Nigeria’s Beauty Industry
For a lengthy period, beauty and cosmetics products that exclusively catered to women of African descent were hard to come by and especially in the African continent. And while some local companies worked on developing products for the mass African market, sometimes, they fell short on quality standards. In other instances, the make up barely catered to African skin tones.
Furthermore, there has always been the issue of harmful skin lightening products which continue to pose a challenge to authentic beauty and cosmetics products in the African continent. A section of African women, oblivious to the detrimental effects coupled with the pressures of misguided beauty standards continue to opt for the former.
However, over the years, a need to provide products that ensured positive results has became crucial. It is then that serious African business owners in the beauty industry have since embarked on creating formulations that delivered. Notwithstanding, Nigeria’s Beauty Industry has been on a constant upward trend in recent years.
Beauty West Africa once reported recently that;
The Nigerian beauty and personal care market is experiencing rapid and dynamic growth providing lucrative opportunities for beauty businesses from around the region and beyond.
Indeed Beauty Africa would affirm;
In Nigeria the beauty and personal care market could reach Euro 3.2 billion by 2022 making Nigeria the sector’s rising star in sub-saharan Africa.
3 Nigerian female beautypreneurs, once professionals in white collar positions, are among those who are currently contributing to Nigeria’s Beauty Industry with high quality products. In the process, they have since become major forces to reckon with in the field.
Aboc Worldwide Directory has so far listed these Nigeria’s beautypreneurs in its Online Business Listing Portal. Two businesses are thriving in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively while one business is thriving in Nigeria.
Meet The Three Women Contributing To Nigeria’s Beauty Industry
Tara Fela-Durotoye
Tara Fela-Durotoye (pictured) is the owner of House of Tara International an African Beauty and Cosmetics Brand she started in 1998. By profession, Durotoye is a trained lawyer. She is also the Creator of the Tara Orekelewa Beauty Range, Inspired Perfume and the H.I.P. Range.
Additionally, she launched the first ever bridal directory in her country in 1999. Subsequently, she set up a make-up studio of international standards. In 2004, she also founded Nigeria’s leading beauty academy to offer top notch training to aspiring beauticians and beautypreneurs.
Currently, House of Tara International has over 3,000 representatives all over Nigeria and over 14 stores to cater to Nigerian women’s beauty needs. As a result, Durotoye has won many awards because of her immense contribution to the beauty industry in Nigeria and beyond.
Sharon Chuter
Uoma Beauty Founder and Creative Director, Sharon Chuter. Image courtesy of Chuter.
Nigerian born and raised Sharon Chuter is the Founder and Creative Director of Uoma Beauty, a make-up brand based in Los Angeles, California. Chuter is a former Beauty Executive who previously worked with big multi-national beauty and consumer brands such as Revlon, L’Oréal, Pepsi Co among others. Her make-up products are heavily influenced by her African heritage.
Chuter is also credited with recently launching the Pull Up or Shut Up Campaign.This is a venture that ensures accountability by companies in the United States, in regards to the number of Black employees and the positions they hold. Furthermore, Uoma means beautiful in the Igbo Nigerian dalect.
Ozohu Adoh
Founder of Epara Skin Care Ozohu Adoh. Image courtesy of Lauren Napier Beauty.
Ozohu Adoh is the founder of Epara Skin Care, a natural, luxury skin care brand based in London, United Kingdom, that caters to women of color. Adoh was born and grew up in Nigeria and would later attain an MBA at the Oxford University. She would then work in the Finance and Strategy Field until a stubborn skin condition pushed her into developing a formula that would form the basis of her natural skin care products.
Epara Skin Care heavily sources its products from Africa such as botanicals, essential oils and plant extracts. In addition, the word Epara means “to cocoon oneself” in the Nigerian dialect of Ebira. Currently, the products are available in the UK, Belgium, Kenya and Adoh’s native Nigeria.
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