October 21, 2025 • 31 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Valerie Obaze.
Founder of R&R Skincare.
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
The interview aims to:
- Highlight Valerie Obaze’s entrepreneurial journey in founding R&R Skincare.
- Challenge stereotypes about Africa’s capabilities and resources.
- Promote African-made beauty products and their global relevance.
- Inspire others, especially women and diaspora Africans, to invest in and build businesses rooted in African heritage.
🧠 Key Takeaways 1. Breaking African Stereotypes
- Valerie and Rushion discuss how Africa is often misrepresented in Western media.
- Valerie emphasizes that ignorance is not always malicious, but it’s time to reframe the narrative through firsthand experience and platforms like social media.
“Ignorance doesn’t always have to be an insult. If you don’t know, you just don’t know better.” – Valerie Obaze
2. The Birth of R&R Skincare
- Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Valerie sought natural skincare solutions.
- She discovered liquid shea oil, which became her first product.
- The brand name “R&R” stands for Rebecca Rose (her daughter’s name) and also Rest & Relaxation.
“I wanted to create a product that makes using these raw materials from the continent enjoyable.” – Valerie Obaze
3. From Garage to Global
- Valerie started in her mother-in-law’s garage, turning it into a compliant mini factory.
- She had no formal business plan, relying on her PR and branding background.
- The brand now has three stores: one in Lagos and two in Accra, including one at the airport.
4. Authenticity and African Pride
- Valerie insists on maintaining the African identity of her brand.
- She uses locally sourced ingredients and ensures cruelty-free testing.
- The brand supports women in the supply chain, creating economic opportunities.
“We don’t intend to hide that in any way. We just wanted to make raw materials sexy.” – Valerie Obaze
5. Expansion to the U.S.
- Valerie is expanding R&R Skincare to the U.S., leveraging social media, activations, and PR expertise.
- Products are manufactured in Africa, but distributed from U.S. warehouses to ensure timely delivery.
“We found our tribe over here… and this was the right time to come back to America.” – Valerie Obaze
🧴 Product Highlights
- Shea Oil – First product, moisturizing and healing.
- Body Butter – Whipped, light, and rich in essential oils.
- Liquid Black Soap – Modern take on traditional African cleansing.
- Hand Cream – Convenient and portable for dry conditions.
🌍 Big Picture Vision
Valerie’s goal is to grow an African brand globally, showcasing the richness of African resources and empowering local economies.
“This is just a small representative of the entire continent and what it is capable of.” – Valerie Obaze
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
Steve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald host the weekly Money Making Conversation
Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show provides
are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other people's
success stories and start living your own. If you want
to be a guest on my show, please visit our website,
Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click to be a guest
button Chris submit and information will come directly to me.
(00:24):
Now let's get this show started. My guests founded R
and R Skincare in Nigeria. It's a premier, woman owned
beauty brand dedicated to crafting high quality, cruelty free skincare
products that harness the power of Africa's natural resources. Please
welcome to the Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Valerie Obosi, Hi,
(00:45):
thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Motherland, the Motherland.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I will admit you know, I've made a visit to
the Motherland, to South Africa. Down there Durban and Johannesburg
and Steve Harre and I we were broadcasting the morning
show from that area and I was and I'm gonna
just tell you this, honestly, there were so many stereotypes
that I have been introduced by being raised in America
(01:12):
that I was worried about the technology being available to
us to broadcast a morning show back to America. Does
that annoy you that those type of stereotypes of inefficiencies,
poor technology. I'm gonna use the word ignorance dominates the
(01:34):
media presentation of Africa.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I think ignorance doesn't always have to be an insult.
If you don't know, you just don't know better. Right,
So until you experience or you research personally to find
out more, how are you gonna know? You've been fed
stories your whole life and being told what Africa is like,
so it's intentional, so you don't go back there.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
But when you go, you have your own experience.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You get to know the reality on ground. Yes, the
continent is still developing, but we are warheading so many
different ways that people wouldn't even begin to understand. So
until you get there and until you share your experience, right,
how is anyone going to know? And thankfully we have
the Internet and we have Instagram and so people it's
a global village. Now everyone gets to see how people
(02:22):
party in legos in December and a car in January,
and they get to know that there's more to life
than just their immediate par view. And I think that
I don't get annoyed. I think that it's for everybody
to experience for themselves. We all have our preconceptions. Until
we break down those barriers, then how are we going
to know.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm gonna get a know one because you know so
you because you know you sell thems A product, money
may come.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
It's myself I can get to know. I can get
mad because I.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Was mad because I'm runnered around, worried about and I landed.
I was mad because I was like, wow, I was
just like landing in Atlanta, Georgia, you know, and that
really bothered me because it went I went. You know
what they promote Safaris. They never come back and talk about.
There's always a war, conflicts that are promoted.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
You know, I grew up a.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Cent a dollar you could save a little kid who
started in Africa. This is the stuff that I grew
up on, you know what I'm saying. And and but
no one's coming.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Back to retail that story. And so I wanted to
make sure.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
You know, the.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Perceptions should be shut down.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Like you said, there are social media out there, and
you know, Africa is one of the biggest.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
Hollywood type producing areas in the country. In fact, on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
You know, the the amount of content that's coming out
of Africa is now on Netflix is amazing, and I
think that also kills a lot of the stereoy the music.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Look at the music industry, you know, that's exactly the
Nigerian African music industry has really blown up.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
And so for me, even when I left the.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
UK to move back to Africa, and my entry point
was Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria. My husband is Nigeria and I'm
from Ghana, but we both grew up in the UK
and I moved there to live with him after we
got married. And for me, it was a perfect place
to go from London to Legos because Legos is so
dynamic and the music industry was really burgeoning. Then in
(04:22):
two thousand and nine, the film industry was huge already.
Knowledge absolutely also in Ghana as well. Durance he has
been working in Ghana to do some some work there
to ensure that production can take place and take place well.
