Wokabi said her research showed that SuzieBeauty products were the only Kenyan-designed cosmetics on the market. The products’ names are a nod to their origins: zambarau means purple in Swahili, and a shimmery olive-green eyeshadow is dubbed Safari. The nine-item range offers makeup in saturated, bold colors, like the deep reddish-purple Zamba lipstick, which sells for 1,000 shillings. SuzieBeauty had its debut in January and its products are now available in nine stores, mostly specialty drugstores in Nairobi. And while sales are increasing, thanks at least in part to the continent’s continuing economic boom, the companies still face the challenges of expanding beyond their own region and mastering Africa’s sprawling informal trade system. She joined a small but growing group of African entrepreneurs breaking into the continent’s beauty and personal care market, a sector now dominated by international giants like Unilever, Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal. Wokabi, now 35, raised about 16 million Kenyan shillings, about $187,000, to start her own brand of cosmetics, SuzieBeauty.
JOHANNESBURG - Suzie Wokabi had sticker shock when she returned to her native Kenya in 2007 and saw that the high-end cosmetics she had used as a MAC makeup artist in the United States were in short supply - and three times as expensive.
