The Opportunities
The Nigerian beauty industry, employing over a million people and contributing billions to the economy, so isn’t it time to take its impact more seriously?

Nigeria with a population of over 170 million people and a GDP growth rate of 8% annually is expected to become the 3rd largest population in the world by 2050. This puts Nigeria among the fastest growing markets in Africa. Faster than Brazil and Russia, according to a report by the IMF, the potential is massive.

When it comes to the beauty and wellness industry, this market is expected to double over the next two decades with an estimated annual growth rate ranging from 5% to double digits. A report by Euromonitor in 2012 projected the Nigerian beauty and wellness market to value about $3 billion in 2017. The industry had already generated over $2 billion in 2014 with skincare having a market share of 33%, hair care – 25%, makeup – 17% and fragrances – 17%.
With such market growth, Nigeria is considered as the African rising star for the beauty market. 77% of Nigerian women use skin enhancement products – the largest percentage in the world.

“World over, the makeup industry is a multi-billion dollar one, with Nigeria and the African continent as a whole at the heart of it all. The singular fact that international brands like Maybelline are making its way into the African market with Nigeria as its main market is a sole testimony to the fact that we are ripe for business. And that is the reason I’m standing here before you, for us to enlighten one another on innovative ways to globally position our indigenous beauty and makeup brands” Says Idy Enang, the Managing Director of L’Oréal Central West Africa.

Also, the growth rate in this sector is mostly driven by the growing population which in turn translates into a strong consumer base. This particularly includes the young and the middle class population, increasing urbanization, improving levels of education, the willingness to spend a larger proportion of their income on beauty products due to greater exposure to the western culture and rise of female independence. The industry is hence expanding to major cities, and businesses have also started to explore new venues for rejuvenation like spa, beauty and wellness centres across the country. With so much development in the sector, there is huge potential benefit for consumers utilizing the services.

As a result of such growth perspectives, it is easy to understand why Nigeria is targeted as a key country of focus by major international beauty brands like Unilever, P&G and L’Oreal, representing over 20% of the market share.
A major Indian group, Godrej also came into the market as a major player to bank heavily on buyouts. They have made key acquisition in Nigeria by buying Tura for $50 million.

Different events and platforms such as Beauty in Africa Exhibition and Conference, Makeup in Nigeria Conference and Pops Concepts MakeUp Fair Series are great opportunities for gathering makeup professionals, makeup brands and makeup lovers in Africa. These are educative platforms for acclaimed makeup professionals, industry educators and icons to gather, network, share and inform stakeholders.

Beauty in Africa is the region largest event dedicated to beauty and wellness. Launched in 2014 with 32 influential beauty brands were at the launch of Beauty Africa Exhibition and Conferences, showcasing the newest products and services on the market to over 1,200 attendees from across West Africa.
Beauty Africa provided a unique platform for these key industry players to demonstrate the latest collections of cosmetics, top-of-the-range wigs and extensions, as well as the latest skincare ranges.

Makeup In Nigeria Conference (MINC) was launched in 2014. With over 700 aspiring and established makeup artists, beauty bloggers and enthusiasts, TV stations and more, the event was indeed a great start to many more.
For MINC, it was about collaboration and developing industry standards to successfully compete internationally. Having a conference of that nature was one way of providing a building block for present operators and those looking to learn more about the industry.

Pops Concepts MakeUp Fair Series is one of the oldest and leading platforms in this industry founded in 2010 and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. The MakeUp Fair Series is one of the brands of POPs! which is a cross national industry event that tours major cities in Nigeria annually. The popular platform was created by Omolola Faleye the Creative Director of POPs Concepts and The Vice President of The MakeUp Fair Series with the vision of revolutionising the makeup business in Nigeria by providing a credible and vibrant platform for industry professionals and businesses to showcase their brands, services, and products to an interested and engaged audience. They also provide opportunities for networking and learning.
Unlike other exhibition platforms which hold in only one city permanently and once a year, The MakeUp Fair Series is a cross-national event that tours Nigeria, visiting different cities in the year.

The Challenges
However, there are some interesting challenges the beauty and wellness industry currently face like with other industries.
The distribution network is complicated and unstructured. The sector is wholly unorganized in the way services are accessed and rendered to consumers.
The need to adapt the products to local consumers’ requirements: for instance, make-up needs to be adapted to skin colour and texture.
Small market players are living in the shadow of big international brands.
Despite fierce competition in the sector, there is no set benchmark for quality.
On the business side there is no efficient tool to manage the bookings, appointments, and payments.

AceBeauti Solution

It was high time this vertical market be explored and thus AceBeauti was borned. AceBeauti aims to bring thousands of salon owners and independent professional stylists on its platform when launched.
AceBeauti is an early stage location-based startup in Nigeria that helps users discover and book beauty services in and around their neighbourhood based on reviews and recommendations from trusted friends. The platform is designed to simplify the way beauty services are accessed and rendered in Nigeria.
Customers can search based on their current location, find salons, spas, independent professional stylists, compare prices, read customer reviews and instantly book the service they need within seconds. It’s that simple!
Our platform also offers a plethora of business opportunities for salon owners and professional Stylists by exposing them to a wider audience, both online and offline.
Founded just a couple of weeks ago, AceBeauti has already started recruiting independent beauty professionals and salon owners to its subscribers’ list in Port Harcourt, having signed up about 60 and adding more on a daily basis, with over 100 potential customers signed up. AceBeauti chose to focus on Port Harcourt currently rather than launching in the entire country. We believe this approach will enable us to concentrate and scale up quickly. AceBeauti will curate and verify all such professionals and help link customers to patronize them.
We are currently validating and testing our idea as we build the product. While most early stage startups fished for confirmation bias, AceBeauti developed a very creative validating strategy. A culture of testing by directly approaching and speaking with salons/spa owners and independent professional stylists.
This is very important to us because, this technology backed structure and timely feedback from these professionals, will enable our team build an innovative and unique framework that will give birth to the first of its kind app in Nigeria catering for the needs of the beauty and wellness industry.
The final output we believe will be the go-to intuitive platform for users ranging from working professionals, students, busy mothers, brides, jetsetters, and celebrities that want to be way ahead of the competition.

http://www.acebeauti.com/blog/2015/11/08/the-business-face-of-the-nigerian-beauty-industry/