African Business Stories
African Business Stories is the go-to podcast for insights into the women shaping Africa’s business landscape. Africa is one of the world’s most promising frontiers for growth and innovation—and women are at the heart of this transformation.
Hosted by Akaego Okoye, this podcast spotlights female entrepreneurs who are breaking barriers, scaling businesses, and driving economic development across the continent. Through bold conversations, we explore funding, scaling strategies, digital transformation, and industry innovations—equipping you with insights, practical tools, and inspiration to navigate your own entrepreneurial journey.
When women win, economies thrive. These stories amplify success, challenge narratives, and create a blueprint for the next generation of female leaders in Africa and beyond.
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African Business Stories
Jade Oyateru: Co-Founder & COO, Uncover - Beyond Skincare: A movement to Prioritize Melanated Skin
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Jade Oyateru, co-founder and COO of Uncover, as she shares her remarkable journey of creating a skincare brand that beautifully blends African botanicals with Korean beauty technology. Discover how Jade, influenced by her beginnings in Lagos and her educational experiences in the UK, is reshaping the skincare industry for women of color. From her corporate career with giants like Nestle and Unilever to co-founding a groundbreaking brand, Jade's story is one of perseverance, cultural influence, and a relentless mission to empower and elevate African beauty on a global platform.
Explore Jade's transition from a structured corporate environment into the dynamic world of entrepreneurship and how a pivotal career moment, guided by a mentor, led her to Unilever Kenya and eventually to launching Uncover. With a strong foundation in marketing and brand ownership, she unveils the art of building and scaling a brand, emphasizing the power of strategic partnerships and the importance of a shared vision. Get a front-row seat to the challenges and triumphs of scaling a female-focused brand in a market saturated by FinTech, and learn how storytelling can be a powerful tool in attracting investment and fostering growth.
In the realm of beauty supply chains, Jade provides a candid look at the complexities of sourcing, manufacturing, and logistics in the African market. Hear her discuss the strategic decision to partner with Korea to offer top-notch, affordable skincare solutions to African women. As Jade navigates the hurdles of balancing quality with cost, her commitment to delivering value stands out, even in the face of economic challenges. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, advice, and encouragement for aspiring entrepreneurs and those passionate about redefining beauty standards.
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Hi there and welcome to another episode of African Business Stories. Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to be entrepreneurs. What this says to me is that the story of business in Africa is the story of the African businesswoman. So we are on a journey of discovery to find these women and tell their stories. On the show, we will hear from female innovators and entrepreneurs building and running businesses in Africa. They will share the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journey and lessons learned along the way. Some of these women you may know, and many you may not, but I assure you that all their stories are inspiring in their own right. My hope is that these stories will inspire you to reach for your dreams and leave a legacy for generations to come. It makes such a big difference to us if you can rate, review and share our episodes. You can do this mainly on Apple Podcasts, and you can find us on all podcast platforms If you're in Africa. Spotify is now available, so check us out there and don't forget to rate, review and share.
Speaker 1:Today I chat with Jade Oyetoro, the co-founder and chief operating officer at Uncover, a trailblazing skincare brand redefining African beauty. Oncover combines the richness of African botanicals with cutting-edge Korean beauty technology, delivering products that resonate with customers globally. Since its launch in 2020, the brand has raised over $3 million and recently launched into the US market. In this episode, Jade shares her incredible journey from building global local brands for multinationals to launching her own brand. Uncover Scaling a brand across Africa, the dynamics of having a co-founder, and practical advice on positioning for a successful fundraise. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a beauty enthusiast or simply someone interested in stories of innovation and growth, this episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss, so let's get into it. Hi Jade, Welcome to African Business Stories.
Speaker 2:Hi Akego, so excited to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me to this podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I think you're my first guest in the beauty space, so this is going to be a really interesting conversation. So I know that you're Nigerian and I'm not wanting to assume that everybody's born and raised in Lagos, but just wondering where you were born and raised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yes, I'm Nigerian, born and raised in Lagos, so that's a correct assumption. I spent, I'll say, the first 15 years of my life in Lagos, so I am definitely a very proud Nigerian and Lagosian if I can say that. I'm definitely a very proud Nigerian and Lagosian if I can say that Nigeria is always and will always be home no matter how.
Speaker 2:I always say no matter where you find yourself, you're true and core and you're still here in Nigeria at heart. And no matter what we do, as they always say, nigeria will carry last. Just carrying that mantra with me, no matter where I am in the world or what I find myself doing. For sure that's always been a strong one for me, yeah.
Speaker 1:So where did you go at 15? You said you were there until 15 yeah.
Speaker 2:So at 15 I moved to the UK. So growing up like I was not was I am the fifth of six children growing up. I've got I've got like four older siblings, and once you're done with secondary school or high school, the next thing was going off to do your a-levels or university in the UK. I think for me that was, but now that I think back about it, I did with someone with kids. I'm like how many. I have a child who's almost 10. I don't know if I can ship this guy off to somewhere by himself in five years time, but anyway, that was me. At 15 I went off to the UK. Of course I had older siblings there, so I wasn't just by myself to. I did my first levels of foundation course and then went off to University of Surrey when I was about 17. So actually I started quite early because, yeah, you should be 18 to start you should be 18 to start.
Speaker 2:You should be 18 to start uni. I actually started when I was 17. And I remember being told which is weird, nobody has that but I was given like a school mother, if that's what we would call it one way in Nigeria. So it was one of the professors had to sign to be my guardian as a 17. Wow, coming to uni, which was quite interesting, but yeah, so that's where I guess I spent the next 10 or so years of my life in the UK, going through uni, and at the time it was very interesting for me because when I was applying for my what was it called? Acas or UCAS?
