Natural hair entrepreneurs, government, enthusiasts, deliberate on expanding hair economy
Economy
By Anita Eboigbe
Abuja, June 10, 2018 (NAN) Entrepreneurs in the natural hair and beauty industry deliberated with government organisations, enthusiasts and investors on ways to expand the economy of the hair industry in Nigeria.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deliberations took place at the third African Hair Summit held in Abuja on Saturday.
The African Hair Summit is an annual natural hair conference that brings hair and beauty entrepreneurs together to discuss innovative ways of raising awareness on healthy beauty lifestyles and business growth.
This year, with Nigerian actress and natural hair ethusaist Dakore Akande as the envoy, the Summit focused on “Hair Economy: Building our African value chain.
NAN reports that panelists included Ms Kemi Lewis, CEO KL’S Naturals, Miss Michelle Ntalami, CEO Marino Naturals, Mr Philip Ideh, CEO Natural Nation and Mr Chinedu Okoye, CEO Perfect Trust Cosmetics.
Speaking on the challenges of building a natural hair brand in the Nigerian economy, Ms Kemi Lewis said that lack of adequate training centres for hair professionals and disparity between government regulatory bodies were the major issues.
Lewis, who owns Nigeria’s foremost natural hair salons, said that government agencies in charge of taxation and guidelines for the hair and beauty industry needed to be streamlined to prevent overlapping and discordant information.
She said, “We should have the guidelines and uniform information because it gets annoying when different government agencies come with different rules that overlap.”
Also, Miss Michelle Ntalami, owner of Kenya’s first organic hair care line, called for a unification of the natural hair ecosystem.
She said, “We need more natural hair hairdressers, products, salons and distributors so that more people across Africa and the world can access the healthy hair lifestyle.”
Ntalami’s stand was reiterated by Mr Philip Ideh, owner of Abuja’s biggest natural hair salons, who called for help and support among members of the natural hair community.
Ideh also advised natural hair ethusaists to be patient with their hair as no two hairs are the same.
“Chemicals cause damage to the hair. No two individuals have products that work the same way. Hairdressers have to use individual specific products and styling,” Ideh said.
However, Mr Chinedu Okoye, a major distributor of hair and beauty products in Nigeria, admonished producers of hair care products on the importance of proper packaging.
He said that customers tend to pick products with better packaging without confirming if the products were the best, adding that makers of quality products should make their products attractive such that it markets itself.
“The importance of packaging can never be overemphasized and poor packaging is the reason why most good products do not sell because customers do not think they are attractive. Package right,” Okoye said.
Some participants who spoke to NAN expressed their satisfaction at the range of topics explored at the summit, adding that they were detailed enough to help shape the industry.
Miss Joy Efosa, who travelled in from Lagos State, said that she was glad that the natural hair movement has been recognised as an industry that could contribute to the economy.
“This is a huge step forward to acknowledge that it is a huge industry and having this deliberation with stakeholders is a step in the right direction, ” she said.
Similarly, Mr George Obinna said that he was particularly happy for the presence of government officials and their interests in helping the industry grow.
“The government was here and we will hold them by their promises to support the industry because we need it to grow and propagate the awareness of healthy beauty standards,” Obinna said.
NAN reports that earlier, representatives of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission(NIPC) pledged their organisations’ support to the growth of the natural hair and beauty industry.
The Summit, which was organised by Ms Adanna Enwezor, MD Photizo Life Foundation, also featured exhibition and sales of natural hair and beauty products, onsite hair styling and networking by stakeholders. (NAN)
AEE/YAZ
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