So there's so much going on in the fashion industry
absolutely is huge.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I'm wearing a Ghanian and the sports you know, y'all
dominating and oh my god, in sports, yeah, yeah, just force.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So you know, there's so much going on, there's so
many opportunities. So I like that the world has opened
up to seeing what Africa has to offer and even
me through beauty. People might think that beauty is shallow, right,
but if we can show the richness of our raw
materials and our ingredients through beauty and share that with
the rest of the world, then people can understand that,
(05:10):
you know, good stuff does come out of Africa, because
for so many years people have believed that only bad
things come out.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
Absolutely absolutely now life transition. Using the word beauty you
know what I'm saying, or in our skincare, yes, why
are you? Why are you producing it? Why are you
the face of that brand?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Because it's what came naturally to me, is what God
had put on my heart, and he found a way
for me to access the rest of the world through
what I do. My experience and background is in PR
and communications. I had my own PR agency when I
lived in London. I worked in the music industry, in
fashion beauty. So landing in Lagos and just finding out
the ground was so fresh to building brands. You know,
(05:54):
people definitely that's big populations. Virginia has like over two
hundred million people, Ghana over thirty million people. Right, And
we're so used to bringing in products from the rest
of the world, so we know Europe and America to
be the place where everything great is produced. But the
reality is that, you know, we the raw materials are
coming from the continent and going over there to be produced,
(06:17):
whether that's leather, right, whether that's shade, butter, whatever it is. Yeah,
it leaves the continent raw and then it's produced into
finished products elsewhere. And chocolates, look at chocolate. Chocolate is
not from Switzerland.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It is from every coast and is from Ghana. But
the raw cacao or cocoa is leaving the continent and
being value added elsewhere. And we believe that chocolate's from Belgium,
you know. So I think that the time has come
a new generation of people are going back home and
creating finished products. Brands, African owned brands coming out of
(06:53):
the continent using materials.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
That's important because so many because people don't know, we
get we get confused about where the final destination of
products are being distributed versus where it was source and
Africa has been the sourcing capital of the world for
so many years. And the fact that you as an entrepreneur,
let's put it right, You're an entrepreneur, a business owner
(07:19):
made the conscious decision woman owned business owner. So do
you right now to get your product is online?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
It's virtually on.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
But you do have stores?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
We do.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Where are they located?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
We have three brick and mortar owned stores, one in
Legos as the first door we ever opened in twenty thirteen,
and then we are now headquartered in Acra, Ghana, which
is where I'm from, and we have two stores there,
so one in the center of town in Labori, which
is a vibrant hub of hospitality, food, restaurants, clubs.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
You good storyteller, right, I'm about to go.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Multiple times.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
And we also have a store at the airport, So
in the departure lounge at Ghana's Accua Airport or.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
To Come International Airport.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
So as you're leaving, you pick up a piece of
Ghana and come and share it with your friends, your
family or keep it for yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So what is the experience like going at you for
the first stores in twenty thirteen, is there an experience.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Do you do hair there or is just products being.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
A product based and we wanted to create an experience
come in and buy products that are made here, you know,
buy us for everybody, so you know, you just want
to walk into a store. Because one of my frustrations
when I moved back was I wo'ld go to the store,
I find something I like today and I'll go back
next week and is gone, right. You know, they're not
manufacturing it here, so I'd have to be importing it, and.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
So there's always gaps. There's always gaps. You can't always
get what you need.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
So the purpose gradually grew so that at the end
of the day, we get it today, when you come
back next month, is still there because we're producing locally,
we're sourcing locally, and you're always going to be able
to find that product. So we wanted people to experience
that brand feeling when you walk into our stores.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Awesome, awesome, let's talk about the product now you know
we have it right here, or the logo or that
look really resonates with me, you know, because it's it's
a a thought process been to talk about that whole
design of it, and then we're going to get into
the product and how was just you know, started the
evolution of our at our Skincare.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So the logo actually, I'm so glad you touched on that.
This is a new logo, okay. So when we started
gratulation thank you, we had another logo and we rebranded.
We relaunched Our in Our We used to be called
our Luxury okay, and we rebranded as Are in our Skincare.
Not that we've dropped the luxury. The luxury is in
the quality of what we do. But we found that
(09:45):
the name used to alienate people. People think that the
price point would be beyond what they could reach, but
actually our products are so affordable, right, so we thought
that luxury is something that you should feel won't say,
So we dropped the luxury and we're now are on
our Skincare. So we did have a logo similar to
ours in a symbol, but our creative team decided to
(10:09):
change the logo against my wishes at the time.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
When they came back with what they had, I absolutely
love that.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
It is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
It's really is beautiful, and I'm glad you dropped luxury
because when I hear R on our Luxury I think
of I think of resorts.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
I think of a rob report, you know, luxury.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I don't think of anything that's related to something that
I will put on my face or take care of
my body because.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Of that, and so this is a very smart to me.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I like to consider myself a branding and marketing expert.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Home Run, thank your logos, home Run, you're telling what
you do.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Skincare people know exactly what they're getting where they walk
in the store and they walk out and they share
with other people.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Excellent move. Now twenty ten, was this an idea or product?
In twenty ten when it was founded.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
It was in need.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
They talked to me about I just give them birth,
becoming a mother for the first time. I have three
kids now three daughters. Actually they did.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
They did have them quite kind of quick. There're girls. Now.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
When I had my first baby, I just needed something
natural to use on her skin.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
I didn't want to use the products that everybody used.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
For babies for years, because I mean the important, because
we know that it's not necessarily the best thing. So
being in Nigeria, I wanted to use something local and regional,
you know, and indigenous to the soil there and Shae
precedes everything that I've done. It's been around for centuries, right,
and we know the goodness of Shay because everybody.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Uses it absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
The proof in concept is there all the big brands
us shake in their formulations. But we weren't turning it
into an enjoyable product. It was just the raw shape
butter and you'd have to put it in the microwave
on the stove whip it up. Yeah, and people were
willing to do that, but I will one of those people.
You know, when you have a crying baby, you don't
(12:03):
have time to now put things on the stove and
start whipping up your formulations.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
There are people that are very good at that. That's
not me.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So I was thinking about the fact that I would
love to create a product that makes using these raw
materials from the continent enjoyable and suitable for a baby,
but suitable for the rest of the family too. So
when we discovered Shaye in a liquid form, which is
our shade oil, that was a game changer for me.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
So that was our first product. That was our first product.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
And when you say shade are how is it used?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
It's used directly on your skin.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So shade same way you do shave better, right pure
she rubbing it onto your skin to moisturize and looking moisture.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
This is the oil version. So sha is made up
of two parts.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Can get two technical solid and liquid when you separate
the liquid from the solid parts, so you have steering
and olin. So the olin is the oil and that's
what we are giving you. So it still has all
the amazing properties moisturizing, healing, all of those good things,
all of the good stuff. And we've bottled it and
we learned how to blend essential oil.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
So let me to lower you down, Valerie.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Ye, okay, now this is your first product, you say,
first product.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Okay, are you selling it?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Okay? Not yet?