Speaker 2:I can't remember UCAS, ucas yeah exactly, and I remember being so stuck what am I applying for? What do I want to go to uni? What do I want to go to uni? What do I want to study in uni? And all of that. I ended up doing nutrition. But there's a whole story behind behind that. But anyway, back to your question. At 15 I was shipped off to the UK, very thankful and obviously grateful for that experience as well just for the benefit of our guests who are like what in the world is UCAS?
Speaker 1:So UCAS is like the admission process for getting into university or college in England. So just to explain that for people. So is there any fond childhood memory you'd like to share, whether from your time in Nigeria or from your early days in England?
Speaker 2:I think for me anytime I just try to remember, I think it was just every time I think my happy place was just always around community and family and I think most Nigerians always at that, I think at that time grew up.
Speaker 2:Family communities was like raising a child and I grew up in a big household six kids with my mom and dad, and then I had cousins, and our house was always where neighbors and everyone always came to. It was just always so much fun and what that meant also was, if you're going to be this small little child in the middle of all this chaos, like just very quickly adapting to be sharp and street smart and great for your voice to be heard, I think was just so important. But it was fun. It was always nice looking up to these older people. I think it's the privilege of just having much older siblings. You can always just look forward, look up to and aspire to and be like, oh my god, what they're doing. They're so cool. But I think that was me. That was my childhood. It was just always happy gatherings and community and that was very important to us and that's always been a core value for me so you go off to university really young and you pick nutrition.
Speaker 1:So do you study that the whole three years of university?
Speaker 2:I did. I did, I think, look to be honest. And you know, nutrition was not. I wouldn't actually say it was initially in the cards for me growing up. Funny enough, I always just wanted to be weirdly enough.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people are like growing up.
Speaker 2:I wanted to be a doctor and a lawyer and if I tell you what I wanted to be so hilarious.
Speaker 2:But what did you always wanted to be a supermodel for some reason. I just felt like I was like this tall, lanky girl, extremely lanky, very. I'm 5'10. So growing up I was like I was very tall. I was always the tallest and everything, and at the time I thought that's all you needed. You're tall and you can catwalk. That was what you had to do to be a supermodel at the time, obviously, as this child. So what I always wanted to be was a supermodel and I thought one day I was going to own my own modeling agency. I was like always in my head. I would remember going out, or there was a time I was on a plane, I think going for summer, and one of the elders reached out and said oh my gosh, your daughter models.
Speaker 2:I always used to get this kind of comment. I just felt, yes, that's what I wanted to be, and even when, on the streets of London, I'll have scouts reach out to me. But then obviously I had Nigerian parents, so you can do all that, but first let's finish with university. And obviously there was no courts around, there wasn't modeling courts or anything, and so I think for me at the time my mom was also a nutritionist I was really thinking about what did? I was looking at everything. I was like what am I really good at? What do I enjoy?
Speaker 2:I really loved, like chemistry, biology, but I was definitely not going into the doctor. Pharmacy pharmacy was actually a second option for me if I hadn't gone with nutrition, but I really didn't want to go into that space, and so nutrition was very I became very fascinated about it as I was speaking to my mom and just trying to understand just the science of the body and how it plays a role, and I really just started to get excited about the possibility. So I thought, okay, let's try it. And that's how I got into nutrition and I applied for it and all the schools I applied for picked me and, yeah, I started it.
Speaker 2:It was a four year course oh, four, not three so it's three, but you have to do like a placement year. After the second year you have to do a whole placement year to work somewhere and then from there come back to complete your fourth, your third year on your fourth year course yeah so that was how I jumped into nutrition and it's really helped me to be honest in where I find myself today.
Speaker 1:Do you go on to do your MBA right after, or do you work before you do your MBA?
Speaker 2:I actually took a long break before I went into MBA. I was definitely one of those ones that felt like I was after four years. I was just tired of school. Yeah, I want to jump into the real world right now and get into corporate. So MBA was something that came after I had gotten and I felt was the right time, to be honest, because it made my MBA experience so insightful and just a lot more engaging because I was coming in with a lot of on the, I guess, on the job experience or on experience. So that was really good to bring that into my MBA. But it's different for different people, but I think for me it worked out really well having experience before going into the MBA. But again, like I say to people, like being an entrepreneur, actually I don't even think you need an MBA because what you're doing right now is real life. Right, new life MBA, you're learning on the job, but anyway, yeah. So I did go into corporate world.
Speaker 2:I started my career with Nestle in the UK, where I worked there for a while. So obviously, with my nutrition, I then got really excited about FMCG a lot of this multinationals that had a big nutrition space within their role in their company. So Nestle obviously very big on nutrition kids nutrition so I started my career there and after a few years I caught this wave of just wanting to move back home and move back to the continent. So I moved back to Nigeria in 2009, I believe and I moved back to Nigeria and continued working with Nestle in Nigeria, still within nutrition, and I think at the time is when I then got really exposed to how interesting FMCG industry is Everything from the sales piece to the marketing to brand building and storytelling and it was just such a beautiful experience that I felt I definitely wanted to try that and move away from that core nutrition into more of the operational growth strategy piece. And so, yeah, my career is definitely has not been a straight line.
