My Very First Business

I started my first business, selling skincare products, in November 2017. It’s now been a year since launching my consultancy for high-end beauty and fashion entrepreneurs in Nairobi and what a ride! Using the vision for the brand as my North Star and being flexible about how I get from point A to point B has made it that much worth the ride!

The vision is to be the Amazon for beauty and fashion from Africa so we can support, encourage and showcase the true beauty of Africa, and its people. Meremeta Africa Beauty is passionate about enhancing the confidence in our skin, country, continent, and heritage as Africans.

All this started with frequent trips to the dermatologist in Nairobi before 2010 with my mother, and sister, Norah. Norah had moderately severe acne, so we looked around every other weekend and eventually discovered African soaps. These worked, only that they’d stop working after some time.

Finding something that worked once was not guaranteed to find it the next time you went shopping and many soaps weren’t branded so you can imagine the chaos. I remember my sister’s frustration around her acne treatment really getting to me at the time.

We linked up for the first time in eight months sometime in 2016 after her recent relocation and her skin were glowing! Her glow-up touched my soul and inspired me to be intentional with my own skincare despite not having any concerns. I started receiving numerous inquiries from my peers regarding what products I was using and was genuinely excited to help given what my sister went through.

I went from getting a few inquiries about my skin every other day to 30 and even 50 inquiries on some days so I stopped only telling people what products I was using and also started letting them know that I would get the products for them. I was determined to help people achieve the skincare results they wanted and just like that, I started my first business!

I started the business with capital investment from my dad and two co-founders. We imported the tea tree line of The Body Shop products from the UK and sold them by word-of-mouth to my peers at the United States International University — Africa campus from 2017 to 2020.

However, by the time ‘The Album Cover Challenge’ was coming around in May 2020, I was ready to transition into making my own brand of products. I went solo after my co-founders and I figured that we were better off pursuing different paths while supporting each other. The brand name has since evolved from ‘Meremeta’ to ‘Meremeta Africa’ and finally ‘Meremeta Africa Beauty.’

I’ve changed skin types from normal and oily combination skin to normal and dry combination skin which has me transitioning to new products and brands at this time. I’m happy to share my updated skincare routine in 2023 with deeper insights into my skincare choices (blog post coming). Brands I’m leaning towards right now include La Roche Posay, Uncover Skincare, and Pipette although I’ll eventually only use brands made with the African in mind.

If there’s one thing I’ve struggled with it’s got to be discipline. Getting the right skincare products is one thing, but making skincare a natural part of your routine was a different ball game for me altogether. While selling skincare products I grappled with financial discipline.

I’ve pivoted twice since as you might be able to tell from my blog ‘Why I Started Meremeta Africa Beauty’. Since launching the consultancy one year ago, we’ve managed to convert high-quality leads to prospects that are ready and willing to partner with us despite being an early-stage startup to accelerate the impact of their brands so they can achieve the level of success we and our clients typically experience. Check out ‘The Rebirth Of My Brand’.