The two power cousins sit down for their first interview.

The Foundery: African Innovators Shaping our World

The world of beauty is brimming with cultural richness, with ancient wisdom from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean shaping everything from ingredients to rituals. Yet, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) founders often go unseen in the mainstream beauty industry. The Foundery changes that narrative.

Here, we celebrate the visionary entrepreneurs of color transforming beauty, wellness and lifestyle on a global scale. Discover their stories, groundbreaking brands, and the inspiration they bring to the industry. Get ready to be empowered, enlightened, and introduced to the future of beauty – one innovative founder at a time.

For Nokware Skincare, community is present in everything. It's in the way they formulate their best-sellers, merging local Ghanaian ingredients and practices with modern skincare science. It's also in the way they uphold Ubuntu, a South African philosophy that champions interconnectedness and humanity. And it is ever-present between the brand's owners, Tutuwa Ahwoi and Akyaa Ampa-Sowa, who make great business partners and even closer cousins.

Nokware Skincare is a Ghanaian beauty brand championing the fusion of trusted, locally sourced African ingredients with Western formulation techniques. Nokware, which means Truth in Twi (a Ghanaian language), was inspired by Tutuwa's late grandmother - yet another way community and family have influenced the brand's values. From their grandmother's extensive knowledge of plants, herbs, and oils that work for various skin conditions, the brand has since evolved to serve thousands of women across and beyond the continent, finding its way through retailers and collectives in countries such as South Africa, USA, United Kingdom, Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

For this installment of The Foundery, Tutuwa and Akyaa take us into their world, sharing their plans, struggles, and views on what it means to build a brand heavy on both community and innovation.

Nokware Skincare: Cultivating Beauty from Ghana's Bounty and Grandma's Knowledge

@nokwareskincare

Tutuwa: Our grandmother made black soap for a living, and that gave us the foundation for what we needed to start our flagship butters and black soap. It also allowed us to learn about African ingredients and their benefits. So when it was time for us to know what the West knows as skincare, we could carry this extensive knowledge of African ingredients and merge that with foreign ingredients and formulation techniques to make the face lotions and serums we know and love.

Our grandmother's knowledge has let us fuse our culture with modern-day skincare to offer our customers the best of both worlds.

On the decision to merge modern science with African skincare ingredients

Tutuwa: for us, it was important to harness the best of both worlds. We have always said that we do not want to be known for being just a shea butter and black soap brand. We did not want to put ourselves in one box. We want to be the brand where you get the African ingredients you know and love, but you're also getting well-researched Western ingredients that merge well with the African ones to give your skin exactly what it needs. For instance, if you combine shea butter, vitamin C, and hyaluronic acid, it'll give you a very potent blend that moisturises, brightens and plumps in a way that no single ingredient would give you. That's what it's about.

On Nokware's Uniqueness in the Ghanaian Beauty Landscape

Tutuwa: I'd say our uniqueness comes from a combination of things. It's the fact that we combine African ingredients with Western ones. It's the fact that we use sustainable packaging. It's also the fact that we're focused on making sure women are seen throughout our supply chain. Even with our social media, it feels transparent because people can see exactly how their skincare is made. So it feels like they know what's going on their bodies. I think it's a combination of all these things that have made us a market leader.

Akyaa: Tutuwa does not give herself enough credit for this, but her innovation in packaging the soap in the calabash the way she did is mindblowing. We had always seen calabashes, but no one had thought to use them that way before. We knew we were on to something because the moment we put it out, there were so many copycats trying to do the same. The next thing we did was try to move away from plastic, and we did that with the bamboo containers for the shea butter.

From the get-go, we came with a splash of something no one else was doing, like how we packaged the calabashes. To this day, our most-viewed Instagram reel is the one where we show how the calabashes are made because people were just blown away. And this is something she thought of six, seven years ago! We knew everyone could go to the market to find black soap or shea butter or whip it at home in their blenders, so we had to think and give people something different. We always try to do something special.