Speaker 2:I think I have definitely dabbled into everything from core science and nutrition to more social science and just understanding consumer behaviors and how that links and interacts with product and brand building, and just telling a story has been quite interesting for me. And so when I moved back to Nestle, I was working in Nigeria and at the time I had to do my youth service and I was doing that together with my time in Nestle Nigeria. And once I was done with that, I said, okay, I'm getting really excited. I do want to learn a bit more around this business side of the business of a company and all of that. So I applied for a short course at Harvard. So this was like in 2010. I went up to Massachusetts, I did a short course in international business management and all of that, and while I was done, there is when I then got a role with Unilever.
Speaker 2:So I moved back, went back into Nigeria and started with Unilever and I think that's really when this whole piece just it just clicked, just got really excited about what I was doing at Unilever. I was with Unilever for about eight plus years, so started off in Nigeria with sales and then moved to Kenya as well with uni Very funny story. So I had actually just gotten married. Two weeks into my marriage, my husband got a job in Kenya. We were like, okay, what is the plan here? And so I was like I was this just very. I don't know if I was naive now that I think about it, because I was like I was this just very. I don't know if I was naive now that I think about it, because I was like I'm just going to quit my job and move with my husband, like why, who does that? I'm just going to quit and move. And thankfully, what is so exciting is when you have mentors in your corner who have been there and can really just advise you.
Speaker 2:So I remember sending in my notice my resignation and my director at the time. He just sent me a message what is this? Withdraw your resignation, there's no way, and I had a chat with him. And there's a world where we can get you to Kenya With Unilever. Why would you just resign. I'm so grateful for that Every day. I don't know where he is he's probably somewhere retired in Ghana but every time I think about him it's got quick where I'm just like my God. He really changed things for me because I think my life would have probably taken a different turn. I don't know, but it would have been different. And so I withdrew my resignation and within a few, a month or so, I had been able to do a transfer to Unilever Kenya, and so that was the, without going too deep into it. That was how my first role and how I got into this FMCG space, which has just been incredible building global, local brands and having that opportunity to truly scale.
Speaker 1:That's such an interesting story. So what was your role like with Unilever in Kenya?
Speaker 2:So in Kenya I worked closely so I did everything from like sales to brand building to marketing across East Africa. So it was again managing brands across Kenya and Uganda, tanzania, rwanda and all these markets. It was such an interesting experience and I always say, if you're someone who wants to be a strong marketer, oh my God, start at Unilever, because they have the best foundation and training. Obviously it's a great training ground to build strong marketers. And that really opened my eyes and when you own a brand, you truly own it at a place like Unilever because you understand everything from product development to supply chain to sales. The P&L for the brand truly sits with you and you're truly growing and taking ownership of that brand and driving scale and growth. So that was truly like a great experience for me to then launch me into sort of the world of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:So at what point did you then start considering moving into the world of entrepreneurship?
Speaker 2:To be honest, I think I've always been someone who's felt like wanting to be able to build my own thing and have my own thing, and I think for me that was because of the household I grew up in. I have both my parents are entrepreneurs. My dad started his company over 40 years ago, so I grew up at a point where he was at the early stages of building his company. My mom is someone I always like to refer to as a serial entrepreneur. I don't know how she did it. Like every time I tell her kudos to you because you're raising six kids obviously not raising it by yourself, but still you've got six kids but then you're like she started off with a restaurant and then she had like a salon, she had a boutique and a lot of this, and I'm sure most of our moms probably did that as well.
Speaker 2:So I didn't really grow up in a home of a corporate nine to five parents who were very much entrepreneurs, who worked on their own time, and I think when I was younger that's what I loved. It was the fact that these guys were very flexible. It was a lot of work. My dad traveled a lot. It was a lot of work, but you can still see that a lot of things were very flexible and they could do things on their own. So I knew at some point that entrepreneurship was in the cards. I was excited about it, even when I had studied nutrition and moved away from it at some point. I still came back to trying to start my own nutrition company at a small scale, because I was just like I had to be doing my own thing and building something. And how do I empower with what I think was important for me?
Speaker 2:But anyways while I was at UniLive I started getting really excited about just the possibilities and I wanted to build more in my business acumen and that's where my MBA conversation came in. So I did my MBA at Imperial College in London and while I was there, I think that's.
Speaker 1:Did you take time off? You took time off to do that full time.
Speaker 2:So, executive, I was doing it with work.
Speaker 1:Okay, executive, you took time off to do that full-time.
Speaker 2:So, executive, I was doing it with work. Okay, executive it was a lot. It was a bit of back and forth travel, but also with I was still working full-time. At that time I just had, I think, my first baby as well, my first child, so it was actually just hanging quite a lot. But I was really excited about the mba experience because while I was there is when I was truly exposed to the world of just the startup ecosystem. It was huge and it was big and, yes, I had all this corporate race strategy and ops background in marketing and sales, but, like, just in that core entrepreneurship ecosystem just blew my mind and I knew that, okay, this was exciting and I definitely wanted to be a part of this. And so, after Unilever, I joined Jumia. At the time, jumia was like this new Amazon for Africa.
Speaker 1:Out of Kenya.
Speaker 2:Out of Kenya yes, out of Kenya and he was like the leading brand within Jumia and still with there. I think it was just again. It was that fascination around. It was this cool, really cool tech startup e-com startup within that space. And then, from Jumia, I joined another VC female-focused startup called Kasha, again still in Kenya, and I think, with all that, I think what that really gave me was working at startups and truly being there and being core in senior leadership roles.
Speaker 2:I think this really exposed me, to be honest, in this world of just having a startup and being an entrepreneur If I think about my dad and you're raising funds or using your funds or you're going to the bank or whatever that is but then there's this other world of this venture capital.
