1. Adeola Adeyemi
She is the Founder of Beauty by AD, a fast growing cosmetic brand fitted to cater for every woman. Her mission is to offer an ever-expanding range of exquisite, high-quality, and one-of-a-kind beauty products to suit and improve the confidence of every woman. The brand provides an array of products ranging from the finest setting powders for every skin tone, lip glosses, pigmented eye shadows, smooth brow pencils and beautiful highlighters to boost every woman’s confidence. Beauty by AD is committed to producing an expanding variety of luxurious and unique beauty products to suit and boost the beauty of every woman.
2. Aishetu Dozie
She is the Founder and Chief Executive of Bossy Cosmetics Inc. a beauty line company that ignites confidence in self-identifying ambitious women through high-quality cosmetic products, topical content, and essential services. The company launched on International Women’s Day 2019. She announced her recent partnership with Bozoma Saint John on the launch of her book “The Urgent Life”. She is a former global finance and capital markets executive with two decades of experience from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Standard Chartered Bank, The World Bank, and Rand Merchant Bank. She has provided advice to CEOs seeking to leverage public/private capital markets in their growth objectives across consumer products, non-Rx pharmaceuticals, banks and financial institutions, infrastructure, and oil and gas.
Aishetu has built multi-jurisdictional businesses within large international corporations as well as scaled two businesses as a mission-driven entrepreneur.
3. Banke Meshida-Lawal
She is the CEO of BMPRO makeup, and also has a cosmetic make-up range with the same name. If you want to have your makeup done by Banke, you probably have to book a year in advance. One of the pioneer makeup artists in Nigeria, she has shown that you can have a thriving career through make-up. BMPRO makeup are not only known for their flawless makeup, they also have their line of beauty products such as the foundation, primer, powder, face tools, lip liner and color, mascara, 3d loose powder for eyes and 3d eye shadow.
In addition to this, Banke was appointed the Creative Cultural Committee Vice chairman at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce in 2022, saddled with the mandate to explore the many opportunities in the business world and Nigeria’s economy as well as to help harness the economic potential of the Nigerian creative industry.
4. Bola Balogun
She is the Founder of Glam Brand Agency, an agency that helps position brands, personalities and their products for exponential growth with effective brand strategy and public relations services. She is one of the pioneers of lifestyle and beauty PR consultancy in Nigeria.
Bola created and produced several popular lifestyle and fashion shows, some of which aired on Mnet. She will be sitting as one of the judges for the “Future is Female Award” Africa 2023 and was also listed on the PR Power List 2022 as one of the top PR and Communications Professionals in Nigeria. In 2018, the Lancôme My Shade My Power campaign celebrated African excellence with 46 Nigerian change makers, advocates that introduced 40 shades of Lancôme’s Teint Idole to the African market.. The campaign celebrated the
diversity of the African skin colourscape, including women of all shades, tones, and ages. Lancôme’s sales increased and made the brand the number one selling luxury skincare brand in Nigeria.
But she did not stop there, with the momentum garnered by the campaign Bola sought to solidify the success with a symbol around which further dialogue with the African market could occur. This led to Beauty Queen Powede Eniola Awujo becoming Lancôme’s first ever Nigerian Global Partner. Later this year (2019) Powede will join other women from around the world as part of the Lancôme My Shade My Power global campaign.
5. Bukky George
She is the CEO of HealthPlus Limited and CasaBella International , a one-stop store for grooming and beauty solutions for men and women, Bukky has been described as the queen of retail pharmacy in Nigeria based on the steady success of her pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies. She has built her company to almost 90 retail outlets across Nigeria and employs over 750 people and is the largest employer of pharmacists who dispense medicines, provide counseling and perform free health screenings.She is also the first recipient of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria Board of Fellows’ Award for Excellence in Community Pharmacy. Bukky is a role model for high-impact entrepreneurship.