On running the brand together

Tutuwa: What also works for the brand is this partnership between me and Akyaa because we're very different in the way we think and express ourselves, but it comes together beautifully. That's another thing that's special about Nokware: it's not just a single mind thinking of all of this, but it's really a partnership between two very different women.

When most people think of two women partners, they think of bickering and not getting along. I don't think we have ever had that experience. Somehow, we are always on the same page. On some rare occasions, we have different stances, but usually, we're just in sync. I think the foundation is that we have mutual respect for each other. We speak each other's languages and listen to each other.

Akyaa: There are also our strengths. I would never get into formulation, but Tutuwa does. I know how to do the finance stuff; that's where I came in with the data. Before I came in, she was sort of bouncing ideas informally. And when she found that she needed help, she asked me if I wanted to make this informal arrangement formal. We've also had the same taste; we like a lot of the same things.

Tutuwa: My father still cracks jokes about how I was always following her around like a baby duck. I really just wanted to be like her. We've always been close.

Unveiling the Magic of Natural Ingredients

Akyaa: We have our holy grail ingredients like shea butter, which is in every product because it does so much: it moisturises, it softens. There's nothing shea butter can't do. So, it's always front and centre for us, and having a shea butter producer allows us to use shea butter in higher percentages than you would find in foreign products. So our customers tell us our products give them a nice glow, mostly because of the higher shea butter content.

You think of something like moringa, which has a higher vitamin C content than even some of the Western vitamin C-tagged products. We use it to brighten the skin and fade dark spots, and it's in all our hyperpigmentation-targeting products. Then you have neem oil, which is actually in the soap. The Neem Oil Black Soap has always been our best seller because it really helps with acne. You'll find it in all our acne-related products.

Insider favourites

Akyaa's Favourites

Akyaa: I have a lot of favourites. I'm mostly based in the US, but I've been travelling in Africa for work. When travelling, I need something I can travel with, something simple, and something that I can use anytime. So I use our Ready, Reset, Go! 24-7 Facial Moisturiser, and I like it very much because it can be used during the day or night.

At night, I use our Glow on the Go Vitamin C Serum. I like that it goes on matte and really absorbs into the skin. I use Nokware products all the time, so whenever I come to Ghana, I stock up on my favourite products. I’m also a tester so when we’re coming out with new products, I always test them.

Tutuwa: she’s our number one tester.

Tutuwa’s favourites

Tutuwa: my favourite product, hands down, is the Buttr Me Up! Shea Body Lotion. For my face, I love the Morning Brightness Daytime Facial Moisturiser because I currently have some dark spots from postpartum acne. So that's working well for me.

I'm also on a very simplified routine, so it's really just some black soap and the Morning Brightness moisturiser—no serums, nothing else. I'm just trying to get the hormones to calm down.

I also really like the Little's Eczema Relief Cream because my son uses it, and it works wonders for his sensitive skin.

Akyaa: Tutuwa also has very sensitive skin herself. It's good to have a founder with such skin, so you know formulations are good if they don't react with hers.

Tutuwa: My husband also has very sensitive skin. And he loves the plain Body Oil.

Akyaa: My husband also likes the beard oil and our pure & plain lip balm. It is a Nokware household.

Crafting a Natural Skincare Routine for You

Tutuwa: for beginners, skincare is not a one-size-fits-all. It's always good to tailor skincare to specific needs. When we come out with a lotion, you'll always find more than one type of lotion because everybody has different skin. [There's] something for hyperpigmentation, acne, or plain moisturisation.

So, if someone wants to get into Nokware's products, I'd say start with our fit finder on Instagram. We have helpful guides on our social media and website that help you find your skin type and what products would work for you. For the body, it's a matter of preference. Akyaa prefers butters, but I prefer lotions because I prefer lighter stuff.

Akyaa: You will also find that we'll never give you a ton of products to try. It's usually two or three at most. We found that people can not keep up with ten-step routines; they want to be able to keep up with things simply.