Speaker 2:That was so near to me, but it was exciting and I was like gosh, yes, I definitely want to be a part of that. To be able to build and have people truly back you building something believing. What you're building and you're going out and you're truly disrupting. I think was something that was very exciting for me, yeah, and so while I was at Kesha, the opportunity for Uncover, to be honest, came up and I thought this was going to be amazing. At the time I was doing Kesha, I had my own side you always have like your side gig with my nutrition that I was doing, but I knew that at the time. If I think about this opportunity with Uncover versus what I was doing with nutrition, I thought that was a world that they could both merge. When I think about holistic wellness for women and yeah and they say the rest is history.
Speaker 2:But that's how Uncover started. With my co-founders I've got Sneha when she talked to me about the idea of Uncover and for me it just truly blew my mind. I was so excited about the possibilities, something that started as a PowerPoint presentation and then looking at where Uncover is now, I think it's just been an intense and amazing journey as we started to build the brand in the market.
Speaker 1:So were you guys part of an incubator or an accelerator of some sort? Did I read that? Yeah?
Speaker 2:so Uncover was incubated by Antla. So Antla is a global VC accelerator and, again, different. If you feel like you're an entrepreneur, you want to build something and you have an idea, you apply for the program, you get into it and while you're in the program you meet different founders. A lot of people come together as co-founders there. When you go into that program, meet a co-founder, you come up with an idea and truly build out what this idea is, and so at the end of the cohort of the round, you get to present your idea to what they call the IC. So you're presenting it to the investment committee. And what was really exciting with Uncover was that, within that cohort, uncover was like the only brand that came out of that with unconditional funding. So we got our very first funding from and that was really exciting for us, knowing that look, this was a PowerPoint presentation, but these guys truly understood. They understood the power and the market size of the opportunity and the problem that we wanted to solve uncover and that's how we started.
Speaker 1:So let me take you back a little. So I just want to drill down a bit, just a little bit Jedi, before we move on. So what made you decide to go into this incubator program? First question and what idea? Of course you, I think you went in as an individual, I'm assuming with your own idea, and then you met your co-founders there. So what made you go in the first place, and what idea did you have when you were going in?
Speaker 2:That's a very good question. So with with Angela. So at the time I was, I didn't go into the program. So my co-founder Sneha, a second co-founder, so we're actually three co-founders I think. If you've done, maybe, you've published a book.
Speaker 2:So we started off as three co-founders and we're now two, just because the third co-founder for good reasons, decided to leave the business to pursue other things, but then so I didn't go into the Antla program.
Speaker 2:At the time I was with Kasia and someone from the ANTLA program reached out to me while I was at Kasia and said, look, someone within this space has come up with an idea that sounds interesting and I think might be something you want to look into. So I got into my first session with Sneha and Catherine and started talking about this idea of Uncover and how, again, we're building something for women in africa was making. Everyone had a core experience and what they've experienced in the market is how do we build something for women of color and starting with the continents where we are all living? It's all just super exciting. So I think for me, that's then where I got super excited and to now start building this brand together. I think it's so much better having co-founders to work with than building a business alone. It can be quite lonely and it's always great to have a co-founder to work with as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting because I've had, we've, I've had. It's a mixed bag. I've had, I had one guest who we spent time talking about co-founder breakup and what it feels like. And then, of course, there are people who have successfully navigated and building great brands with co-founders who've come to become family. What has your experience been Like? Of course, you didn't know your co-founder before you started and it's a bit of a gamble, but what has that experience been like?
Speaker 2:It's a good question. It really is a bit of a gamble, because you just never know, especially if you're just meeting this person, you're learning your professional backgrounds and how you love to work. I always tell people co-foundership is like a marriage. It really is like right to myself and sneha it really is.
Speaker 2:it's a marriage, because you're speaking to this person every day, more than like hours in a day. They're part of you. You guys are just discussing, you have a shared vision and you have to work together to achieve that vision. So it's so important that you have someone, that one you truly trust, because trust is so important. Just having complementing skills, I think that has really helped us. So Sneha comes from a background that's very finance, private equity focused, so she's someone who loves numbers and she crunches the numbers and builds financial models in her sleep, right.
Speaker 2:I've come from a background that's very operational brand marketing strategy, and so bringing those skill sets together I think very complimentary in the way we work and how we trust each other. This is your core. I trust you to be able to focus and drive that growth, and this is my core and she trusts me to be able to focus and drive that growth. And we know that we have a shared vision and we do that together, knowing that we're both building something very meaningful. That's core to our hearts. Because outside of just building on cover for us, I think where we really gelled in our vision is truly about empowering women. That's the foundation. I think we're both in that space where we truly just want to be able to empower women, whether it's in their confidence and leadership position. So, for example, at Uncover, our entire leadership team are women. They're by women for women, and that's just so. It's important for us to be able to do that. So having a co-founder that you can do that with and you have the same vision, I think it's crucial.
Speaker 1:So tell us a bit more about Uncover Skincare.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Uncover is I like to say. We're not just the. We're really not just a skincare brand Skincare in terms of product, but we're truly bigger than skincare. We are a movement to prioritize melanated skin. I think at the core of it is just knowing that there are a lot of us that exist, a lot of women existing, different shades and tones, and black, brown, every shade in between, but a lot of times our voices are sidelined and so for.
