BEAUTY, BRAINS AND GOOD HAIR

WHY CHIOMA IKOKWU AND KIKA OSUNDE ARE THE IT GIRLS!

One thing is certain – Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde are definitely on top of their game. The bosom friends are both co-founders and co-CEOs of the popular luxury hair brand, Good Hair Limited. Despite the odds of doing business in recent times, the Good Hair girls have managed to grow and scale the business to this point where they are the cynosure of all eyes.

Whenever great hair and beauty solutions are mentioned, the first names that come to mind are Kika

Good Hair and Chioma Good Hair, as they are popularly known in reference to their company Good Hair Limited. But it had not always been like that. Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu have not always been in the spotlight. A number of traits, practices and behaviors are responsible for their seemingly meteoric rise. Let’s shine a light on some of them;

Self-awareness
Both Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde have always been careful with their looks from as far back as they can remember. Chioma says she had always loved to look beautiful, experimenting with beauty products right from when she was old enough to know what beauty was. Her partner Kika Osunde also says so of herself. The friends and business partners have always known themselves to be very interested in beauty and they cultivated their passion unapologetically.
Knowing and staying true to themselves indeed paid off handsomely as it is the seed that germinated
into their beautiful reality today.
Insight Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu while students in university, used to get a lot of compliments from friends and family about their hair. Even though they had not yet started their business at the time, they were deluged by enquiries as to where they got their hair extensions and weaves from. Chioma and Kika were always glad to purchase hair on behalf of friends and family till it finally occurred to them that they could make a business out of it.

Market survey
Once Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde made the decision to go into the hair business, the first thing
they did was take a good look at the whole hair industry – suppliers, products, distribution, etc. It was at this point they discovered through Internet research that they could actually procure great hair (better quality than they were getting from their suppliers at the time) and at cheaper rates too.
Since business is basically about sourcing a product or service at low price and selling at a higher price which people are willing to pay for, Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde knew they had a workable idea on their hands.

Collaboration
Since Kika Osunde was very interested in wigs and lace frontals/closures while Chioma Ikokwu’s
predilection and expertise was more to actual hair extensions, it made perfect sense for them to team
up and complement their knowledge and skills.
According to Chioma Ikokwu, both ladies came up with 600 pounds each for the necessary initial capital.
This made perfect sense given the fact that they were both still students at the time with limited access to funds. Pooling together their skills and resources is one of the factors that took them a step closer to the realization of their dream.

Beauty & Brains, rare picture of Kika and Chioma of Good hair

Started small
Even though a lot of people may not know this, Good Hair Limited was started by Chioma Ikokwu andKika Osunde in their hostel. Yes that’s right, their dorm room in the University of Birmingham! And their first office was located inside their kitchen in London.
The fact is that most glitzy success stories started out in pretty unglamorous circumstances. Waiting for perfect conditions never works out and Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu seemed to be aware of this.

Education
Despite the come up of their promising business venture, Chioma Good Hair and Kika Good Hair never neglected their studies. Rather, they found a way to effectively combine both.
Kika Osunde bagged a degree in Business and Marketing from the University of Birmingham while
Chioma Ikokwu earned herself a BL in Law from the same university. Chioma went ahead to get awarded an LL.M in International and Environmental Law, and International Commercial Arbitration from the University of London. Chioma Good Hair went even a step further to get called to the Nigerian Bar after completing a year of legal studies at the Nigerian Law School.
No doubt their skills in business, marketing, negotiation and contracts have been gained and sharpened by the great education which they've enjoyed. Education as a means of empowerment can never be overemphasized.

Ambition
The first boutique salon Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu opened for Good Hair Limited is located in London, and has been very successful. The business partners however did not stop there, but went
ahead to open up a branch in Lagos along with an online store. According to Chioma Ikokwu, they have plans to open stores in New York, Paris and a second shop in the UK.
Without ambition, they probably would have been content with the first shop they opened in London
and who knows, we probably would never have known them.

Network
It is said that you’re only worth as much as your network, and girl, have Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde built and nurtured theirs. The hair entrepreneurs intentionally court polite society and decision makers in the beauty industry.
This single factor has gone a really long way to endearing them and increasing their relevance.

Quality – or in other words, Good hair!
When asked what the differentiator between Good Hair Limited and other hair businesses is, Chioma
Ikokwu wastes no time in saying, “it’s the quality.” The truth is that there is no substitute to good quality – premium quality always stands out any product or service.

Chioma Ikokwu and Kika Osunde go the extra length by travelling across the world to physically visit their hair donors and manufacturers to ensure the quality of their hair products never fall below par.

This list might not be exhaustive but it gives a snapshot into the inner workings that have contributed to adorning Kika Osunde and Chioma Ikokwu with celebrity status today. You can follow them on
Instagram: @kikagoodhair @chiomagoodhair @goodhairltd or visit the online store at
www.goodhairltd.com

How Kika good hair and Chioma good hair remained number one in the hair business

Kika Osunde also known as kika good hair as we fondly call her is a 28 year old co-founder of Good Hair Limited along side Chioma ikokwu. She is a Nigerian by origin, who was born and raised in London, U.K.

Aside all her glamour and success, she is a very smart, cool, straightforward girl, who isn't afraid to be herself at all times. Kika good hair as we fondly like to call her is one of the few ladies that has be able to turn her passion into a career and so we interviewed her to know how she started the Good hair enterprise.

