Ghanaian skincare brand R&R makes debut at Atlanta’s Fashion Week
Ghanaian skincare brand R&R made its U.S. debut during Atlanta’s Fashion Week. CEO and founder Valerie Obaze hopes to connect people to the African super ingredients that fuel and nourish healthy skin with a line of products that include shea body oil, whipped shea butter, and pure black soap. For Obaze, that mission began at home.
After giving birth to her daughter, Obaze and her husband moved from London to Nigeria, his birthplace. When searching the stores for natural and local skin products, she noticed that no African brands were being sold; the shelves were filled with international brands that weren’t selling shea butter in its pure form.
“I definitely saw that there was a gap there. And so, it was a mixed show of need, and also seeing a gap in the market that created the brand for me,” Obaze said during an Atlanta Fashion Week mixer.
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Named after her daughter, R&R focuses on clean and high-quality skincare that benefits people and uplifts them. Shea nuts are a key economic crop for over 470,000 women farmers in Northern Ghana. Despite the opportunities offered through Ghana, the fourth largest shea kernel-producing country in the world, Obaze noted that the fortunes of the rural women still haven’t changed after decades of big pharmaceutical brands purchasing shea from them. So, she created the Women of The Savannah Development Project (WSDP). In this initiative, Obaze and her team reinvest in the community by conscientiously sourcing raw materials from Northern Ghanaian women and allowing them to be their own bosses.
“We have to empower women. I’m a woman. I have three daughters, and definitely, the women are the leaders of the future, and I’m just glad to be a part of that and just building the economy on the continent.”
As a Black female entrepreneur, Obaze is no stranger to the fact that women are sorely underrepresented in manufacturing, especially in Ghana and Nigeria, causing her to face challenges with funding. Fortunately, by building her supply chain and securing funds focused on women and women of color, she’s been able to build on her goal of expanding R&R to all parts of the world. The brand has three flagship locations, two in Accra, Ghana, and one in Lagos, Nigeria, and is hoping to open locations in the U.S. and Europe.
These pop-ups are just the next step in getting the products in as many hands as possible, bringing Ghana to the World.
“I think for the longest time, people have thought everything from Africa is insubstantial. Everything that comes out of Africa is not good. And I think we’ve proven otherwise with music, fashion, and film.
“Now I think it’s beauty’s time to have its moment and for people to see that good things come out of Africa. You can have luxury, and you can have great packaging. You can have a great finished product that you can bring from the continent, and we just want to change people’s perception.”
To wrap up its Atlanta debut, R&R skincare is hosting a popup at Lenox Mall’s Bloomingdale’s from 12 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, and Sunday, Oct. 6.