On the trend of skincare sets in African skincare

Akyaa: We're currently working on creating sets because we also found that our African customers always ask for skincare sets. In the US, people don't buy skincare like that. They pick what they like and leave.

Tutuwa: I think it originated from the skin bleaching trend. They're always sold as glow sets or half-caste sets, and you have to buy the whole set to get your skin to bleach. I believe that's where it started.

Akyaa: We get requests for sets a lot. Sometimes, if we do a photoshoot of some products that look pretty together, people will comment, "How much for this set?" All in all, we're putting together some sets for people who find the fit finder confusing.

Building a Thriving Brand Rooted in Nature

On founding a beauty brand and its challenges

Tutuwa: The first challenge was believing in myself and the idea that Nokware could be something. I'm not the most self-promoting, so when I created our Instagram page, I wondered why people were following. Then one day, a Ghanaian DMed and said, "I want to buy the soap". I was so excited that I drove all the way to deliver one calabash of soap.

Sourcing, data, and staying in stock

Tutuwa: When we were establishing ourselves, the challenge was putting systems in place to run the company efficiently, like sourcing and hiring. Data was also a mess, and that was how Akyaa came in. In the beginning, you're too busy running things and creating to focus on data. But data is the backbone of a company and helps you make all the major decisions.

Right now, we're really trying to find ourselves in local and international retail stores, but the challenge with these big retail stores is that we need to scale into these markets while being based in Africa.

Akyaa: Staying in stock is also a problem for us. At the end of the day, we're still a small company. We need to figure out how to keep up with production so it does not hinder us getting into these markets. We're changing some of our processes to ensure we never go out of stock for so long again. We know we have what it takes because we understand the problems. Some of it is just a matter of time and priorities.

On keeping the brand sustainable

Tutuwa: We have a return policy where you can return the packaging for a discount. We then rewash them, sterilise them, and dry them in a sterilising oven. In the past, we've talked about having a refill system, which we'll get to eventually. It's really important to us that we recycle as much as possible.

Akyaa: It's also one of the reasons we use craft paper for some packaging. We design our packaging nicely enough so our consumers want to reuse it themselves.

Tutuwa: We even found recently from the soap calabash reel that went viral that people want to use them as food plates. That was… interesting.

On giving back to their community

Akyaa: We have a fair trade agreement with our suppliers, and most of them end up being women, which aligns with our values of championing women. We try not to haggle with them, so if they give us a price we think is fair and will still bring about a profit, we take it. We also try to be consistent with them as we have had the same shea butter and calabash suppliers for about five years. Basically, we source from women, we do not haggle, and we try to give them a steady stream of business.

We also have an education fund, where we pay for the school fees of some of our employees' children. We also hire a lot of women. We're not as big as we want to be yet, and a lot of people want to learn from us. One day, I feel like that's something we can do, but not anytime soon. Down the line, we also want to work with organisations.

What's next for Nokware Skincare?

Tutuwa: When I think of Nokware in 2, 5, 7 years, I think of us being more global than we are right now. For instance, I know we have a big market in Nigeria, but we do not have any one retailer that we can say stocks the products for us in Nigeria. I imagine being physically present in all our key markets so customers can always know where to find us. I also envision us being a bigger team, doing more, and having more products that work well for people's skin. I also think of us having more ways to give back to our community.

Akyaa: I've seen Western products in Sephora and Ulta, and our products are just as good. It's just a matter of finding ourselves in front of the right people who will give us the right opportunities.

Advice for choosing what beauty brands to support

Tutuwa: I'd say again, skincare is not a one-size-fits-all. It's all about finding the right balance and what works for you. If natural skincare works for you, that's fine. That worked for Akyaa for some time, but it never worked for me. If your skincare with parabens works for you, that's what it is. What we can promise you at Nokware is that your skincare products will always be nature-derived and will always have the right, well-thought-out ingredients for your skin.

KEEP READING

15 May 2024

Unveiling the Power of Ghanaian Nature with Tutuwa and Akyaa of Nokware Skincare