Henry Ogbuagu is a social entrepreneur (2 times founder) and tech investor. As someone who studied International Relations his career started at the United Nations where he interned during his graduate studies. He was keen to become a diplomat but that career trajectory changed during his UN experience when he realized that countries alone can’t solve the problem of poverty, inequality and sustainable development, and so he decided to pivot to the private sector to use entrepreneurship and it’s scaling model to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
Venturing into Beauty was really by accident, he arrived Nigeria last year and realized there was a gap in the market in terms of on-demand beauty service delivery and took the opportunity to launch Wala.
Since, the launch of Wala, they have gotten 190 beauty service providers registered on the platform from just Lekki and VI and they are looking to leverage this festive season to get people to use the app and have several promos. They are rolling out for up to 50% discount on beauty services that is ordered from the app use.
In this interview with Oyinlola Sale, Henry Ogbuagu, tells us how his innovation in the beauty industry has become a solution in that sector.
What were the key areas you looked out for when setting up Wala online platform?
I honestly knew nothing about beauty and started WALA out of my personal experience of returning to Lagos in 2020 after over 13 years of living abroad and not knowing where to find salons in Lekki. I know that sounds cliche but that was a real problem for me. I think one of the hallmarks of entrepreneurship is finding a problem and solving it. I was passionate enough about the problem to bring a solution to the market, that same passion brought me here.
While most tech investments in Nigeria have been in the Fintech space, which is getting more saturated, I see what many people don’t see in the beauty industry ($191 billion projected for 2027 globally with Africa currently at $11 billion market share). Yet in Africa there is no single app or tech enabled platform for the beauty and wellness industry. So what I did when I saw the opportunity was talk with barbers/hairdressers about their current experience and challenges and being aware of what is now available in other markets, I knew this was a massive market opportunity in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. And as a marketplace investor I can see how this can grow and scale very quickly through the power of network effects.
So with that passion and little technical skills I have in web development, I got some developers and teamed up with my friend and former classmate Sag Orume, who is a brand consultant and the founder of Sag Orume Brand Consultium, to build this out and we got to work and continued talking with barbers and beauticians about how this can help improve the way beauty services can be delivered both on-demand and at scale.
Wala has brought a different type of innovation into Nigeria’s beauty industry. How does it work?
The platform’s main customers are the beauty professionals that are looking to start or run a salon business but limited by location and capital. With Wala, these beauty professionals can run their on-demand salons services on the platform without needing a physical location or any upfront investment. The platform also serves the “moms & pops” of beauty and wellness services that can use the platform to grow their business beyond on premise services delivery. Our target users are millennials and the growing working professionals that live in major cities, who often seek and can afford the convenience of on-demand beauty service delivery.
How has your online beauty platform solved some of the problems in the beauty industry?
Some of the problems we identified early was first that the industry was not innovating like other industries like food, grocery shopping and travel/hospitality. People still go to salon and sit down waiting for other people before they get their turn, a lot of the salons where operating as mom and pop shops with no process automation or tech enablement. And with the pandemic, I know that people will crave convenience now more than ever. We also went beyond the assumption to survey people and 94% of the people we interviewed said they would prefer home service if they had the option.
So we are solving the problem of convenience, reliability and access for users who struggle to juggle a trip to the salon on a busy weekend or have difficulty finding reliable and experienced providers readily available to offer on-demand service. We believe that the future of beauty and wellness will be “On-demand” especially as today’s consumers continue to grow more comfortable with the idea of placing orders through their smartphones for everything from taxis and black cars to groceries, gifts and so on.
WALA is bringing that ease and convenience to beauty and higher-end luxury services such as beauty and wellness with a super easy to use mobile application that is available on android and ios devices.
Do you intend to focus only on Nigeria or do you intend to expand to other countries?
I see Wala as the next big thing for people in Nigeria and beyond, because the app is about job creation and boosting the gig economy. Nigerian unemployment rate is still is currently at 33% and just uber is empowering people to earn, we are here to do the same and at scale as anyone today can join the platform to start their virtual salon, spa, fitness, yoga, bridal, fashion etc business on the platform without needing a physical store or an upfront investment.
What we also see is helping people connect and share cultures and experiences. So I am excited for how this opportunity can help transform Nigeria and help boost the local economy. Our vision is also to expand to other African countries and beyond.
How do you intend to capture all the stakeholders in the beauty industry across Nigeria?
Early this year, we organized the WALA Beauty Tech Festival for the beauty and wellness industry. The event was created to engage with all stakeholders in the industry with seasoned speakers and over 200 barbers, hair stylists, makeup artists, nail technicians, fitness/yoga instructors, saloon owners, operators and beauty product manufacturers and suppliers to engage and drive conversations about the future of beauty and how tech can help enable and innovate how beauty products are made and delivered. We look to organizing more events and platforms like this to encourage the already existing collaborations within the beauty industry.
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