6. Joycee Awosika
She is the CEO of ORÍKÌ Group, a leading wellness spa known for its only all-natural farm to skin brand in Nigeria which operates a luxury spa chain coupled with its own product line. The ORÍKÌ spas comprise of an array of services from head to toe which is inclusive of massages, facials, body treatments, hammam baths, a nail studio and more. She has been able to build the ORÍKÌ brand which now exists to display that they do not just remain local but also stand for international best standards and quality. From her skin care brand that has its raw materials sourced from Africa to her luxury spa, Joycee and the Oriki brand are a standard of class and excellence. As an organic skin expert, she is empowering farmers and maximizing the use of natural ingredients Africa is blessed with.
As the former Curator of the World Economic Forum Abuja Global Shapers Hub a highly selective group of young people around the world, creating valuable impact in their communities, Joycee led a team comprised of 21 entrepreneurial young leaders, on a number of community initiatives focused on education, youth unemployment, and entrepreneurship. One of the staple initiatives during her tenure as Curator was the development of Employability & Entrepreneurship Workshops, which have reached over 2000 young people in Nigeria thus far.
7. Kemi Lewis
She is the Lead Stylist/Creative Director of Nigeria’s pioneer Natural Hair salon KL’s Natural Beauty Bar, she is described as the queen of natural hair. Kemi Lewis is a Lawyer turned Natural Hair Stylist and loves the fact that more ladies are embracing and wearing their natural hair with confidence. Because she desires to see many women excel in natural hair, she trains stylists and salons in natural hair practices using Design Essentials’ products. She is also an Educator with a passion for Teaching and in 2018 she founded KLS Natural Hair Academy – an online training school for Natural Hair Maintenance and Growth, Creative Natural Hair Styling and Structure for a successful Salon business. The online school has gone on to train stylists from various countries around the world including South Africa, Ghana, The UK, U.S.A, Israel, and Canada.
8. Kehinde Smith
She is Co-Founder of My Extensionz natural extensions beauty company. Kehinde is that melanin go-getter that gets you on your toes! After graduating from Northern Illinois University in 2012 with her degree in International Business, Kehinde went on to run her own business as CEO and Co-Founder of My Extensionz since 2012 in the United States and recently, in Nigeria. She further expanded My Extensionz Nigeria into a full-blown hair & nail salon as well as laser teeth whitening center. Under her leadership, My Extensionz has proven to be one of the top-ranking salon & hair shops in Nigeria.
Her page has in a short time received recognition & endorsements from international brands such as Revolve, Oh Polly, Simmi and many others. She intends to use her role as a brand ambassador of Revolve Clothing to advocate for more diversity & inclusivity in any way possible by working with both local and international brands.
9. Oluremi Martins-Areola
She is the Founder of Natural Girl Wigs. She started this brand with the sole aim to help black women embrace their true texture and live the best authentic life. Oluremi started her business with an Instagram page where she built a community of black women who wanted to care for their hair and also get access to wigs made just for them. In 5 years of production, Natural Girl Wigs has now reached $1million in revenue, with customers in over 70 countries across the world. Oluremi is also a professional content specialist and when she’s not at work for Natural Girl Wigs, she’s creating online content to share her entrepreneurial journey and help online businesses achieve the next level of success.
10. Oke Maduewusi
She is the Founder of beauty and makeup brand, Zaron. Together with her formidable team, she has painstakingly built a hitherto unknown and small brand into an enviable and competitive makeup, skincare and hair range. She has been very focused on delivering sleek premium quality products at affordable prices to enhance the lifestyle needs of African women. Oke has been working in the cosmetics industry for a little more than a decade, and through the years, she has delivered sleek, affordable yet high-quality cosmetics. In Nigeria, Zaron currently has 25 franchise outlets, and the brand’s products are sold in almost all the cosmetic retail stores nationwide, with a growing number of online Independent Beauty Consultants and with presence in 10 African countries, North America and the UK.
