Entrepreneurship & COVID-19: Samira Yassin & Bahati Ndanze discuss launching their natural skincare business
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The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard for everyone, including young, self-identifying women in career and business. With this new interview series we want to highlight women entrepreneurs who are rising to meet its challenges, but also to its new opportunities.
Samira Yassin and Bahati Ndanze, Co-Founders of Dahaab Natural Care
Samira and Bahati: Tell us about yourselves and your new business venture!
S: We met in university on the West coast and have remained connected since then. When I moved to the Greater Toronto Area, we were both separately working on natural products for the skin/hair ailments we were going through. I had started making hair oils for myself in Vancouver, and Bahati was working on Body butters. We ended up trading products and loving what we made.
B: I had done some experimenting myself and perfected a homemade recipe for some really awesome body butter! I had some co-workers wanting to try the oils and they ended up being repeat ‘customers’. This positive response was an early validation for us to look more into growing this outside of ourselves.
S: Yes, we had originally made plans to launch Dahaab in April 2020, but of course we all saw how the pandemic sidelined many things. In-person selling was out of the question so at first we were a little discouraged, but decided to pivot our marketing strategy and model to better suit e-commerce customers. We officially launched in July 2020.
B: I think also the Black Lives Matter movement really pushed us to launch and to be proud entrepreneurs in the market right now. We became even more confident in our niche: creating high-quality products for melanated skin and textured hair, made with natural ingredients inspired by Africa, and eventually to be sourced from African suppliers.
We chose the name ‘Dahaab’ as a play on the Arabic and Swahili words for 'Gold'. We want our customers to treat their bodies like ‘dahaab’.
We also want Dahaab to elevate African-based ingredients which are somewhat undiscovered in the current market. We hear a lot about K-Beauty but less about natural skincare practices from Africa, especially ones based on shared knowledge and beauty secrets passed down from elders. We want to connect our consumers back to their roots and pass down these plant-based beauty practices.
Dahaab products are made from raw ingredients including; shea butter (used in African pharmacology and also found in Savannah Belt of Africa, which include the countries such as Senegal, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Uganda), castor oil (used by Ancient Egyptians but native to Eastern Ethiopia), and lavender (native to North Africa and the Mediterranean region).
Our goal is to eventually use 100% raw material equitably sourced from Africa. This has been a huge motivator for us... to take it back home.
I love that! You’ve kind of touched on this already, but can you say a little more about why you decided now was the right time to launch Dahaab- especially while we’re experiencing a pandemic?
S: I think the pandemic and current events have driven us closer to our support networks, which were also serving as sources of accountability as we worked towards a launch. Our friends were encouraging and pushing to follow through with our dreams despite our challenges and fears.
We also had some spare time with being in COVID-19 lock-down, more time together (we live in the same place!), and were saving money not having to commute. We invested these saved funds into product, startup costs, and getting really great marketing and a website.
B: Exactly. Like I said before, the current socio-political events and becoming part of a community of Black business owners really pushed us to launch.
We believe in our ingredients and brand; we want our customers to have access to high-quality products made by entrepreneurs who look like them.
Read more about Entrepreneurship and COVID-19 in this April 2020 YWiB interview with Lynzie Kent
When you decided to launch your business, what were the first steps you took to make it a reality?
S: We incorporated the business in November 2019 after brainstorming and product testing to refine our recipes. We took that early feedback into consideration in the research phase, as we did the competitor analysis and tried to identify our unique value in a somewhat saturated market. We were able to define our niche and be confident in the product and ideal target customer.
Our vision is to revolutionize the clean beauty market and provide more natural options for women like us. Reality is, most of what you can find in stores is not created with Black consumers in mind.
B: After about six months we started working with Jose La Corte of SIGNED jla. She helped us put together a consistent brand and visuals and that reflected our vision and values.
Tell us a little more about that. How do your personal values align with your brand?
S: We say that our vision is ‘skin care and beyond’. On our website, we list out our defining values using the acronym SENSE;
S- Sustainable Economy. Employ locally where raw material is sourced. Leader in Sustainable Agriculture
E- Educational. Promote conscious buying behavior. What goes onto the body is just as important as what goes inside.
N- Nature Driven. Move away from synthetic additives & embrace the natural ingredients
S- Socially Responsible. Giving back to the land & to the people that have given to us
E- Evolutionary. Integrate technology into holistic skincare
Transparency is huge for us; transparency in how our products and business decisions related those values [above]. Transparency and connecting to our roots, as Bahati said.
