Empowering Women
This Soap Does More Than Clean Your Skin! It Empowers Women.
It was in Paris that Ahwoi met Thato Tau of Botswana. She was also
having skin trouble, but being from Southern Africa, she had never heard
of black soap and had never used shea. They started sharing products
and when they returned back home after school, Tau kept asking Ahwoi to
send her products to Botswana. At first, this side hustle was just to
help out a friend (and her friends!), but before she knew it, Ahwoi was
working full time on Nokware, a natural skincare line.
In the crowded personal care space, Nokware stands out because of a strong environmental and social mission. This mission was not a conscious choice at first. “It’s not like we sat down and decided to not use plastic. We were just like, ‘Why import plastic from China just to have it end up in a gutter in Africa? Why take it out of its original packaging?’”, recalls Ahwoi. Nokware sells its products in containers made of calabash (dried gourds) and bamboo, just like it’s always been stored in Ghana. Ahwoi will be the first to admit that they are not all the way to their goal of ‘zero plastic’. Their bamboo packaging has a thin layer of plastic coating on the inside to protect the product, but their team is constantly working to eliminate it. The honesty and transparency are refreshing in a world of brands built on a highly curated image of perfection.
Nokware employs 7 people, all women. This was not a conscious choice either, but Ahwoi and Tau have embraced it. “The patriarchy here runs very deep”, said Ahwoi. She loves that they are creating jobs for women typically left behind. Their first employee could neither read nor write. By helping women earn an income, they are giving them a voice and power in their homes and communities. Women, who are often responsible for taking care of children, husbands, and a small garden, don’t think of work as a 9-to-5 endeavor. Ahwoi shared, “If there is work to do on a Saturday, they work!”. Even as a successful and educated woman, Ahwoi cannot always escape society’s tiring expectations. When she drives a pick-up to do deliveries, men often shout at her to return her car to her boyfriend. She’s not discouraged. She believes that if you change only a few minds, that new mindset can spread virally.
This Soap Does More Than Clean Your Skin! It Empowers Women.
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Nokware sells their soaps and body butters in all natural packaging. This jar is made from bamboo!Photo Credit: @nokwareskincare on Instagram
They say the most successful
entrepreneurs are the ones who solve problems that they themselves face.
When Tutuwa Ahwoi left her native Ghana to study in Paris, she started
suffering from serious skin issues. The climate was new to her body and
the products she had access to were not natural. “My skin was just like,
No!”, Ahwoi remembers. She missed her local skin products. Pure shea
butter and black soap, staples across West Africa, were near impossible
to find in Western Europe.
In the crowded personal care space, Nokware stands out because of a strong environmental and social mission. This mission was not a conscious choice at first. “It’s not like we sat down and decided to not use plastic. We were just like, ‘Why import plastic from China just to have it end up in a gutter in Africa? Why take it out of its original packaging?’”, recalls Ahwoi. Nokware sells its products in containers made of calabash (dried gourds) and bamboo, just like it’s always been stored in Ghana. Ahwoi will be the first to admit that they are not all the way to their goal of ‘zero plastic’. Their bamboo packaging has a thin layer of plastic coating on the inside to protect the product, but their team is constantly working to eliminate it. The honesty and transparency are refreshing in a world of brands built on a highly curated image of perfection.
Nokware employs 7 people, all women. This was not a conscious choice either, but Ahwoi and Tau have embraced it. “The patriarchy here runs very deep”, said Ahwoi. She loves that they are creating jobs for women typically left behind. Their first employee could neither read nor write. By helping women earn an income, they are giving them a voice and power in their homes and communities. Women, who are often responsible for taking care of children, husbands, and a small garden, don’t think of work as a 9-to-5 endeavor. Ahwoi shared, “If there is work to do on a Saturday, they work!”. Even as a successful and educated woman, Ahwoi cannot always escape society’s tiring expectations. When she drives a pick-up to do deliveries, men often shout at her to return her car to her boyfriend. She’s not discouraged. She believes that if you change only a few minds, that new mindset can spread virally.
Nokware's inclusive beauty campaign
featured diverse, smiling young women to show that 'beautiful' comes in
all shades and sizes.Photo Credit: @Phloshop via @Nokwareskincare on Instagram
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