How A Ghanaian Woman Built A Multimillion Dollar Business Opposing Skin Bleaching

Grace Amey-Obeng worked as an aesthetician in Ghana for years before noticing an alarming trend in black beauty: skin bleaching. Amey-Obeng is against this process for two reasons. First, she believes women should embrace their natural appearance. Second, skin bleaching can remove a critical protective layer of skin.

Amey-Obeng took matters into her own hands and built an entire empire around educating women about the harms of skin bleaching. She developed products that fix some of the damage due to bleaching, and trained other women to help heal those who were hurt by the process.

At a time when Ghanaian banks were barely giving out loans, this female entrepreneur grew a $100 business into a $10 million one, all based on countering the effects of skin bleaching.

Here is how she did it:

She went on an anti-bleaching campaign 

Amey-Obeng has always been an advocate of women loving their natural beauty, so she couldn’t stand the idea that black women were bleaching their skin. As part of her own business promotion, she went on an anti-bleaching campaign. She took vans full of her staff and trainees to markets and held open forums, educating women on the dangers of skin bleaching–not the least being that skin bleaching can remove the layer of skin that protects women from harmful UV rays. 

She owns a beauty school 

Amey-Obeng’s beauty school started as an informal one, and as a necessity because she didn’t have enough trained staff. She started by training a few students so she could have assistants. Today over 5,000 students have graduated from FC Beauty College. Students of FC Beauty College are encouraged to go door-to-door making a personal connection with potential clients, and educating them about healthy skin care regimens.

And she has a clinic 

Amey-Obeng is a trained medical aesthetician and beauty therapist. A beauty therapist is not only trained in beautifying the face and body, but also in making clients feel good about who they are. She put her skills to use and opened FC Skin & Beauty Klinik. At the clinic, women who have suffered from skin damage due to bleaching–or simply women wanting to improve their appearance–can receive guidance, therapy, and product recommendations. 

She has a line of cosmetics 

After her clinic had been up and running for some time, Amey-Obeng realized that imported products were too expensive for most of her clients so she developed her own, locally-made products which range in price from $3 to $15. The cosmetic line is called Forever Clair, and is designed specifically with black skin in mind. Clair is meant to mean “clear” and Amey-Obeng says it represents light, hope, and strength.

She’s exporting 

Forever Clair manufactures and sells beauty products as well as beauty equipment to other clinics and retailers. The firm exports to Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ivory Coast, Switzerland and the U.K. The product lines have expanded beyond skin care to hair and nail care, makeup and more. On the company’s site, you can find full spa product packages, blemish treatment sets, acne treatment and hair extensions. 

Awards and accolades 

Amey-Obeng has received several national and international awards, including the CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year in 2002 from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in Ghana which works to recognize women who offer an improved quality of products and services in Ghana. She also won the Enterprising Women of the Year Award in the U.S. in 2014. 

How she grew

 Amey-Obeng started her business was just $100 and now she makes between $8 million and $10 million a year. She is considered one of the richest women in Ghana. Amey-Obeng has taken some of her revenue to start the Grace Amey-Obeng Foundation International, mentoring young girls in rural communities and training them for jobs.

She writes a column For women who cannot travel to Ghana and study under Amey-Obeng, or for women who just want to be educated on skin care, Amey-Obeng writes regular columns for health and beauty magazines, and she also acts as host on TV shows. 

Credit: AFK Insider