Speaker 2:Uncovered very important that we are putting melanated skin women at the center of everything we do. And so taking all that and obviously, yes, there's one part of it where we're putting that into skincare products that we develop and so a lot of what we do that we love to term as African beauty infusing the healing powers of African botanicals that we know have worked for generations on our continent everything from aloe vera to baobab, to rooibos, kombucha like how we're taking those African botanicals infusing them with Korean beauty technology. So K-beauty, I like to call it like the Paris of skincare. They're miles ahead when it comes to skincare technology, and so we're really bringing the best of both worlds to make sure we're giving African women the best possible care, and I think that care truly comes in the second piece of what we're doing, which is truly about empowering and helping women to uncover uncover their confidence, uncover whoever they want to be. So a lot of that comes out in our core messaging and comment right, which is about affirmations.
Speaker 2:Again, when I talk about my nutrition background, I'm really looking at Uncover as a holistic solution to wellness. It's not just about topical skincare products we talk everything about. What goes in is as important as what you put on your face. We talk about health and how that impacts your self-worth and self-esteem, and so you'll find that on all Uncover packages we have affirmation statements and those are very powerful and they mean so much to us because affirmations truly, when you're interacting with an Uncover product, you're saying I am beautiful and I am radiant, I am protected. It's a great way to start or end your day from your positivity. So truly helping your mental health is also quite important.
Speaker 2:But outside of that, I think what's core is the scale, what we've been able to achieve in such a short space of time. We started Uncover in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. We have been able to scale from having one product in Kenya having 14 SKUs in Nigeria, ghana, uganda, and we're truly building a Pan-African brand. Putting African women at the center of what we're building I think has been instrumental to us.
Speaker 2:And, of course, as we do all of that with skincare and the content and the messaging, it's then truly knowing that to drive scale we're building a tech-enabled business. So everything from our e-commerce to skin quiz and teleconsultations that you can go on the website and book a tele consultation with an expert, it's truly allowing us to then be able to drive that skill and and be that direct consumer business, even as we still serve a sort of b2b retail go-to-market strategy as well yeah, that's very interesting.
Speaker 1:you've you answered a lot of the questions that were running around in my head. I wanted to know how many products you had out in the market and what markets that you're in, so you've told us a bit about that. Thank you for that. In terms of how people get a hold of your products, I know you are building a tech-enabled business, but in some of these markets people don't have access to shopping online. So how are you scaling in terms of products on the ground?
Speaker 2:our real-to-market is twofold. So, yes, there's the focus on direct-to-consumer, through e-commerce and social commerce and all of that, but we also have our b2b offline, because we're still, to be honest, heavily a b2b market, an offline market, offline market. Right, the concept is very like you say, not everybody wants to shop online or trust shopping online. So you still want to be able to walk into a store to feel, to experience, to trust that this is a real product, because we also have issues of there's a lot of issues around just gray products and counterfeits in the market. So people just want to make sure that I know where I bought this product from and I know where they are. So we're still, heavily, the majority of our business still sits within the B2B space. So in Nigeria, for example, we are in over 100 MedPlus stores, healthplus, casabella and a lot of all this Beauty Hearts, which are still like e-retailers but, a variety of online beauty, pharmacy and offline stores in Nigeria.
Speaker 2:I believe we are in those stores and similar to Kenya as well. So, again, because pharmacy chains in Kenya are called good life and most of like the beauty stores, linkedin, super cosmetics, true cosmetics and all of those you'll find on cover products there, which is right. So we have an amazing team that's truly pushing and driving distribution. It's definitely a big part of you know what we're doing to grow our footprints and truly make sure that in every corner, women have access to good, affordable skincare. I think is quite important.
Speaker 1:In terms of these markets that you've been. What has been your experience in market entry? Let's say, nigeria compared to Kenya um, that has been.
Speaker 2:The markets are quite similar but, at the same time, different, right? So one thing we always like to say is which is? I guess what we're pioneering is truly being that pan-Africa brand and how do we take this market across? There are other skincare brands that are also doing something similar, but how do we take this brand across? And I remember when we first launched in Kenya, we're going to launch in Nigeria. We're like, oh God, do we need to create a new Instagram page? A lot of our community and influencers and content creators that we're working with it's powerful in having one page because truly, we need to tell our African story and we're the same women, even though quite different In any way. So when I think about what's been different, I think for Nigeria, a lot of that is really about building trust and awareness first, I think, that was very important for the Nigerian market.
Speaker 2:So again, that offline trust building awareness I think was quite important. Kenya.
Speaker 1:I think customers in.
Speaker 2:Kenya were a bit more digitally engaged from the very beginning right. We started on cover, and so that's where we found a bit of the differences. And of course, you have things like just infrastructure, infrastructure challenges right across both markets, which are quite different in terms of just getting good importation, even just delivery logistics, has been a little bit challenging, but what's exciting is there's so many other startups within that system that's truly trying to solve for some of these gaps.
Speaker 1:Another thing I found very interesting about your business is the fact that you've been able to raise an incredible amount of money for a traditionally non-tech business. I don't know that I know any other skincare business on the continent that has been able to raise as much as I think. From my research, you've raised almost $3 million so far for a four-year-old business, and congratulations on that. Can you walk us through your? Of course, your co-founder comes from a PE background and you've worked for a fund background and you'd worked for a fund. But what was your? How did you approach the idea of scaling?
