Mark Wyllie started a mission to take camel milk to the next level, with ambitious plans to at least double sales in the UAE. The departing CEO of Camelicious wanted to get more people drinking camel milk, the locally produced superfood.
Camelicious has been around for almost two decades, producing milk from the world’s biggest dairy camel farm, on the outskirts of Dubai. Wyllie says he has a strong following but sees plenty of headroom. “Maybe there’s only 50,000 loyal users of Camelicious in the UAE. Honestly, there ought to be at least 100,000, ideally 300,000, because the benefits are there. It’s a superfood, it improves your gut health, it gives you energy.” His job is to unlock that demand, extolling its heritage and health benefits to a new audience of consumers.
That all starts with focus. Camel milk will not try to take on cow’s milk, which has a distinct advantage when it comes to volume and price. Camelicious’ herd and output are large by camel standards but tiny next to industrial dairy. To put it in context, the biggest cow dairy in the Middle East produces around 4 million litres a day. Camelicious, with 7,000 camels spread over 6.4 square kilometres, produces 4 million litres a year.
“We’re not going to compete head on with cows,” he says. “We’re certainly not going to be pouring camel milk over the cornflakes. We’re after people who care about their health and wellness. So, lattes, cappuccinos, matcha lattes, protein smoothies. Just focusing on those two or three occasions and then really keep pushing them.”
This “occasion strategy” is at the heart of the plan. If camel milk becomes the default for a morning flat white or a post-gym shake, the category grows without pretending to be a weekly staple for children’s cereal bowls. Camel milk’s profile helps: naturally lower fat than cow’s milk, different proteins that many people find easier to digest and a clean, lightly sweet taste that blends smoothly. As Wyllie puts it to sceptics at tastings, start with a cappuccino or a smoothie and let the experience do the work.
Something new
The role found him unexpectedly, while he was working for Saudi-based dairy giant Almarai. Up until he was approached by the Camelicious owners, Wyllie had never even tasted a drop of camel milk. “The job interview for Camelicious just dropped in,” he recalls. “I thought, I’m the right side of 60. I’m ready to try something different. Let’s go with camels.”
Having started in the summer, what have been his first impressions? “I didn’t expect it to come with this amount of love. The product’s amazing.” Wyllie soon started drinking camel milk and it’s safe to say he’s converted. He now gets through half a litre a day, adding it to his coffee.
If the UAE is the proving ground, China is the scale engine. Camelicious sells a significant amount of camel milk powder to older Chinese consumers who take it daily for wellness.
Wyllie is keen to take this appeal to a wider audience.“It’s traceable, it’s sustainable, it’s ethical. It’s got all the Dubai quality behind it,” Wyllie says. “The next job is to really commercialise that. Producing healthy, very valuable camel milk and actually showing that you can make a business out of it.”
He looks to other alternatives to cow’s milk as his benchmark for growth. “If you can make a business out of soy milk and almond milk and goat’s milk and all of these other expensive things, there’s definitely a business in camel milk. And that’s the bit we’ve got to prove now.”
Noisier, more confident
For Wyllie, who held senior roles in dairy operations across the Middle East and Africa, before joining Camelicious, it was a chance to take on a challenge few would dare. “You get to a stage in your career where you stop being afraid of the unknown,” he says. “You become noisier, more confident in pushing yourself and the product.”
The timing is great as next year marks 20 years of Camelicious. It started as a bold Emirati experiment – turning traditional camel milking into a modern, regulated industry. Almost two decades on and it is now a global player with certifications that allow it to export camel milk to Europe, the U.S and China.
“The founders built something extraordinary,” says Wyllie. “To take a product that used to be hand-milked in the desert and build a world-class facility is phenomenal. My job is to make it thrive commercially.”
Superfood with substance
Camel milk is naturally lower in fat and lactose than cow’s milk and contains unique proteins and lactoferrin, which aid immunity and digestion. “It’s not just a substitute for people who can’t drink cow’s milk,” Wyllie insists. “It’s a superfood in its own right – full of energy, vitamins and probiotics.”
Truly converted, he gives me some strong reasons why I should start drinking it myself. “Camel milk is easier on the gut, it’s high in antioxidants and it’s rich in immune-supporting proteins. There’s science behind the heritage.” We’ll drink to that.