Dear reader,

About two years ago, I was having dinner with my friend and mentor Rob Bellaart, founder of Ghanaweb: the most visited digital news platform in Ghana. Over dinner, we caught up on our current projects and professional growth since our last meeting. As usual, It was a pleasant evening filled with laughter and fun conversations. One of those conversations was us jokingly ideating a hair app because when Rob asked why my hair ‘looked different’ I frustratingly told him I didn’t know what to do with it…He jokingly retorted “you are a tech entrepreneur, build a Solution!’

Months after that meeting, I decided to take Rob’s ‘teasing’ a little more seriously than he probably intended and decided to build a solution! I shared my decision with him and he was as motivated to join me on the journey. Along the way I met amazing people like Maarten van der Sanden my “VP: venture partner” (not sure he knows I call him that lol). Maarten is an experienced serial entrepreneur who’s built and successfully exited two whole startups for millions of Dollars. I met Ivan Pavlov a master developer who’s been writing code for over three decades. Also, Marc Stubbé, a literal communications genius and the CEO of Africaweb Holding. There was Millicent the digital marketing queen and Kwabena Safo, the badass product designer who designed our first UI. Then there is, our amazing community manager, Ann-Richel, and our meticulous CMS manager Redeemer. Last but not least, Kofo and Chigozie holding down the coolest social media squad on the block. These Allstars showed up and contributed their bits to bring the vision of an interconnected haircare experience to life and I am so proud to be affiliated with them. 

What started off as a friend’s casual tease led us down 18 months of the most intricate research resulting at this moment here right now that I am sharing with you. Yesterday, I woke up to the amazing news that we hit 1,000,000 ‘hairstyles viewed’ on the MyHairDO app. This is such an important milestone for my team because it validates the problem we are so passionately trying to solve.

When we released our beta in January 2022 after 12 months of research, our goal was simple, to engage our target audience and validate their problem. 1,000,000 ‘hairstyles viewed’ does that in grand style. This is more than we asked for and we are grateful to our users for rewarding our efforts with honest feedback and trusting us to solve this problem.

It goes without saying, that there is a lot of jubilation in the MyHairDO camp right now but not without an equal amount of healthy excitement for the future, careful analysis, and intentional ideation to continue to build a solution that will deliver the ultimate 10x haircare experience for women with afro textures. Our mission to build efficient infrastructure to deliver an interconnected haircare experience for stakeholders of the beauty industry is a heavy one that we take on with pride and utmost dedication. The last six months have been a beautiful cycle of learning, testing, and iterating and we are pleased with the outcomes so far. 

While we have come a long way on this journey we recognise that there is still a long way to go. But before we continue, I want to pause and acknowledge everyone who has been here for the ride. The users who viewed 1,000,000 hairstyles, my rockstar team, the supportive Africaweb team, salon partners and service providers who have been instrumental in our research, mentors and colleagues who shared their expert knowledge when I needed it and dear friends and family who constantly love me through the highs and lows. I am very grateful to you all. I could not have done it without you.

Our vision is big, bold and beautiful and we need more people that match this description to join us in bringing it to life. We just validated our problem with 1,000,000 hairstyles viewed on the MyHairDO beta app but this is only the beginning. I would like to engage with global talents and investors who are passionate about the beauty industry, health and lifestyle with a focus on African women, AI-powered solutions, or entrepreneurship in Africa. If you fit any of these bills, give me a chance to sell you my dream and hopefully I would be acknowledging you too at our next big milestone.

Cheers,

Precious Okafor

Founder, MyHairDO