Speaker 2:and fundraising for Uncover. I will say at the beginning it was quite challenging and it's tough and it's always sad to hear that a lot of brands are not able to also unlock. I think for us at the beginning we did face a lot of challenge because I think a lot of investors just couldn't place us. They just didn't understand they're not FinTech. Are they tech? Like exactly what are they? And at the time when we started raising, it was like this FinTech bubble. Everybody just wanted to invest in FinTech. In fact, we had investors who would come and they just didn't get it and they would just be like are you FinTech? No, I'm not interested, and they would close the chapter.
Speaker 2:And I think it was quite difficult for people to just understand that, okay, these guys are, they're a consumer goods company, they've got physical products, they have a digital strategy, they have a D2C platform, but they're not exactly. They don't have software. How are they going to scale? What exactly? So it was quite difficult and, I think, very quickly we had to just understand. It was important for us to show one how people understand the market size of what we were trying to do. So, taking other markets that have gone through the same thinking about india or even the us exits and all of the people are seen within the space because, again, that needs to make sense for for an investor.
Speaker 2:But I think it was. We initially found it. Even, to some extent, we started having conversations like when we go to an investor, do we want to change our strategy? Do we position ourselves as a tech company? That's how bad it was, but obviously I'm happy that we stayed true to our mission and to what we were building Because, quite frankly, as soon as people saw that, listen, these guys are building something here that has clear path to profitability.
Speaker 2:We're seeing the rapid growth we're seeing there's a clear traction and so, as long as we could show that what we found is people who got it right, and we had this conversation around gender lens, funds funding and female fund because, again, we are a majorly female focused brand it building for women and so a lot of times when you're speaking to funds that are majorly run by men, they just don't understand the gap we're trying to solve for and the solution we're trying to solve for. And so when we started speaking to a bit more of a female-focused fund who could relate they could relate to where we're solving for they understood the opportunity and the market size it started becoming a lot easier to have those conversations, and so I would say probably maybe 40 or half of our investors have come from funds that have that gender lens views.
Speaker 2:Quite a number of them again, everyone from Altree Capital, true Adventures First Check Africa who are truly supporting and backing female founders Because, ultimately, I think female founders actually churn out better returns right, and I think that's been very exciting for us. In fact, I was listening to a podcast the other day where it's probably only five female founders have raised their Series A in the whole of Africa. Wow, I'm just saying across the industry. So there's a huge gap. There's a big problem. In the last five years, only less than 2% about 1.5% of funds raised in Africa went to female. It's a huge problem. It's a huge gap.
Speaker 2:So I think it's always about just encouraging female founders to step up to yeah, I think, just getting more funds that truly believe. And then how do you explain and paint the right picture of your brand? Like people say, men have no problem, even though they have nothing. They just have an idea. They are so confident in how they raise their funds and how they talk about their business. I think it's important that, as women, we're shouting about what we're doing and truly building and letting people see that growth, the scale. Don't be afraid to scale, to think about scale, not just thinking of. If I'm doing this, I'm doing this within this community or just within Nigeria, but you truly need to look at the wider picture and scale, because investors want to. Obviously they want a big return for their budget, so how do you make sure that you're providing that for them at scale?
Speaker 1:I totally agree these are conversations that we constantly keep having time for their body, so how do you make sure that you're providing that for them at scale? I totally agree. These are conversations that we constantly keep having. It's one thing to be talking about how there's no female-led unicorn on the continent, but it's even worse than that. You're saying that less than five female-led companies have raised Series A. That's incredible. Hats off to the people, to the funds that are supporting on the seed round level.
Speaker 2:But there's so much more we need to do I'm sorry, just to correct that and talk about the five female, not in africa but in nigeria.
Speaker 1:Sorry if I mentioned in nigeria it's still a very small number, it's still a very small number. Yeah, it's still a very small number and there's so much more we can do. Yeah, um, can you speak more to the communication piece? But because there's work on the funder's side, but I too feel like there's work on the female founder side. Yeah, in terms of how we position our story, you have a storytelling background no, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think what's important is again, in terms of painting the picture of what is the solution you're trying to solve for and how big can it be? So, truly thinking about the market size, I know you're thinking about the market size from, so, for example, looking at it from Nigeria, but if you're truly building a, if you're building a product, you want to build a product that can scale rapidly and not just looking at one market. But how can I?
Speaker 2:yes, I'm going to start and try to understand and achieve my product market fit in my first launch market. But as soon as you understand that product market fit, or you get the right product market fit, how do you then very quickly scale right and how do you scale to more markets or more people using your product? What does this look like? I think investors definitely want to be able to understand that. You want to be able to understand that. You want to be able to show what your clear path to profitability is because, again, people want to make sure that you can build a sustainable business. You're not always going out raising funds, but you can build a sustainable business. So what is your clear path to profitability?
Speaker 2:And then just understanding your business fundamentals.
Speaker 1:Again, what are your?
Speaker 2:business fundamentals. How are you looking at cash burn in your company? Are you keeping it to to the minimum? Are you tracking like? What are the key metrics that you're tracking in your organization, everything from bus margin to the revenue to return on investments and every marketing spend?
Speaker 2:people just feel I don't really understand your industry. I can't relate, so you need to help them understand and truly paint that picture. So, as a brand or as a founder, how are you making sure that you truly understand the key metrics that are important to drive scale in your business?
Speaker 1:Every time I always say I don't cover like we track.
Speaker 2:We are tracking everything from how much we spend on a paid ad to a UGC creator or a shelf strip in the store. What is the return Each and everything you're spending is bringing back to the company, and I think investors want to see that level of understanding. I think it's more than just doing a pitch deck and saying this is the solution and this is the problem and this is the solution. I think going in a bit more in depth of truly helping them understand and giving them that skill, that vision that you're building so they can buy into that, but also the business fundamentals, I think it's crucial.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Thank you so much for that. So, jetty, what does growth look like for Uncover, going forward?