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Okay, cool, continue with your story.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Good point.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So I was sharing with my husband actually that oh
I've come across share in an oil and this is
what we're going to use for the baby. And he
was like, you know what, I've never seen that before
and I don't think it's widely available.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
In Legos or in Nigeria. The bulbs, yeah, light bulbs.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
Yeah, money maker, money maker exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
As a branding person, I've thought that you know, this
is there's definitely an opportunity here. So before we go
spending too much money, let's get like samples and stuff
from the suppliers, bottle it, share it with our friends
and family, use it first, then share it with our
friends and family. And what we did, I even had
someone mock up a logo for me. I ordered like
(13:59):
a box of plastic bottles online and I just shared
it with the people close to me, and I just said,
if you like it, come back and buy it.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
And that's how it started.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Okay, So, and we talked about R and R means what.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
So Ran is my daughter's initials. Name is Rebecca Rose,
my first daughter, and she's named after my mother and
my husband's mother.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So my mom is Rebecca and my mother in law Rose.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So we named her after the two of them, and
she's got Rebecca Roh's And when you have a child,
you always send to name of your business after.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
It's such a woman thing to do.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
But yeah, so we decided Arena would be the name
of the company. And it also stands for rest and
recuperation or rest and relaxation, so you have like a
double meaning.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
There, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
We will be right back with more insights from money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to money Making Conversation master
Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation master
(15:07):
Class continues online at money Making Conversations dot com and
follow money Making Conversations master Class on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That first time I've sat down with an individual who's
developed an idea. The whole idea is I have a dream.
That's what it really is. Yeah, now when you start
sharing that dreaming people, what were they saying to you,
Valerie about I think I can put this on the shares.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I think people will buy this. What were they telling you?
What they motivating you? Or they're looking at you like really?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, Well, you definitely have some of the people that
were like hmm, okay, let's see where this goes. But
I think the majority of people were very very passionate
about the idea.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
They were.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
They've got behind us pretty quickly, and they saw they
saw the potential for the business, and they were very supportive.
So from my mother to my mother in law, we
turned my mother in law's garage into a manufactory. After
my husband kicked me out of the house, I mean
kick me out of his kitchen, not actually out of
his house, but kick me out of his kitchen because
I'd taken over the dining room everything.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
There were boxes everywhere.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
So we converted his mom's space, her garage into our
factory compliant, fully compliant factory, so that we could start
producing on a slightly larger scale because the interest did
start to flow in, and definitely, I think support more
than you know negativity has surrounded this brand for day one.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
This is a part when I started asking the entrepreneur question, Okay,
what did your business plan look like?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I didn't have one.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Okay, so you started a business without a business plan?
Was that smart?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yep? Listen. I didn't go to business school.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I come from the school of hard knocks in right
and experience.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Okay. I went to university.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I studied branding, communications, culture and media. I went to
work in the PR world, initially music, then consumer PR.
I've worked with brands. I understand what people like, what
people don't like. And I'm African. I lived in the
diaspora for my whole childhood and early adulthood. I left
England at twenty nine moved back to the continent. Well,
(17:19):
I say, moved back. I never actually lived on the continent.
I was back and forth all the time, but I
did my entire schooling up until the age, up until
university in the UK and moved to Africa in twenty
nine and I realized that Africa was having your renaissance
in the creative space especially, and we were starting to
take ownership of what was ours and I had to
(17:39):
be part of that. And I had a responsibility as well,
Like God put this responsibility on me to empower our economy,
not just human beings, but the economy in general. Because
you know that if you bring in more than you
put out, you're always going to be a poor nation
or poor continent. So we have a responsibility to put
out more than we bring in. And so creating a
(18:02):
brand was one a gap a need but also say need.
But I also over time realized that there was a
responsibility on my shoulders and as.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Well as cruel cruelty free.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, when you do the tested on your your product, we.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Test on humans, not animals. And because there's yeah, they
can say ouch. And also because there's no need. You know,
the ingredients we use are historically you know, backed my
great grandmother and her probably ancestors as well use these
raw materials to cook, to eat with, to do several things.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
With my phone.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I'm good, yeah, to do all of these things. So
Shaye has been around for centuries. Okay, I didn't invent shape.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Well, let's talk about this because of the fact that
it's not so much you're inventing it, but you're bringing
a brand to America and exposing it to a miracle,
a Polish brand. Yes, but you want to maintain that
the African slaver too.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Why is that important?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Because we have to maintain the authenticity and the integrity
of who we are. I think it's important for people
to know where we've come from. We don't intend to
hide that in any way. We just wanted to make
our raw materials sexy if I can say that.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
You know, let's bring it back.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
We have to make it appealing and elegant and class.
But you know, in terms of what's in the bottle,
that all comes from other nature.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Okay, cool, Let's start talking about some of the stuff
that the infamous black soap.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I've seen it in the.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Square and so why are you or why should I
be encouraged to use this liquid black soap?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Again, it's like the modernization of historical context.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Shaye and sorry.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Black soap is a traditional cleansing as has been used
also for decades, and how do we make that more
appealing and more accessible to people? Not everybody wants to
use a soap bar, although nowadays, with the circular economy,
people wanting to have less waste, people are more happy
to use soap bars.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Again, but if you're a shower gel person, right.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
That's what I'm saying, That's why I gravitated it. I
am not a barsol question I have so this is
something I will be buying. Oh yeah, because I enjoy
I just enjoy that aspect of it versus a soap
that eventually looks ugly.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Exactly, I'm exactly the same. I'm a liquid soap person.
I love a shower gel. So a lot of the
need is created from my own personal needs and creating.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Something that is easy to use.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
You don't want to make using these things difficult, Otherwise
people will use it once twice and they'll be like,
let me go back to what I'm familiar with. So
I want to make it so that it can sit
on the shelf next to all of those brands that
you've used your whole life and be happy to switch
it out.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
Because now what is the difference, because I want to
I think you have.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Right here, you have the body all yes, what's your
first product exactly?
