SheaMoisture x WCAN Partnership
to support
Black Female Entrepreneurs
(read more in the Metro article here)
Meet our Winners
Kids Hair by Ri specialises in afro hair braids and cornrows for children aged 3-14.
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Rina has been braiding hair as a hobby for over 20 years. Rina began her career working with the community's most vulnerable children. Soon after, she created a free enterprise called “Happy Hair”; a project to help young girls to develop a positive self-image and feel confident. The project allowed young girls to open up about the problems they faced and acted as a confidential service, allowing discussion of topics they simply couldn’t talk to others about.
Rina realised that there was a gap in the market for Afro/Caribbean children’s hair- they were turned away from salons as they didn’t want to deal with children and hairdressers saw them as a nuisance. It was at this point that she decided to turn her hobby into a full-time business.
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Afrotherapy Salon is a respected brand in the community and has been in existence for over 19 years, it has also built up a strong reputation within the professional salon and hairdressing industry.
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Harriet immediately fell in love with hairdressing on her arrival to the UK and soon enrolled on an Apprenticeship. Harriet's aim was not only to make a profitable business, but to also create a business that would provide opportunities for young people who were in similar positions to herself.
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As a company, they strive to partner with their key suppliers to add value to both their clients and community. This has been done through supporting community events, sampling and even supporting the employed back into work with free hairdressing services.
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Check out some more of the work they do here
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Her Definition Salon's objective has always been healthy Hair First! They instal a good protective style whether it’s a wigs, weave or Goddess Locs, but their client's natural hair must be properly cared for and progressively growing.
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Heather chose to pursue a career in hair styling and hair health. After graduating from her biomedical degree, she began to thoroughly study hair health. Heather had the opportunity to work with a renowned celebrity hairstylist Charlotte Mensah, at her boutique salon, where she was moved to see a black woman attain such accolades. In response to this, Heather knew she had to adjust her vision to include her own boutique salon that would be centred around hair health and treatments alongside protective styling.
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Check out some more of the work they do here
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Sonicacreation hair salon is a salon with a passion and love for hair at the forefront of everything they do.
Sonica migrated to the united kingdom from Trinidad in hopes of finding an opportunity to practice the skill she loved; hairdressing. She decided to open a salon in 2017 as she felt that she had something special that no other hairdresser had; her passion and love for hair.
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In addition to the amazing work she is doing with her hair salon, Sonica also has played a key role in her community where she has encouraged others to start their own business through advice and moral support, fostered community spirit among the business owners on her street, offered free hair and makeup makeovers.
She has also created a video to provide guidance to parents who needed to do their kids' hair and learn more about it.
Check out some more of the work they do here
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Hapin Hair Lounge ethos is to create a safe space for women and men to both look and feel good.
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The desire and passion to inspire young women through beauty and confidence has always been something Georgia has felt strongly about, hence the opening of my salon two years ago.
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The decision to open a salon was simple; they wanted to create a space full of good vibes where they are able to uplift and motivate other women. Hapin Hair Lounge is a place that is made up of women who truly understand what it is to have struggled as a collective so so it is always at the forefront of their minds to pull together to ensure each of their clients leave feeling restored and stronger than ever!
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Betty's Unisex Hair Studio is one of the only Kenyan Owned hair salons in London owned by a mother and daughter on a mission to create their empire.
Elizabeth has been a hairdresser for over 20 year, having set up a salon in Kenya before moving to London and beginning again. Elizabeth was able to get her hair dressing qualifications and able to work mobile for some years until her daughter turned 19 and had picked up the skills for hairdressing. It’s now going onto 4 years of business between Elizabeth and her daughter, and they have built a team of amazing stylists and have customers who have become like family.
Elizabeth helps her community by inspiring and helping up and coming hairdressers, especially women of colour. She also offers lots of advice in order for people to learn from my mistakes.
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The Hair Sanctuary Ltd promotes an Afro hair salon that runs to a professional standard and sit next our European counterparts in terms of quality of service.
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The Hair Sanctuary runs quarterly braiding courses which are taken by a lot of mums who have children with Afro hair and are not confident in the styling and maintenance of it. They also support their local centres to offer course for children who are no longer in mainstream education to get them to engage in something they have a passion for and gain credits towards a qualification.
In addition to this they are also key sponsors in local events
The service provided is unique and delivered with professionalism, creativity and quality. They are all about good business, with high standards and great customer service.
Check out some more of the work they do here
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SIMPLYGorgeous is a family owned, London based afro hair salon opened by Deborah's mother 15 years ago which Deborah now runs alongside her.
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Deborah's mother originally came from Nigeria where she ran many successful businesses, she came to the UK in 1986 to provide what she viewed as better opportunities for her children. Upon arrival and over the years she worked in numerous sectors, hospitality, catering and for the Post Office but always harboured a desire to return to being self employed and explore her love for doing hair. This led her to the decisio to gain formal hairdressing and business training, enabling her to open the SIMPLYGorgeous salon in 2005.
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Still running today they’ve grown to become a community focused space, determined to provide the best possible experience for their clients whilst supporting black owned businesses.
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Kizuri Hair Tara always had the love and passion for hair but setting up a business and running it, was something she initially did not know how to start.After going to college achieving all of her qualifications she built the confidence needed to open a salon. Kizuri Hair started off small in shopping mall unit where the client base grew exponentially, eventually leading to Kizuri Hair needing to expand to a bigger salon.
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Tara believes as a woman your hair is your beauty it's your crown.
Over the years Kizuri Hair has helped to transform and uplift many women by doing their hair. The expression on their faces when they leave the salon is priceless and has motivated Tara to continue my dream over the years.
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Check out some more of the work they do here
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My Hair Bar was birthed by four beautiful strong determined young black women who shared the same passion for hairdressing and worked all over London in some of the most sought after salons,
The four women who created My Hair Bar did so to increase the presence of strong black women with leadership and commitment to champion our hair journey, to pave the way in their own right as talented hairstylist we yearned for the day they could be seen and have our own shop. All of their loyal clients believed in both them and their vision.
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They decided to start making a statement in the hair industry , where they knew they had what it took to make a huge impact on their industry and in our community.
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