Speaker 2:We always say at Uncover we are proudly African but powerfully global, right, so we're very proud about being an African-grown brand, but we truly see ourselves as a global business because, like I always say, especially with skincare, you find a lot of these western products in them in our markets, right. The amazing ads with the building of this brands that have been built around western women in their markets, right. And then Africa seems more of like a regional expansion play and it's okay, like, okay, let's get to Africa. And then we see all these brands that truly don't have us in mind.
Speaker 2:And so for us, we are doing the opposite, where we're truly providing products that's tested and approved by women in Africa, and so how do we now take products that have been approved by women in Africa and make those products global? I think for us, that's core. So, if I think about the next stage, we're actually launching in more markets. So it's really about how we're taking this global going into more markets. I think what has been exciting for us is again taking a bit more of a global stand and a global stage to entering more markets and truly taking African skincare global. That's what's truly exciting for us and as much as, yes, we're growing our portfolio in terms of product expansion and we're very data-driven in the way we release products. So, again, it's not just about going to get products from korea and we're very data-driven. We're listening to our community and saying, okay, what are products that women need? We have a data of over 30 000 women that have taken that at data points that we're able to look at.
Speaker 2:What are key concerns that women in Africa face? We know that the top three are hyperpigmentation, acne and dry skin. When we think about our product development, how is it addressing those out of data and so all that, to come up with strong formulas that are then produced in Korea. We bring them to Kenya and Nigeria, we test it on women here before we then produce a skill. So I think for us anyway, going back to your question it's really taking that African beauty and focus on African women and taking that global, and so we're really excited in the next couple of weeks launching the US market. This is still a bit hard. We're really excited about that and the opportunities that will come out of that, I think has been huge for us.
Speaker 1:That's exciting. That's exciting. And is there any particular reason why the Korea? I mean, we all know about K-beauty why the Korea connection?
Speaker 2:That's a really good point. So again, look, I think, when we look at the markets around, manufacturing Korea came out strongly as people who, with their technology, they use very gentle, very gentle ingredients. So again, we don't want harsh, harsh ingredients, harsh squabbing. I think it was very important that we're working with high quality manufacturers who also are very innovative. So Korea is very innovative when it comes to skincare and they're also just known for efficacy. And so how do we take all of that and merge it with african botanical? And no one is really doing that, to be honest. So we're truly pioneering that.
Speaker 2:Imagine we've had people say why don't you just make it on the continent, like, why are you not making products?
Speaker 2:And I think, look, while all that is well and good, I would like to say one. I guess we're not a manufacturing company, so trying to set up manufacturing or trying to build in africa just takes away from our focus. We're still such a small brand that we want to focus on what we're good at, and what we're truly good at is building a brand, driving the message and truly building that good quality brand and making sure that we can drive awareness and penetrate our products in as many homes as possible. But then the manufacturing piece is not our strength. So we're going to be spending a lot of our energy and time and resources on trying to manufacture products on the continent, vis-a-vis just getting the best of both worlds, which is like global best technology. But then if you use it in your local botanicals to truly just have the best product, maybe in the future I don't know, it's not a never situation, but it's like when you're starting out as a small brand, you truly want to focus on certain areas and work with experts and parts of the business.
Speaker 1:That is such a good point, Jenny, because I think many businesses die on the altar of manufacturing, especially on the continent. I think a lot of them do. So that is a really good point to focus on what you're good at and is really building that brand and meeting that need. Thank you so much for sharing that In terms of your pricing in all these different markets, because I know, of course, I want to ask you about logistics and the challenge of moving goods across the continent and I know that landing a good in Lagos is nowhere the same price as landing a good in Uganda. A good in Lagos is nowhere the same price as landing a good in Uganda. So what does your pricing look like for this global brand that you're building, you're trying to put in markets across the continent?
Speaker 2:When I think about the positioning from Cover. We've always said we're building a mass-staged brand, which is very important for us, and when I use the term mass-staged just meaning that we are a brand that's aspirational and affordable to the mass market. So we're not necessarily building a mass brand, but we're also not building a very premium brand.
Speaker 2:We're building a mass-searched brand that's very aspirational and is very accessible to the mass market, and I think for me that has been. I wouldn't lie supply chain is one of the things that keep me up at night.
Speaker 1:It is tough.
Speaker 2:It is tough especially when we started with making our products in korea and just shipping from korea to kenya. And as obviously with more markets that you expand to, the deeper the complexities that come with it. So now we have to ship from korea to nigeria, korea to kenya to uganda, and as you go into more markets, so it is a bit of a pain.
Speaker 2:we've had logistical nightmares at the beginning, like I said to my team, we are going to out of stock issues. I'll be like oh my God, it was cute, because it was like oh my God, our products are selling out, so that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:But not anymore, because at this point you're truly just losing money, and it's.
Speaker 2:how do we fix that? From a logistical lack of tech, because, to be honest, we're not necessarily enjoying any benefits of shipping products from Kenya to Nigeria. Sometimes it feels a bit cheaper getting directly from Korea into Nigeria, and so I think for us, look it's still. I can't say that we've cracked it, but what we've tried to do for sure is, as we think about our consumers in the different markets we are not in the much as my investors should not be hearing this but, we're truly not in the like maximized profits, trying to raise our prices just so we make the most margins not at all.
