On Friday 9th August 2019, one of the pioneers in the Make Up industry, Tara Durotoye appeared on a BBC TVdocumentary on the beauty industry in Africa. According to the Presenter, the Beauty and Personal care industry is one of the most lucrative in the world. It is worth more than $400b.
In Africa, consumer spending on Cosmetics is on the up. Thanks to a growing population and rising middle class. African leading brand House of Tara International and the world’s biggest Make Up company has remained loyal in terms of creating make ups expecially for the diverse skin tones of African women.
“House of Tara is owned by Tara Fela Durotoye, the Nigerian-born lawyer turned Africa’s leading Beauty and Make Up entrepreneur started her No 1 make up brand international at the age of 20 from her living room, while studying at University. She went on to build an internationally known and loved beauty company of African Origin for women of African Descent, so they could feel beautiful in their own skin.
Tara Fela Durotoye launched Nigeria’s first ever bridal directory in 1999, and in 2004 she opened Nigeria’s leading beauty academy, training and empowering young women and Make Up entrepreneurs. In 2013, Tara Fela Durotoye was nominated as a Young global leader by the World Economic Forum and was also named One of Forbe’s 20 Young Power African women. Tara Fela Durotoye is an Inspirational role model and mentor to Make-Up artists and aspiring beauty business entrepreneurs across Africa. Indeed, she is an inspiration to many young ladies, the Presenter said.
Today, House of Tara has 270 products, 23 stores, 14 schools and 10,000 representatives across Africa. House of Tara has become a case study at a University in America.
What led you to create a Beauty brand especially for black African women, she was asked. “The market,” she replied. “We have a lot of foreign brands coming into Nigeria, but many of these brands didn’t cater to our colour and tones. It was obvious to me this is an opportunity. It is important that Nigeria also knows that a proper brand is being created with you in mind”.
What has made House of Tara more successful than other beauty brands? “House of Tara is not just known because we have a good business model. It is simply because we are impacting, impacting in terms of solving social problems. One of them being unemployment.
We are able to do that because of our trainings across the country, as well as our beauty representatives who are micro entrepreneurs who are trained to start their own businesses. In doing that, we are snatching them away from the unemployment market space and I believe one of the things that makes the House of Tara special is Impact and Empowerment in Africa.
0 Comments