Suzie Wokabi (34) is the founder and chief executive of Kenya’s
SuzieBeauty Limited. Though she holds a degree in international
relations from the United States International University (USIU) in San
Diego, Wokabi ditched the corporate world to pursue a career in the
beauty industry. Regina Ekiru sat down with Suzie Wokabi to talk about her company and building a business in Kenya.
How did you start SuzieBeauty Limited?
While in the US, I worked as a freelance make-up artist with leading
cosmetics manufacturer MAC Cosmetics. It is during this stint at MAC
that I started toying with the idea of starting my own cosmetics product
line. When I returned to Kenya
in 2007 I started SuzieBeauty Limited, which offers make-up services to
a range of clients. I later developed my product line branded SB, an
abbreviation of SuzieBeauty. I realized that most of the quality
products available in the market are unaffordable to most Kenyans. I
wanted to develop a product line that offers quality at an affordable
price.
Tell us more about your cosmetics line
The SB product line comprises of a full range of make-up
(foundations, powders, concealers, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara,
blush, lipstick, lip gloss, lip liner), skin care products
(moisturisers, eye cream, eye make-up remover, lip moisture), and
application brushes. We have been using the SB product line in all our
make-services contracts over the past year. Our intention was to try it
out on our clients and get their feedback to help us improve on the
products. We are so far confident that the product is of good quality
based on the feedback of our clients.
The beauty market in Kenya, which is estimated to be worth over
Ksh.15 billion ($185 million), is flooded with mostly foreign products.
My research shows that the development of products to fill our specific
market needs has the potential of becoming a big and profitable
business. Our beauty industry is highly untapped considering the lengths
people would go to buy beauty products. There are women who would
forego buying groceries for their families just to buy a lipstick.
Beauty is one of the industries that were not affected by the recession.
Apart from this, beauty is my number one passion.
Are you ready to hit the market?
In a few months the product line will be available for sale at
selected beauty stores. Products will retail for between Ksh.600
(US$7.4) and Ksh.2,500 ($30.8). This is a capital intensive project. I
will not go into how much I have spent but to start a product line in
Kenya one would need at least Ksh.20 million ($246,000). We have to
assemble all the raw materials abroad and use the chemists there for
testing and formulation of the products after which we import the
ready-made products. It would be very expensive to manufacture from
Kenya since we do not have most of the essential facilities and
equipment here.
What lessons have you learnt about entrepreneurship?
I have learnt to be patient. It took a long time to undertake
research and develop the product range. I have also learnt to never say
die. I have met people who thought I was crazy to imagine a project like
this, but the passion I have keeps me going. I have never stopped
believing in my dreams.
What are your future plans for the company?
I would like to partner with other investors in establishing a
cosmetics manufacturing plant in Kenya. This would cost around $2
million. Such a plant would create jobs for hundreds of Kenya’s youths.
In the next three years we hope to expand our product line to other
countries in the East Africa region and later to the whole of Africa. My
dream is to turn SuzieBeauty Limited into a household name for
everything beauty on the continent, and internationally. I want to
become the MAC of Africa!
You go girl........
No comments:
Post a Comment