Speaker 2:We truly understand the consumers that we are also building for, and so we're truly building, looking at how we're driving a high quality products at the best possible price.
Speaker 2:A lot of that it might mean that we're taking hits on our margins, but it's important. There's no point putting a product out there that is super expensive and nobody's picking it off the shelves because, yeah, you also know how the economy is at the moment. Even in the two years or so that we've launched in nigeria, we've done only one price increase, as opposed to other brands where it feels like almost every month products is price is changing.
Speaker 2:I think for us that's important because you know, we're trying to absorb a lot of that as much as we can, but at the other side looking across the value chain and saying, okay, where can we, where can pricing be impacted? Everything is not just about the end consumer, so it's everywhere, from the supplier, right, how can we get better pricing of the suppliers? Can we look at what else are we doing around, like packaging? How can we minimize the cost? Just looking at the full value chain, and how do we minimize that cost where it's not just passing on costs to the supplier?
Speaker 2:But for my logistics and shipping and imports it's tough. Like I always say, if there's anything that I know, that entrepreneurs who face this can speak to a government, or when people ask me, I've had questions like oh, if you were to speak to a government official, what would you tell them? But part of you were to speak to a government official, what would you tell them? Part of it because in as much as you are trying to support and drive growth of people manufacturing on the continent, also knowing that these small brands are also still providing employment and we're still doing other things to drive the growth of the community, but just to make it difficult, it is every time you're shipping a product. It's a nightmare, to be honest. We're working through it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for what you do, and they say nothing ventured, nothing gained. Our hope is that supply chain issues will get better, because that's the only way that our businesses can grow. And you're correct, you're creating jobs, much needed jobs, and it's something that should be taken into consideration. This has been a really great conversation. I could go on. I have lots of questions, but we have to wrap up, and so, in wrapping up, I normally ask my guests two questions. One's a reflection and another is advice. So, in terms of reflecting in this business that you've been building over the last four years, what would you say are one or two things that you are most proud of, as you and your co-founder have built this business over the last couple of years?
Speaker 2:I would definitely say so. Two things jumped to mind for me, and I think one is truly building a brand that resonates deeply with women on the continent. That's truly empowered, because we're hearing the stories. It's not just and I always say it's not just about providing quality skincare products or solutions, but it's contributing to shifting the narrative about beauty and how beauty should be inclusive, and I think that's been incredibly powerful for me. I think when we think about a market in Africa, especially Nigeria, where things like bleaching and hash scrubbing is still a huge problem and a lot of that is coming because of the power of what beauty? What are the beauty standards and what should beauty look like, I think for us being able to disrupt and change the narrative.
Speaker 2:I was saying to someone the other day we had a launch of one of our products recently where we truly built a story around loving yourself unfiltered, and we had a lunch and we had almost 200 people attend the lunch, from influencers to like our consumers, and we told people the dress code was come as your authentic self and people came bare, faced, no makeup. You don't see that happening. I felt like we've truly been able to achieve this drive, the movement of just feeling empowered in yourself. Right using makeup doesn't mean anything, by the way, we're not against that but, like I always say, don't uncover healthy skin, but the fact that we've been able to drive a movement of just being authentically yourself. You don't have to change the way you look, you don't have to like try to make yourself look lighter, because we've just grown up with that mentality of fair is more beautiful, but that's core to the messaging and seeing that resonates with women. Oh my God, I think that has just been incredibly powerful for me.
Speaker 2:And I think the second thing would be around fundraising. There are two sides to that coin where it's a shame to feel like you can count on your fingers. You know how many female startups have received funding to a certain amount but the fact that we're able to change the narrative, like I have people who call me and say oh Jenny, can you come and speak here? You know you need to talk to people about funding, because Uncover within the beauty space is probably the only one that a lot of people are hearing about Uncover, I think, oh my God, how are these guys within the beauty space truly driving the capital?
Speaker 2:but how are these guys within the beauty space truly driving your capital? And I think that impact of being able to drive that and people see that it is possible, right, it is possible, and you can empower other women and other startups to do the same. I think that's truly something that we don't take lightly and want to obviously help and support and share as much as we can. Just make sure that in the next five years, the numbers should be drastically different. We should not be comparing 1.5 or five women in Nigeria. It should be a lot more than that.
Speaker 1:Yes, that is the goal. That is the goal. Thank you, jetty. And so, in terms of advice, if you could give one piece of advice to other women who are building businesses across Africa, what would that be?
Speaker 2:I'll definitely say be relentless and dream big. I think let's be confident in the solution and what we're solving for and just truly dream about how can you scale. I think be relentless about your goal and your vision because, to be honest, only you, only you can sell your story If you truly know what you're building. No one else can drive and sell it for you. So be relentless, no matter how many no's you get. We've gotten so many no's trying to build this business and raise funds for it, but you just keep pushing. It's not a oh, these guys don't get it.
Speaker 2:So maybe what I'm driving, I'm really being ridiculous, but you know, that you've got something powerful, be relentless about it and build that vision and stick to it and and I think, as you build it, focus on truly building a high quality, sustainable business Right. And I think if you have a high quality, sustainable business that continues to offer solutions, that makes people's lives better just stick at that. No matter what it is that you're building, am I building something quality, it's sustainable, it's helping people's lives? I think stick at it and you will find the right community that you need to help you scale that business.
Speaker 1:You will find it. Thank you so much, daddy. This has been a great conversation, thank you.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening. If you're not already subscribed, please do so on Apple, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to leave us a review so we know how we're doing. I'm Akego Okoye and you have been listening to African Business Stories.