Speaker 5 (21:10):
And then you have.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Right here you have the the body butter.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Yeah, why do you need both?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Because everyone's preferences are different. Some people like more of
a thicker application.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
That's what the butter.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
That's what you're gonna get with the butter.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So it's a with butter, so it's still very light
compared to how rawschit butter is.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
We whip it, we add.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Our essential oils or you know, little proprietary bits and
pieces which are all one hundred percent natural oil sourced locally,
and some people just prefer butter. Some people want an
oil something that's a bit lighter and easier and quicker
to apply. So it just all depends comes down to.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Prefect right, Because then you have the hand cream.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yes, now I'm just asking, okay, because I have the oil,
i have the butter, and then I have the hand cream.
I'm assuming the hand cream is strictly for the hand.
But you got these dry knuckles.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Yeah, you don't want to be, she means, so I
used this.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You can put that in your car, in your little
man purse if you have one, and or your briefcase,
and then the ladies put it in their handbag. So
you just carry around with you when you need a
little moisture. Top up because you know the weather can
be dry. Even in West Africa, we have a season
called Hammatan which is very very very dry, so your
(22:35):
lips get dry, your skin gets very dry, so it's
good to have that on your all times.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Just top up.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You know your product is named after your first daughter, yes, now,
but your mother of three entrepreneur?
Speaker 5 (22:49):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I love that question and I'll tell you why because
I like to say that no one asks the men
these questions.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
They always ask the women, how do you balance? Because
load is heavy? But until then, but then I gotta
go back to the source.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
And I think that it's difficult at times. You can't
give everything one hundred percent all the time, so there's seasons.
So right now I'm away from my kids. Right right,
they're facetiming me and they're like, oh, Mummy this or Mummy.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
That their dad is there.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
But they're calling me who is one thousand miles away
to ask me the most inane question.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
So I think that it's just you.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
You can't always balance everything, but you know, sometimes you
just pick up the heaviest balls and focus on those
at that specific time. The Sometimes when the girls are good,
they don't really need me. They've got everything working in
their favor and they're they're good to go. But there's
other times where I need to put on my mom
hat and put everything aside. But I'm very, very fortunate
to have a lot of good support. My husband is
(23:56):
an amazing support. He's actually, you know, one of the partners. He,
like I said, to help me conceptualize this business, and I.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Couldn't have done it without him.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I have an amazing team in Ghana, in Nigeria and
now in the US.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
So it's gonna be real now, not just over there
for vacation.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
You know, money made conversation, Mass, I see expansion.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
In my vision visionary.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Talk about your expansion ideas because you have three stores
back home, which is fantastic because finally you're keeping You're
not outsource, You're not sourcing out your product. You making
the product their employing people. Yes, revenue is staying in
the community, which I admire. So that's been the main
issue with Africa in general. But you're over here, come
(24:45):
on now, talk to me now.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Because you know, I think that we've also found our
tribe over here, and I've been here several times.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
I did like essence first in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
So pre covid, there's pre covid, and then post covid
and pre covid. We did some activations here and we
realized that as we spoke to people, people experienced our products.
The feedback was just unbelievable, and we really truly felt
that we found our people outside of the continent. And
I knew eventually we had to come back, and so
(25:16):
with the rebrand and these new opportunities, and I just
felt that this was the right time to come back
to America and meet our people again.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And well, you know, first of all, I don't we're
not rapping this interview up because that sounds like you're
about to go there, you know, because I really want
people to slow down and understand that the product is
available down the online it is okay, and you don't
have to wait to the product to get to that
So this this interview is by breaking down misconception.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
R you know, oh it's in Africa when I'm gonna
get it next year? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So let's talk about the whole process that the art
of being placed how has handled in Africa, so we
can develop that US factor with an audience over here.
There has a lot of misconceptions. Nurse, I'm sure's the
one person gonna go sh what you're talking about? I
trust them, Well, that's you. But we're trying to sell
to everybody. We want everybody to have the same trust
that they have walking in their local drugs. Yeah, those
(26:15):
products have been tested. They feel that it's on that shelf.
They can buy it absolutely. Now you're here with a
product that I want to buy, but it's sitting in
a manufacturing location and a store in Africa.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Talk about that process.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So we take quality control very seriously and compliance so
no one needs to worry about testing or quality because
we have Food and Drugs Authority for Ghana testing, we
have Ghana Standards Authority, We have all of the compliance
sides ticked and we're entering the US. Everything goes through
FDA checks before it's released. And yes, we manufacture everything
(26:53):
on the continent, but we bring it to you here fresh.
It's toward in our warehouse partners or logistics partners, and
then it shipped out to you from this country, so
you don't have to wait a million years, even if
we're shipping it, even if we're shipping it from the
million years, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
But but you know what people for distance absolutely, you know,
like I said, you know Chicago, I know that's that,
you know, Mexico, Canada, Africa and so. And we're trying
to encourage people to go online to be able to
try the product because the product can't get shifted to
you in a very time to matter and if you
like it, you order it again. And so with that
(27:30):
being said, how do you market your brain?
Speaker 5 (27:32):
You over here? You know you over but you're over there.
How are you marketing your brain? You know you already
told me.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
For Sean, you know, before I started this, I had
a PR. Yes, so you are much aware about marketing.
Tell us about this and.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Art and for me, PR is what I do. It
comes naturally.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
But we have a marketing team, both local and global
marketing team that are helping us get the word out there.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
You just say all local and global global.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Yeah, shout out to my global team. They are doing
a great job. The tribes, they are doing a great job.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
But again, it takes time, it takes experience. And one
of the great things that people can access is social media.
Social media is free and we've been building our audience
for over a decade now, and say Instagram for example,
So you can go on there, you can feel, you
can touch, you can read our story, you can watch
our story. We've done so many documentaries in house about
(28:30):
our story and about our production facility. So we produce
our own raw materials. You can see the women that
are part of that. You can understand where it comes from.
