Make-up in Kenya is surprisingly a new conversation and one of constant discovery.
Barely five years ago, the majority of women especially between 25-40 years hardly wore anything beyond lipstick, gloss and eye-pencil and that was to go out.
More elaborate make-up was a reserve for people in the spotlight such as musicians, models and news anchors. Most women were inclined to go for a “natural look”.
Perhaps we were all just worried about fitting in, conforming to how society would define us.
But a lot of things have changed since, social media has greatly influenced how we look.
Personal style bloggers continue to challenge us on what beauty represents as happier, healthier, successful and we all want to be portrayed as such.
Beyond this though, make-up artists have played a crucial role in creating a demand and supplying the latest products in their world.
Leading Woman- Suzie Wokabi
As founder of the region’s first make-up brand owned by an African woman, Suzie Wokabi today is a force to reckon with in the business environment. She launched the brand, Suzie Beauty, three years ago.
She introduced make-up for dark skin tones and has steadily grown in scale, standing tall despite the market entrance of global make-up brands such as L’oreal, Revlon, Maybelline and other smaller players.
Suzie’s story is most incredible for brand realisation. It’s not every day that a make-up artist starts her own line that will be positioned to challenge the very brands that she had grown to love, and she did.
My first interaction with Suzie Wokabi was backstage at the Patricia Show. Then I was a content producer for the show and Suzie was the personal make-up artist to Patricia Amira who hosted the pan-African talk show.
It was a busy set on shoot days one rarely stopped for a friendly chat. Her first words to me were, you have such beautiful features, you should wear make-up!” and then ushered me to a seat and tweezed my eyebrows!
Five years later she still carries a pair of tweezers for meetings with me, the make-up skills on my end have improved though!
Even then Suzie Wokabi was a celebrity make-up artiste with her own make-up studio at the Seraph Spa.
The International Relations degree holder turned make-up artiste was already gracing covers and working with some of Kenya’s top female celebrities and personalities.
Small Beginnings
As a young girl, Suzie just loved make-up and fashion. She would eagerly await her mother’s return from work before disrobing her and strutting around the garden in her jewelry, jacket and shoes.
She loved to play dress up, she loved lipstick and unknown to her this passion would be realized into a life career.
A need for Make-up for African Skin
“Put a dark-skinned woman and the African sun together, throw in some grossly overpriced, often counterfeit make-up brands into the equation and what do you get - a recipe for disaster!
Multiply that and you have a population of fashion police’s most wanted, not to mention a host of unsightly skin reactions,” says Suzie.
These are just some of the issues that Suzie Wokabi was facing as a make-up artist working in Nairobi.
Today the Suzie Beauty product range offers solutions for African, Indian and Caucasian skin tones and is priced affordably to attract both an aspiration and affluent market segment of women between 18-35 years; the most daring and experimental group of women, she says who want to stand out and experiment.
The brand is well distributed both online and in retail outlets in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and even in Kampala, Uganda, Addis Ababa, and Cote D’Ivoire, and soon in Nigeria and South Africa.
Additionally, the company plays a key role in the fashion, beauty, media and bridal industries and has established a seasonal school where aspiring local make-up-artists can learn this valuable skill.
Milestones
After graduating from University in the US, Suzie dove right into the fashion industry.
She was trained by MAC Cosmetics and completed an intensive Media Make-up certificate course at the Award Studio Make-up School in Los Angeles.
She worked in New York within the fashion and beauty industries from 2001 until 2007.
2013: Suzie received a finalist award for the Most Influential Women in Business & Government in Africa.
Under her able leadership, the company SuzieBeauty won 2nd runner-up in the Trade category of the 2013 Africa SMME (Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises) Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She has now won twice in the 2014 Most Influential Women in Business & Government Awards in the Wholesale & Retail Category for Country and Region, and was a finalist in the Transforming Kenya Awards 2014 in the Manufacturing category.
In March 2015, Suzie attended a Gala in Paris organised by an association known as ‘Un Sourire d’ici ou d’Ailleurs” (UNSIA) (simply means a smile here or elsewhere).
It was a gala to honour African women who are impacting the African Continent one way or another (Gala des femmes Africane).
Nominations:
She was nominated in the Entrepreneur category.
Suzie travelled to Boston, USA in February 2015 as a Distinguished Panelist at the Harvard Business School – Africa Business Conference with the Panel Title of “Localizing Product and Business Models”.
In April 2015, SB is invited to sponsor the make-up in Bangalore, India for the Oh!F!Africa (OFA) Fashion and Music Festival, hoping to continue to open our international markets and reach.
“When I first started in the local industry, I was grateful for the support of fellow artistes such as Fatou Hassan and Wacuka Thimba among others. We’ve all taken our different paths to each one’s success. I want to see a new generation of talented artistes who can become eligible for employment in the blossoming beauty and cosmetics retail market in Kenya."
Suzie also fondly references a protégé, Steve Koby as one of her favourite apprentices.
“Steve Koby is perhaps one of the most talented young make-up artistes today,” she says. Suzie Beauty Ltd will be launching a make-up school that offers a full make-up curriculum.
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