After spending nearly a decade perfecting manicures in Accra, Nana Amobi Chambers and Kokwe Amegavie discovered that Africa’s beauty problem was not a lack of talent, but a lack of products designed for African women. Their answer is Rooted, a Ghana-born nail and body care company that chose Nigeria as its first export market and is now attracting global attention.
On a humid Saturday evening in Lagos, nail technicians, salon owners and beauty entrepreneurs gathered around a small display of bottles and builder gels. At first glance, the products looked unassuming: six shades of nude gel polish, a nail and cuticle serum, a sun protection factor (SPF) hand cream and a pumice stone.
But to many women in the room, these were more than cosmetics. They were evidence that African founders were beginning to build products for African women rather than waiting for global brands to notice them.
The company behind the launch was Rooted, a Ghana-born nail and body care brand founded by Nana Amobi Chambers and Kokwe Amegavie. The founders could have chosen London, New York City or Dubai as their first international market.
Instead, they chose Nigeria. That decision says as much about Africa’s emerging consumer economy as it does about beauty.
Before Rooted
Before Rooted existed, Chambers and Amegavie spent nearly ten years building Polish’d Beauty Bar into one of Accra’s most respected nail salons. The salon became a laboratory.
Thousands of clients passed through their doors. The founders observed which formulas damaged nails, which colours failed to complement darker skin tones and which products global brands had overlooked entirely.
What they accumulated over a decade was not merely customer loyalty. It was market intelligence.
“We wanted to create products based on what actually works,” Amegavie said at the company’s launch, “and what we’ve tested on real clients for years.”
Global Beauty Industry – the Numbers
The global beauty industry is enormous. McKinsey & Company estimates the sector generated around $446 billion in retail sales in 2023 and continues to grow as consumers spend more on self-care, wellness and premium products.
Yet much of this industry has historically treated women with deeper skin tones as an afterthought. Rooted was created to correct that omission.
Its debut collection includes six nude builder gel shades formulated specifically for dark and deep complexions, along with products designed to strengthen nails and nourish skin rather than simply create a cosmetic finish.
All formulas are clean, cruelty-free, HEMA-free and TPO-free, reflecting the rising global demand for safer and more transparent beauty products.
Rooted Chose to Scale in Nigeria
If Ghana was where the company was conceived, Nigeria was where it chose to scale.
The logic is compelling. Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy by output and one of its most influential beauty markets. The sector is increasingly organised through specialist retailers, salon networks, e-commerce and founder-led communities such as Beauty Hut Africa, which has become a major distribution and ecosystem platform for African beauty brands.
In 2026, Beauty Hut and Busha awarded ₦6 million in grants to women-led beauty businesses, underscoring the sector’s growing institutional support.
For Rooted, Nigeria offered more than market size. It offered cultural legitimacy.
“Nigeria is creative, globally connected, and culturally powerful,” Amegavie said. “Launching here allows us to grow intentionally alongside a community that understands both heritage and innovation.”
The response was swift.
Within weeks of its Lagos launch on March 14, Rooted secured placement in respected salons and retailers including Beauty Hut Africa and leading nail studios in Lagos and Abuja.
In beauty, shelf space is more than distribution. It is endorsement.
Professional technicians test products relentlessly. They choose brands based on performance, safety and client satisfaction. Their adoption signalled that Rooted was not a lifestyle concept masquerading as a company. It was a technically credible product.
Global Recognitions
Within two months of launch, Rooted was featured by Allure as one of the best Black-owned skincare brands in the world. The timing was symbolic: the feature appeared on March 6, Ghana’s Independence Day.
Coverage by BellaNaija Style, Marie Claire Nigeria and VITA Magazine reinforced what many African founders increasingly understand. The continent is no longer simply a source of inspiration for global brands. It is becoming a source of globally competitive brands.
This is precisely the kind of story at the heart of BusinessDay’s Go Local editorial philosophy.
Economic development does not occur only in refineries, steel mills or industrial parks. Sometimes it begins with two entrepreneurs identifying a market gap and converting local insight into a product sophisticated enough to compete internationally.
Rooted is, in effect, value addition in a bottle. The founders took accumulated service knowledge, translated it into proprietary formulations, manufactured branded products and exported them to a larger African market.
That process captures more value, creates stronger intellectual property and positions Africa not merely as a consumer of imported cosmetics but as a producer of premium beauty solutions.
The Implications Reach Beyond Nail Care
Africa possesses rich traditions in shea butter, black soap, botanical oils, textiles and wellness rituals. The opportunity lies in converting these cultural assets into brands with modern design, rigorous formulation and scalable distribution.
This is how countries move up value chains. Not by exporting ingredients alone, but by exporting finished products, stories and trust.
Back in Lagos, a customer tests one of Rooted’s nude gels. The colour disappears almost seamlessly into her skin tone. For years, “nude” meant someone else’s complexion. Now it reflects her own.
That small moment captures a larger shift. Two Ghanaian women spent ten years listening carefully to clients, refining their craft and building quietly before the world noticed.
When they were ready to scale, they did not look first to the West. They looked next door.
From Accra to Lagos, Rooted is demonstrating that some of Africa’s most valuable exports will not be dug from the ground or harvested from farms.
They will be formulated from experience, branded with confidence and sold to the world on African terms.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