We have quality and processes. We meet all of the
standards good manufacturing practice. If you're into manufacturing, you know
about that. We're clean where that is concerned. And to
(28:51):
see the women at the end of the value chain
who pick the nuts, produce into butter, make the soaps.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
They're all part of this story.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
So every single don't you buy, you know it does
eventually go back to them. It feeds back into that
and the supply chain. Yeah, pride and also our hope
and our goal is to change their lives in terms
of their economic prospects.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Right, well, I'm gonna just tell you I'm impressed by
the process. First of all, you know you are standing communicator,
but you because let's be just a story we're trying
to tell you know, the logo are in our skincare
very impressive.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
I love it was just kind of like a brown
and green.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Yeah, very neutral and earthy, very.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Neutral, but it also feels like it is Africa in
a sense, you know, feel like earth tones strong earth
tones here. And the fact that you're giving us the
hand cream, You're giving us the which I love, you know,
the lotion for bath, and then you have the body
body off, which was the first, and then you have
the cream of all. What is the big picture we
(30:00):
talked about it earlier as we close. What is the
big picture for our and R Skincare.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I think just growing an African brand and taking it
to the rest of the world and sharing the beauty
of Africa through our formulations, through what we do, and
letting people know that this is just a small representative
of the entire continent and what is capable of.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Well, my friend, thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Having This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations
Masterclass hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our
guests on the show today and thank you our listening audience.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to register to be a guest on my show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
your gifts. Keep winning the
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Mon
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald host the weekly Money Making Conversation
Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show provides
are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other people's
success stories and start living your own. If you want
to be a guest on my show, please visit our website,
Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click to be a guest
button Chris submit and information will come directly to me.
(00:24):
Now let's get this show started. My guests founded R
and R Skincare in Nigeria. It's a premier, woman owned
beauty brand dedicated to crafting high quality, cruelty free skincare
products that harness the power of Africa's natural resources. Please
welcome to the Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Valerie Obosi, Hi,
(00:45):
thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Motherland, the Motherland.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I will admit you know, I've made a visit to
the Motherland, to South Africa. Down there Durban and Johannesburg
and Steve Harre and I we were broadcasting the morning
show from that area and I was and I'm gonna
just tell you this, honestly, there were so many stereotypes
that I have been introduced by being raised in America
(01:12):
that I was worried about the technology being available to
us to broadcast a morning show back to America. Does
that annoy you that those type of stereotypes of inefficiencies,
poor technology. I'm gonna use the word ignorance dominates the
(01:34):
media presentation of Africa.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I think ignorance doesn't always have to be an insult.
If you don't know, you just don't know better. Right,
So until you experience or you research personally to find
out more, how are you gonna know? You've been fed
stories your whole life and being told what Africa is like,
so it's intentional, so you don't go back there.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
But when you go, you have your own experience.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You get to know the reality on ground. Yes, the
continent is still developing, but we are warheading so many
different ways that people wouldn't even begin to understand. So
until you get there and until you share your experience, right,
how is anyone going to know? And thankfully we have
the Internet and we have Instagram and so people it's
a global village. Now everyone gets to see how people
(02:22):
party in legos in December and a car in January,
and they get to know that there's more to life
than just their immediate par view. And I think that
I don't get annoyed. I think that it's for everybody
to experience for themselves. We all have our preconceptions. Until
we break down those barriers, then how are we going
to know.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm gonna get a know one because you know so
you because you know you sell thems A product, money
may come.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
It's myself I can get to know. I can get
mad because I.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Was mad because I'm runnered around, worried about and I landed.
I was mad because I was like, wow, I was
just like landing in Atlanta, Georgia, you know, and that
really bothered me because it went I went. You know
what they promote Safaris. They never come back and talk about.
There's always a war, conflicts that are promoted.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
You know, I grew up a.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Cent a dollar you could save a little kid who
started in Africa. This is the stuff that I grew
up on, you know what I'm saying. And and but
no one's coming.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Back to retail that story. And so I wanted to
make sure.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
You know, the.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Perceptions should be shut down.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Like you said, there are social media out there, and
you know, Africa is one of the biggest.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
Hollywood type producing areas in the country. In fact, on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
You know, the the amount of content that's coming out
of Africa is now on Netflix is amazing, and I
think that also kills a lot of the stereoy the music.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Look at the music industry, you know, that's exactly the
Nigerian African music industry has really blown up.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
And so for me, even when I left the.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
UK to move back to Africa, and my entry point
was Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria. My husband is Nigeria and I'm
from Ghana, but we both grew up in the UK
and I moved there to live with him after we
got married. And for me, it was a perfect place
to go from London to Legos because Legos is so
dynamic and the music industry was really burgeoning. Then in
(04:22):
two thousand and nine, the film industry was huge already.
Knowledge absolutely also in Ghana as well. Durance he has
been working in Ghana to do some some work there
to ensure that production can take place and take place well.