We asked Kika to share with us a few secrets, as well as tips for potential entrepreneurs drawn from her personal experience, so stick with us till the very end of the interview to find out more...

What inspired your decision to go into the hair business Kika good hair?

Honestly, it trickles down to vanity. I take a lot of pride & joy in my personal appearance especially my hair, and people always stop me and say “Oh, kika nice hair”, “You’ve got really good hair” kika, “You should bring us some hair” or “When will you start selling?” and truthfully that is how I got inspired to start good hair ltd.

Our sources said you were 22 when you started your own business. How did it all happen?

(Laughs a little) It didnt all happen. My business partner Chioma Ikokwu and I, met in Birmingham where we studied. I must say she always had amazing hair. They were so bouncy and everyone would be in awe of her hair. As for me, I had this lace wig thing going on, so we both decided to team up and supply this awesomeness to the rest of the world.

In Kika very own words “We wanted Good Hair ltd to be ethical, we wanted to provide raw, honest, virgin hair, and we didn’t want to cut corners. We wanted it to be a luxury brand so we wanted to go to different countries to source the hair directly and supply the raw honest hair to ladies that could afford luxury good hair brands.

What are the challenges of owning a luxury hair brand business.

One major challenge is quality control. We try to apply the best quality control tactics, working very closely with our suppliers. We've actually gone out there and met them, and then we wash all the hair pieces when they come in.

Another challenge would be supply and demand. We could run out of stock because the hair does sell out pretty fast and getting stock back in to refill our stock is quite challenging because these hair products are not mass produced, we can't say “yeah! We need another 1000 pieces of this hair” and then get it the following day. We have to wait for donors to actually grow their hair so that's a bit challenging. The market is quite saturated with substandard products but we have maintained our brand as a luxury brand because we haven't cut corners.

You first started with just selling hair but then you opened a salon here in Lagos. What inspired that decision Kika?

It goes without saying that whenever you go buy a hair you ask if they could fix it. For us having an additional salon was a value added services for customers. We needed to add an additional service to the brand because whenever people come to buy hair, they would always ask, “Can you fix it? Or Where can I go to fix it?” and we were just making all these hairstylists loads of money. So we thought, “You know what? We're very particular about the way we want our hair to look once its laid.” So we added this service for our loyal clients and Lagos was a great place to start.

I might be wrong but there is a reason you have remained in the game despite the challenges. Tell me kika, what keeps you going?            

This might be far fetched but I want everyone to look good. That's my main goal. I want every woman to have confidence in herself thus helping them bring out their inner beauty. Also, I honestly believe weave can help save a woman’s marriages but you know what they say “beauty is always in the eye of the beholder”.Good hair ltd will give you a whole makeover, transform you, and that for me is very enough.

Do your stylists come with the same aesthetic tastes as you in terms of how you want the hair to look once it's laid or do you have to show them how it's done?

Well, they come with some knowledge of basic fixing but Chioma and I are very hands on and we put them through extensive training. I know how to make wigs, I know how to colour and cut hair so we show them how to cut bangs, to cut a fringe, how to layer, how to do the symmetrical bob, how to fix the closures, do signature high-top, how to flick and all that

Did you have to go somewhere to learn all this?

[Lol...] No, it’s all self-taught because of vanity.

Do you have any advice for potential entrepreneurs who want to venture into the hair industry?

Follow your dream. Don't talk too much about it because some people will laugh it off. So keep it under wraps for a while and keep pushing through despite ups and downs. As long as you're doing it right, you should ignore anyone that tries to put you off your dreams.

What trends are in for 2016?

Short crops and blunt cuts are in. It could be anything with a blunt edge. Towards the end of 2015, we saw the lobs coming through which stands for the long bob but Rihanna is coming with short bobs that are really bluntly cut so it's now about short, very edgy, blunt cuts from 14", 12", and 10" lengths. “All of this can be gotten from Good hair” - Kika osunde added

Tell us about your personal skin care, hair care and makeup routines

I like natural products and I do a lot of research, so I know Vitamin C and lemons are good to make my skin look brighter. When I’m in Nigeria, I tend to get darker because of the sun, so anything that will protect my skin and give me even skin tone. Also, if I was in London, I would make my own scrubs with Lemon and brown sugar and exfoliate my skin all over but when I’m in Lagos, a friend makes them for me. For my lotions, I use Vitamin C creams from body shop, I'm a big fan of Shea butter but I don't use it during the day because it makes you dark, and then I just purchased a skin care line called Murad.

As for makeup, I like Nars products because it’s quite light, airy and skin friendly. I don't like when my face is all covered, it makes me feel baked and I like to see my imperfections or blemishes so my face still looks like me. Although, every year I add on a new makeup thing which isn't good for the skin, and I’m trying to let it breathe now. No one’s ever taught me makeup so it's really just practice.

Hair-wise, I was team natural for a long time but I relaxed it about a month ago. I don't usually shampoo my hair because of the sulphate in shampoos unless I absolutely have to so I mostly deep condition. Then, I do protective styles and put on my wig.

Image of Co-founders of www.goodhairltd.com

Tips to readers from Kika Good hair

When you're sourcing for good quality hair, first do your research on the hair company. Make sure they source the hair directly so when you're getting a bundle, the hair should never look identical. When they do then you know it’s been processed and mass produced. Also the wefting of synthetic hair is seamless and perfect but that of human hair is folded over so you can see the tips of the top end. And then virgin hair takes color well while mass produced does not.