B: Yeah, conscious consumerism is a big one. We want to contribute to sustainable change, not work against it. We are doing our research about how to do things right and equitably for our suppliers, consumers, and the planet. As we grow and have more capacity, we want to try to get our business and its practices as close to 100% natural as feasibly possible.
Who do you look to as a role model(s) for success in entrepreneurship?
B: My role model is definitely my Aunt. She started her own business later on in life than most but didn’t let age stop her. She went back to Africa and got into agriculture and has been quite successful. Her life and entrepreneurship journey showed me that you don’t need to work to a timeline, there is no pressure to accomplish certain ‘milestones’ in life and business by any set time. We all have our own path.
Her life and entrepreneurship journey showed me that you don’t need to work to a timeline, there is no pressure to accomplish certain ‘milestones’ in life and business by any set time. We all have our own path.
S: I have to say my grandfather. He grew up with nothing and became a lawyer and eventually a CEO. He was also quite successful before he left everything in Somalia to move to Vancouver. He takes care of us all, he’s honestly always been taking care of people in one way or another. His example of hard work and connection to purpose drives my focus and reminds me to stay connected to family and what is important.
I love that you both consider close family members as role models. It’s wonderful to be able to have that guidance and support. Specific to your business needs, have you been able to tap into any local support, advice, or mentorship to help you as you get Dahaab started?
S: We’ve accessed some support from Landed for Success, especially for network-building. As well, the Brampton Entrepreneur Centre has been a great resource for entrepreneurship webinars and events. We’re still fairly new to this, but I’d say most support has come from friends and other business owners we know.
You two are close friends who decided to open a business together. Any advice about selecting a co-founder, and deciding where to focus your strengths as you work together through a launch and business operations?
S: Make sure you’re totally aligned on vision and morals; that you have that common ground and foundation to build the brand on. You have to have some hard talks in the beginning of what you expect and what your goals are. We talked about contingency plans and compared what we individually envisioned as short-term and long-term goals to see how they matched up. We also continue to check-in with each other to see how we are feeling about the whole process of entrepreneurship as well as the steps we are taking to launch and eventually scale.
B: I agree, and also think that because Samira and I are quite different, we recognize and play off each other's strengths. When you have that awareness of how you work most effectively and what you each bring to the table, you can determine if you’d be a match to go into business together.
[About selecting a co-founder]: Make sure you’re totally aligned on vision and morals; that you have that common ground and foundation to build the brand on.
What would you say to other young women who are considering entrepreneurship but not sure they should take the leap?
B: If you feel strongly about your product or business idea, just know there will never be a ‘right time’ to start. You can’t be scared of starting, what people will think, or even failure. If you have a fire inside you for an idea with real potential, you need to listen to that voice or you’ll never be satisfied.
S: I think that there’s also an element of considering appropriate timing. In my experience, if you trust your instincts and do your research, you’ll know when you’re in a better position to launch.
You need to know your ‘why’ first and foremost, and it needs to be bigger than anything else. I’ve tossed around business ideas before, but honestly wasn’t as passionate about them. For me, this is not about chasing money or escaping the 9-5 work-life. It’s not enough of a motivator (for me) to not have to work for someone else. I’m really passionate about our brand and what we hope to do in bringing more attention to African-inspired skincare products and beauty secrets.
B: The reality is that entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. Like Samira said, you have to know what is motivating you and make sure it’s enough… because running a business is hard work. If you do give it a try and it doesn’t work out, you’ll still know what your other options are.
The reality is that entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. […] You have to know what is motivating you and make sure it’s enough… because running a business is hard work. If you do give it a try and it doesn’t work out, you’ll still know what your other options are.
S: I agree, you really need to think holistically about your future. We’ve talked about scenarios like: What if one or both of us wanted to move to another continent? What would that mean for the business? What about having children? Life partners? These are definitely hard questions and to be fair, you might not have all the answers yet as a young person. It’s still important to be honest with yourself and your co-founder (if you have one). It’s really important to be open and discuss what the future might hold and how you envision that fitting in with your business goals.
Connect with Samira & Bahati: Website Instagram
The idea behind Dahaab came from common skin ailments faced by the co-founders, Samira Yassin and Bahati Ndanze with no products producing the desired results. They began experimenting with more natural ingredients, steering away from products made with synthetic materials and started to make and solely use their own personal remedies for a few years. A key part of what made the remedies work were the fact that the ingredients were African based, of which both founders hail from. Both Samira & Bahati realized that other people may be facing the same issues as they were. This issue along with there not being a huge African based market out there propelled them to start and develop Dahaab. Nature’s Remedy for the Natural Body became the driving force behind the brand.