So there's so much going on in the fashion industry
absolutely is huge.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I'm wearing a Ghanian and the sports you know, y'all
dominating and oh my god, in sports, yeah, yeah, just force.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So you know, there's so much going on, there's so
many opportunities. So I like that the world has opened
up to seeing what Africa has to offer and even
me through beauty. People might think that beauty is shallow, right,
but if we can show the richness of our raw
materials and our ingredients through beauty and share that with
the rest of the world, then people can understand that,
(05:10):
you know, good stuff does come out of Africa, because
for so many years people have believed that only bad
things come out.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
Absolutely absolutely now life transition. Using the word beauty you
know what I'm saying, or in our skincare, yes, why
are you? Why are you producing it? Why are you
the face of that brand?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Because it's what came naturally to me, is what God
had put on my heart, and he found a way
for me to access the rest of the world through
what I do. My experience and background is in PR
and communications. I had my own PR agency when I
lived in London. I worked in the music industry, in
fashion beauty. So landing in Lagos and just finding out
the ground was so fresh to building brands. You know,
(05:54):
people definitely that's big populations. Virginia has like over two
hundred million people, Ghana over thirty million people. Right, And
we're so used to bringing in products from the rest
of the world, so we know Europe and America to
be the place where everything great is produced. But the
reality is that, you know, we the raw materials are
coming from the continent and going over there to be produced,
(06:17):
whether that's leather, right, whether that's shade, butter, whatever it is. Yeah,
it leaves the continent raw and then it's produced into
finished products elsewhere. And chocolates, look at chocolate. Chocolate is
not from Switzerland.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It is from every coast and is from Ghana. But
the raw cacao or cocoa is leaving the continent and
being value added elsewhere. And we believe that chocolate's from Belgium,
you know. So I think that the time has come
a new generation of people are going back home and
creating finished products. Brands, African owned brands coming out of
(06:53):
the continent using materials.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
That's important because so many because people don't know, we
get we get confused about where the final destination of
products are being distributed versus where it was source and
Africa has been the sourcing capital of the world for
so many years. And the fact that you as an entrepreneur,
let's put it right, You're an entrepreneur, a business owner
(07:19):
made the conscious decision woman owned business owner. So do
you right now to get your product is online?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
It's virtually on.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
But you do have stores?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
We do.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Where are they located?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
We have three brick and mortar owned stores, one in
Legos as the first door we ever opened in twenty thirteen,
and then we are now headquartered in Acra, Ghana, which
is where I'm from, and we have two stores there,
so one in the center of town in Labori, which
is a vibrant hub of hospitality, food, restaurants, clubs.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
You good storyteller, right, I'm about to go.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Multiple times.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
And we also have a store at the airport, So
in the departure lounge at Ghana's Accua Airport or.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
To Come International Airport.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
So as you're leaving, you pick up a piece of
Ghana and come and share it with your friends, your
family or keep it for yourself.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So what is the experience like going at you for
the first stores in twenty thirteen, is there an experience.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Do you do hair there or is just products being.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
A product based and we wanted to create an experience
come in and buy products that are made here, you know,
buy us for everybody, so you know, you just want
to walk into a store. Because one of my frustrations
when I moved back was I wo'ld go to the store,
I find something I like today and I'll go back
next week and is gone, right. You know, they're not
manufacturing it here, so I'd have to be importing it, and.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
So there's always gaps. There's always gaps. You can't always
get what you need.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
So the purpose gradually grew so that at the end
of the day, we get it today, when you come
back next month, is still there because we're producing locally,
we're sourcing locally, and you're always going to be able
to find that product. So we wanted people to experience
that brand feeling when you walk into our stores.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Awesome, awesome, let's talk about the product now you know
we have it right here, or the logo or that
look really resonates with me, you know, because it's it's
a a thought process been to talk about that whole
design of it, and then we're going to get into
the product and how was just you know, started the
evolution of our at our Skincare.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So the logo actually, I'm so glad you touched on that.
This is a new logo, okay. So when we started
gratulation thank you, we had another logo and we rebranded.
We relaunched Our in Our We used to be called
our Luxury okay, and we rebranded as Are in our Skincare.
Not that we've dropped the luxury. The luxury is in
the quality of what we do. But we found that
(09:45):
the name used to alienate people. People think that the
price point would be beyond what they could reach, but
actually our products are so affordable, right, so we thought
that luxury is something that you should feel won't say,
So we dropped the luxury and we're now are on
our Skincare. So we did have a logo similar to
ours in a symbol, but our creative team decided to
(10:09):
change the logo against my wishes at the time.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
When they came back with what they had, I absolutely
love that.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
It is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
It's really is beautiful, and I'm glad you dropped luxury
because when I hear R on our Luxury I think
of I think of resorts.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
I think of a rob report, you know, luxury.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I don't think of anything that's related to something that
I will put on my face or take care of
my body because.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Of that, and so this is a very smart to me.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I like to consider myself a branding and marketing expert.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Home Run, thank your logos, home Run, you're telling what
you do.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Skincare people know exactly what they're getting where they walk
in the store and they walk out and they share
with other people.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Excellent move. Now twenty ten, was this an idea or product?
In twenty ten when it was founded.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
It was in need.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
They talked to me about I just give them birth,
becoming a mother for the first time. I have three
kids now three daughters. Actually they did.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
They did have them quite kind of quick. There're girls. Now.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
When I had my first baby, I just needed something
natural to use on her skin.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
I didn't want to use the products that everybody used.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
For babies for years, because I mean the important, because
we know that it's not necessarily the best thing. So
being in Nigeria, I wanted to use something local and regional,
you know, and indigenous to the soil there and Shae
precedes everything that I've done. It's been around for centuries, right,
and we know the goodness of Shay because everybody.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Uses it absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
The proof in concept is there all the big brands
us shake in their formulations. But we weren't turning it
into an enjoyable product. It was just the raw shape
butter and you'd have to put it in the microwave
on the stove whip it up. Yeah, and people were
willing to do that, but I will one of those people.
You know, when you have a crying baby, you don't
(12:03):
have time to now put things on the stove and
start whipping up your formulations.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
There are people that are very good at that. That's
not me.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So I was thinking about the fact that I would
love to create a product that makes using these raw
materials from the continent enjoyable and suitable for a baby,
but suitable for the rest of the family too. So
when we discovered Shaye in a liquid form, which is
our shade oil, that was a game changer for me.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
So that was our first product. That was our first product.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
And when you say shade are how is it used?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
It's used directly on your skin.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So shade same way you do shave better, right pure
she rubbing it onto your skin to moisturize and looking moisture.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
This is the oil version. So sha is made up
of two parts.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Can get two technical solid and liquid when you separate
the liquid from the solid parts, so you have steering
and olin. So the olin is the oil and that's
what we are giving you. So it still has all
the amazing properties moisturizing, healing, all of those good things,
all of the good stuff. And we've bottled it and
we learned how to blend essential oil.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
So let me to lower you down, Valerie.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Ye, okay, now this is your first product, you say,
first product.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Okay, are you selling it?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Okay? Not yet?
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Okay, cool, continue with your story.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Good point.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So I was sharing with my husband actually that oh
I've come across share in an oil and this is
what we're going to use for the baby. And he
was like, you know what, I've never seen that before
and I don't think it's widely available.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
In Legos or in Nigeria. The bulbs, yeah, light bulbs.