11. Onyeka Michael-Ugwu
She is the CEO and Founder of Hello Perfect, a leading skin aesthetics and laser clinic in Nigeria. With over a decade of experience as a licensed Medical Aesthetician and Senior Laser Technician across three continents, she is recognized as a pioneer of the medical aesthetics industry in Nigeria. Onyeka’s mission is to empower people to live whole lives by rebuilding their self-esteem and restoring their confidence through her work. Her latest initiative, Pay Perfect, ensures essential beauty treatments are more affordable and accessible for women in Nigeria
12. Ore Lawani
She is the Founder of Arami Essentials, a natural beauty brand that not only offers simple beauty solutions but is centered on beauty with integrity. She encourages people to make better decisions for their body, being mindful of it as a sacred place. Despite the repeated challenges she faced with accessing trusted beauty essentials in Nigeria, she was resilient and quick to adapt to build on some of her existing DIY routines which amazingly led to the discovery of a whole new world of natural, African beauty solutions. With Arami, she is positioning Africa at the forefront of the global beauty industry and promoting other thriving African brands. Additionally, the brand aims to boost awareness around locally sourced ingredients, change Africa’s underpaid labor challenges and make lasting impact within disadvantaged communities through their CSR initiative ‘Mind Body Soul’.
13. Tara Fela Durotoye
She is the CEO of renowned international make up brand, House of Tara International and is highly regarded as the pioneer of the bridal make-up profession in Nigeria. We love Tara because she’s such a strong and positive mentor to thousands of Nigerian women, including Arese Ugwu of Smart Money Africa. In 2015, collaborating with her own mentor, Ibukun Awosika, she launched the TFD Series – a platform to engage and mentor other women, and has reached over 1000 women in different continents since then.
In 2016, she turned around a major business challenge into triumph with the #IStandWithTara campaign to discourage people from buying counterfeit products. House of Tara also recently relaunched the ‘Gold Premium Skin Foundation’, with an improved lightweight formula and a redesigned packaging.
14. Toyin Odulate
She is the Founder of Olori Cosmetics, an African organic affordable beauty brand that produces hair, bath and body products. Toyin is one of the pioneers of organic beauty products made with African ingredients. For over a decade, she gained experience in the international beauty industry working as a Senior Executive for L’Oreal, a leading beauty brand, and managing multiple beauty brands across Africa and the Middle East. She developed a passion for blending natural products from her grandfather, Jacob Sogboyega Odulate – the inventor of the Nigerian household remedy Alabukun Powder. Her passion for cosmetics started when she was seven, it morphed into the idea for Olori Cosmetics when she was in university. Using her wealth of experience, Toyin’s goal is to put Olori beauty products, a proudly African brand, on shelves in big American and European chain stores.
15. Viola Ogbunude
She is the Founder of Body Organics, a store retailing organic skincare products for all skin types and tones. The main idea behind the products retailed by the store is the promotion of healthy and clear skin. Starting out as a small business, Body Organics has grown into a successful brand with stores across Africa; Lusaka, Nairobi and Accra. The Body Organics brand continues to expand its range of products while placing inclusivity and skin confidence at its core. With her motto being resilience and persistence, Viola focused on using innovative ways to scale Body Organics from an SME to a vital part of the African beauty scene, despite the many challenges she faced.
16. Zuwaira Isah-Ikharo
She is the CEO and Founder of Amal botanicals, an African inspired and natural baby skincare line for skin inflammations like Eczema, Cradle Cap, Diaper rash, Dry skin in babies and toddlers. With a passion for excellence, Zuwaira has built a team in Amal botanicals that truly cares about babies. She is deeply committed to childcare and motherhood support, taking up several projects on grassroots sensitization and education against baby skin bleaching, a prevalent ill in our society. Zuwaira’s goal is to place the natural, Nigerian-made baby skincare products on par with international brands.
