrepreneur building a bridge between Manila and Dubai, those experiences are valuable. The Philippines remains central to the business, with a physical store in Manila allowing customers to test fragrances in person rather than relying entirely on online descriptions or blind buys.

Building a business while building a career

Running Mad Kolektiv while holding a demanding corporate position is not easy. Madz credits her husband with playing a major role in keeping the business moving. He handles the day-to-day operations of their physical store in Manila as well as their growing UAE online business, allowing Madz to balance entrepreneurship with her career.

“It’s not easy juggling career and business at the same time, but thankfully my husband handles operations full-time,” she says.

That partnership has allowed Mad Kolektiv to grow without requiring Madz to abandon the corporate career she has worked hard to establish.

Her corporate experience has influenced her approach to business, while entrepreneurship has sharpened the leadership and commercial instincts she brings to her professional career.

For Madz, Mad Kolektiv is not meant to remain a fragrance business forever. She sees the brand eventually expanding into fast fashion and, further down the line, food and beverage.

But expansion for the sake of expansion is not the goal. “I don’t want to build random businesses,” she says. “I want to build something connected, purposeful and built to last.”

Madz is already thinking beyond the next product launch or sales target. She is building a collection of businesses, experiences and ideas that she hopes will eventually become something much larger than herself.

And for Filipino consumers discovering Arabian fragrance through viral bottles on TikTok and social media, Mad Kolektiv offers something more lasting than a trend: a gateway into the much bigger world of Middle Eastern perfumery. CAM/Expat Media | This story also appears in the Expat Media Special Edition magazine. Grab your copy at partner distributors across the UAE