Speaker 5 (13:35):
Yeah, money maker, money maker exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
As a branding person, I've thought that you know, this
is there's definitely an opportunity here. So before we go
spending too much money, let's get like samples and stuff
from the suppliers, bottle it, share it with our friends
and family, use it first, then share it with our
friends and family. And what we did, I even had
someone mock up a logo for me. I ordered like
(13:59):
a box of plastic bottles online and I just shared
it with the people close to me, and I just said,
if you like it, come back and buy it.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
And that's how it started.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Okay, So, and we talked about R and R means what.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
So Ran is my daughter's initials. Name is Rebecca Rose,
my first daughter, and she's named after my mother and
my husband's mother.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So my mom is Rebecca and my mother in law Rose.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So we named her after the two of them, and
she's got Rebecca Roh's And when you have a child,
you always send to name of your business after.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
It's such a woman thing to do.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
But yeah, so we decided Arena would be the name
of the company. And it also stands for rest and
recuperation or rest and relaxation, so you have like a
double meaning.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
There, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
We will be right back with more insights from money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to money Making Conversation master
Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversation master
(15:07):
Class continues online at money Making Conversations dot com and
follow money Making Conversations master Class on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That first time I've sat down with an individual who's
developed an idea. The whole idea is I have a dream.
That's what it really is. Yeah, now when you start
sharing that dreaming people, what were they saying to you,
Valerie about I think I can put this on the shares.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I think people will buy this. What were they telling you?
What they motivating you? Or they're looking at you like really?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, Well, you definitely have some of the people that
were like hmm, okay, let's see where this goes. But
I think the majority of people were very very passionate
about the idea.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
They were.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
They've got behind us pretty quickly, and they saw they
saw the potential for the business, and they were very supportive.
So from my mother to my mother in law, we
turned my mother in law's garage into a manufactory. After
my husband kicked me out of the house, I mean
kick me out of his kitchen, not actually out of
his house, but kick me out of his kitchen because
I'd taken over the dining room everything.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
There were boxes everywhere.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
So we converted his mom's space, her garage into our
factory compliant, fully compliant factory, so that we could start
producing on a slightly larger scale because the interest did
start to flow in, and definitely, I think support more
than you know negativity has surrounded this brand for day one.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
This is a part when I started asking the entrepreneur question, Okay,
what did your business plan look like?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I didn't have one.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Okay, so you started a business without a business plan?
Was that smart?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yep? Listen. I didn't go to business school.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I come from the school of hard knocks in right
and experience.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Okay. I went to university.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I studied branding, communications, culture and media. I went to
work in the PR world, initially music, then consumer PR.
I've worked with brands. I understand what people like, what
people don't like. And I'm African. I lived in the
diaspora for my whole childhood and early adulthood. I left
England at twenty nine moved back to the continent. Well,
(17:19):
I say, moved back. I never actually lived on the continent.
I was back and forth all the time, but I
did my entire schooling up until the age, up until
university in the UK and moved to Africa in twenty
nine and I realized that Africa was having your renaissance
in the creative space especially, and we were starting to
take ownership of what was ours and I had to
(17:39):
be part of that. And I had a responsibility as well,
Like God put this responsibility on me to empower our economy,
not just human beings, but the economy in general. Because
you know that if you bring in more than you
put out, you're always going to be a poor nation
or poor continent. So we have a responsibility to put
out more than we bring in. And so creating a
(18:02):
brand was one a gap a need but also say need.
But I also over time realized that there was a
responsibility on my shoulders and as.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Well as cruel cruelty free.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, when you do the tested on your your product, we.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Test on humans, not animals. And because there's yeah, they
can say ouch. And also because there's no need. You know,
the ingredients we use are historically you know, backed my
great grandmother and her probably ancestors as well use these
raw materials to cook, to eat with, to do several things.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
With my phone.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I'm good, yeah, to do all of these things. So
Shaye has been around for centuries. Okay, I didn't invent shape.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Well, let's talk about this because of the fact that
it's not so much you're inventing it, but you're bringing
a brand to America and exposing it to a miracle,
a Polish brand. Yes, but you want to maintain that
the African slaver too.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
Why is that important?
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Because we have to maintain the authenticity and the integrity
of who we are. I think it's important for people
to know where we've come from. We don't intend to
hide that in any way. We just wanted to make
our raw materials sexy if I can say that.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
You know, let's bring it back.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
We have to make it appealing and elegant and class.
But you know, in terms of what's in the bottle,
that all comes from other nature.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Okay, cool, Let's start talking about some of the stuff
that the infamous black soap.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I've seen it in the.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Square and so why are you or why should I
be encouraged to use this liquid black soap?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Again, it's like the modernization of historical context.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Shaye and sorry.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Black soap is a traditional cleansing as has been used
also for decades, and how do we make that more
appealing and more accessible to people? Not everybody wants to
use a soap bar, although nowadays, with the circular economy,
people wanting to have less waste, people are more happy
to use soap bars.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Again, but if you're a shower gel person, right.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
That's what I'm saying, That's why I gravitated it. I
am not a barsol question I have so this is
something I will be buying. Oh yeah, because I enjoy
I just enjoy that aspect of it versus a soap
that eventually looks ugly.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Exactly, I'm exactly the same. I'm a liquid soap person.
I love a shower gel. So a lot of the
need is created from my own personal needs and creating.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Something that is easy to use.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
You don't want to make using these things difficult, Otherwise
people will use it once twice and they'll be like,
let me go back to what I'm familiar with. So
I want to make it so that it can sit
on the shelf next to all of those brands that
you've used your whole life and be happy to switch
it out.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
Because now what is the difference, because I want to
I think you have.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Right here, you have the body all yes, what's your
first product exactly?
Speaker 5 (21:10):
And then you have.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Right here you have the the body butter.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Yeah, why do you need both?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Because everyone's preferences are different. Some people like more of
a thicker application.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
That's what the butter.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
That's what you're gonna get with the butter.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So it's a with butter, so it's still very light
compared to how rawschit butter is.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
We whip it, we add.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Our essential oils or you know, little proprietary bits and
pieces which are all one hundred percent natural oil sourced locally,
and some people just prefer butter. Some people want an
oil something that's a bit lighter and easier and quicker
to apply. So it just all depends comes down to.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Prefect right, Because then you have the hand cream.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yes, now I'm just asking, okay, because I have the oil,
i have the butter, and then I have the hand cream.
I'm assuming the hand cream is strictly for the hand.
But you got these dry knuckles.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
Yeah, you don't want to be, she means, so I
used this.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You can put that in your car, in your little
man purse if you have one, and or your briefcase,
and then the ladies put it in their handbag. So
you just carry around with you when you need a
little moisture. Top up because you know the weather can
be dry. Even in West Africa, we have a season
called Hammatan which is very very very dry, so your
(22:35):
lips get dry, your skin gets very dry, so it's
good to have that on your all times.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Just top up.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You know your product is named after your first daughter, yes, now,
but your mother of three entrepreneur?
