Seeing a gap in the market for products that celebrate naturally beautiful African women’s skin and hair, Ghanaian entrepreneur Korkor Kugblenu created her business venture, The Body Butter Company, that manufactures and retails indigenous 100% natural beauty solutions.
LoA spoke to the Korkor Kugblenu about her inspiration and her ambitions for her brand.
What does your company do?
At the Body Butter Company, we research, manufacture and market indigenous, 100% natural beauty solutions to the sub-Saharan African woman.
"I came to the realization when I went back to sporting my natural hair 10 years ago, that African women have a deep-seated dislike for what is uniquely ours. We straighten our beautiful kinks and bleach our luscious dark skin. I want to change that."
What inspired you to start your company?
I came to the realization when I went back to sporting my natural hair 10 years ago, that African women have a deep-seated dislike for what is uniquely ours. We straighten our beautiful kinks and bleach our luscious dark skin. I want to change that. I believe that we deserve the right to be proud of our natural features, and the way to do that is to use age-old beauty secrets from the continent to preserve the beauty of our naturalness. As a brand and company ethos, what we are further doing to achieve this is going to secondary schools in Ghana to talk about natural beauty, self love and good grooming.
Why should anyone use your product?
Because every jar or bottle contains confidence and self-love, the livelihood of local raw materials producers, and unadulterated ingredients that give unadulterated benefits to the skin and hair.
"I believe that we deserve the right to be proud of our natural features, and the way to do that is to use age-old beauty secrets from the continent to preserve the beauty of our naturalness."
Tell us a little about your team
Presently, I am a solopreneur actively searching for help to conquer the world. I do have a production assistant and am currently hiring sales personnel.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
Yes, I do come from an entrepreneurial background. My mother runs a lunch restaurant and my father has a fish farm. I on the other hand, never imagined that I'd run my own business. I got into entrepreneurship quite by accident after I worked in advertising as a copywriter for 3 years. I started out marketing shea butter-based products for a friend, then I had the idea to make products that have absolutely no artificial additives and that solve common natural beauty problems. And that's how The Body Butter Company started.
#EntrepreneurAdvice: "Start! Right Now!"
- Korkor Kugblenu, founder of The Body Butter Company
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I envision that in the next five to ten years, four out of every five sub-Saharan women will name The Body Butter Company as their beauty company of choice. We should be present in all SSA countries, have more useful products, and keep running our natural confidence talks at secondary and middle schools across Africa.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
People coming up to me and saying that they love using our products which have helped them maintain their natural hair and skin.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Start! Right Now!
Contact or follow the Body Butter Company
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | EMAIL korkorkugblenu@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it….
What shines through in the entrepreneurial stories from women such as Korkor Kugblenu, is the absolute passion for what they do. In the case of Korkor Kugblenu and the launch of her new brand The Body Butter Company, she saw the need to celebrate natural African beauty and provide women with products that allow them to take a more natural approach to their hair and skincare routines. And, she is creating those products with real passion and a genuine love for what she is doing - it makes all the difference. --- Melanie Hawken, founder and editor-in-chief of Lionesses of Africa