Speaker 5 (22:49):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I love that question and I'll tell you why because
I like to say that no one asks the men
these questions.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
They always ask the women, how do you balance? Because
load is heavy? But until then, but then I gotta
go back to the source.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
And I think that it's difficult at times. You can't
give everything one hundred percent all the time, so there's seasons.
So right now I'm away from my kids. Right right,
they're facetiming me and they're like, oh, Mummy this or Mummy.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
That their dad is there.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
But they're calling me who is one thousand miles away
to ask me the most inane question.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
So I think that it's just you.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
You can't always balance everything, but you know, sometimes you
just pick up the heaviest balls and focus on those
at that specific time. The Sometimes when the girls are good,
they don't really need me. They've got everything working in
their favor and they're they're good to go. But there's
other times where I need to put on my mom
hat and put everything aside. But I'm very, very fortunate
to have a lot of good support. My husband is
(23:56):
an amazing support. He's actually, you know, one of the partners. He,
like I said, to help me conceptualize this business, and I.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Couldn't have done it without him.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I have an amazing team in Ghana, in Nigeria and
now in the US.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
So it's gonna be real now, not just over there
for vacation.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
You know, money made conversation, Mass, I see expansion.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
In my vision visionary.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Talk about your expansion ideas because you have three stores
back home, which is fantastic because finally you're keeping You're
not outsource, You're not sourcing out your product. You making
the product their employing people. Yes, revenue is staying in
the community, which I admire. So that's been the main
issue with Africa in general. But you're over here, come
(24:45):
on now, talk to me now.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Because you know, I think that we've also found our
tribe over here, and I've been here several times.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
I did like essence first in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
So pre covid, there's pre covid, and then post covid
and pre covid. We did some activations here and we
realized that as we spoke to people, people experienced our products.
The feedback was just unbelievable, and we really truly felt
that we found our people outside of the continent. And
I knew eventually we had to come back, and so
(25:16):
with the rebrand and these new opportunities, and I just
felt that this was the right time to come back
to America and meet our people again.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And well, you know, first of all, I don't we're
not rapping this interview up because that sounds like you're
about to go there, you know, because I really want
people to slow down and understand that the product is
available down the online it is okay, and you don't
have to wait to the product to get to that
So this this interview is by breaking down misconception.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
R you know, oh it's in Africa when I'm gonna
get it next year? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So let's talk about the whole process that the art
of being placed how has handled in Africa, so we
can develop that US factor with an audience over here.
There has a lot of misconceptions. Nurse, I'm sure's the
one person gonna go sh what you're talking about? I
trust them, Well, that's you. But we're trying to sell
to everybody. We want everybody to have the same trust
that they have walking in their local drugs. Yeah, those
(26:15):
products have been tested. They feel that it's on that shelf.
They can buy it absolutely. Now you're here with a
product that I want to buy, but it's sitting in
a manufacturing location and a store in Africa.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Talk about that process.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So we take quality control very seriously and compliance so
no one needs to worry about testing or quality because
we have Food and Drugs Authority for Ghana testing, we
have Ghana Standards Authority, We have all of the compliance
sides ticked and we're entering the US. Everything goes through
FDA checks before it's released. And yes, we manufacture everything
(26:53):
on the continent, but we bring it to you here fresh.
It's toward in our warehouse partners or logistics partners, and
then it shipped out to you from this country, so
you don't have to wait a million years, even if
we're shipping it, even if we're shipping it from the
million years, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
But but you know what people for distance absolutely, you know,
like I said, you know Chicago, I know that's that,
you know, Mexico, Canada, Africa and so. And we're trying
to encourage people to go online to be able to
try the product because the product can't get shifted to
you in a very time to matter and if you
like it, you order it again. And so with that
(27:30):
being said, how do you market your brain?
Speaker 5 (27:32):
You over here? You know you over but you're over there.
How are you marketing your brain? You know you already
told me.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
For Sean, you know, before I started this, I had
a PR. Yes, so you are much aware about marketing.
Tell us about this and.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Art and for me, PR is what I do. It
comes naturally.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
But we have a marketing team, both local and global
marketing team that are helping us get the word out there.
Speaker 5 (27:57):
You just say all local and global global.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Yeah, shout out to my global team. They are doing
a great job. The tribes, they are doing a great job.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
But again, it takes time, it takes experience. And one
of the great things that people can access is social media.
Social media is free and we've been building our audience
for over a decade now, and say Instagram for example,
So you can go on there, you can feel, you
can touch, you can read our story, you can watch
our story. We've done so many documentaries in house about
(28:30):
our story and about our production facility. So we produce
our own raw materials. You can see the women that
are part of that. You can understand where it comes from.
We have quality and processes. We meet all of the
standards good manufacturing practice. If you're into manufacturing, you know
about that. We're clean where that is concerned. And to
(28:51):
see the women at the end of the value chain
who pick the nuts, produce into butter, make the soaps.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
They're all part of this story.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
So every single don't you buy, you know it does
eventually go back to them. It feeds back into that
and the supply chain. Yeah, pride and also our hope
and our goal is to change their lives in terms
of their economic prospects.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Right, well, I'm gonna just tell you I'm impressed by
the process. First of all, you know you are standing communicator,
but you because let's be just a story we're trying
to tell you know, the logo are in our skincare
very impressive.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
I love it was just kind of like a brown
and green.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Yeah, very neutral and earthy, very.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Neutral, but it also feels like it is Africa in
a sense, you know, feel like earth tones strong earth
tones here. And the fact that you're giving us the
hand cream, You're giving us the which I love, you know,
the lotion for bath, and then you have the body
body off, which was the first, and then you have
the cream of all. What is the big picture we
(30:00):
talked about it earlier as we close. What is the
big picture for our and R Skincare.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I think just growing an African brand and taking it
to the rest of the world and sharing the beauty
of Africa through our formulations, through what we do, and
letting people know that this is just a small representative
of the entire continent and what is capable of.
Speaker 5 (30:23):
Well, my friend, thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Having This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations
Masterclass hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you to our
guests on the show today and thank you our listening audience.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to register to be a guest on my show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversations.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
your gifts. Keep winning the
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Mon
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