The Knowledge with David Elikwu 24: The business of Black hair care with Joycelyn Mate
David speaks with Joycelyn Mate, the co-founder of Afrocenchix. They talked about Joycelyn’s journey building an afro haircare brand, scaling it, and the challenges they faced fundraising as Black women founders.
Joycelyn Mate is one of the amazing brains behind Afrocenchix, an overnight success ten year in the making. The unintentional business she started with her friend Rachael while at university became the first afro haircare brand to be stocked at Whole Foods UK, and the pair have already raised over half a million pounds in venture funding, including backing by WeWork/SoftBank.
Connect with Joycelyn:
Twitter:
@joymatespeaks
@Afrocenchix
Show notes - [Topics + timestamps]
Early days of Afrocenchix [1:29]
How Afrocenchix came about [4:17]
Initial response to Afrocenchix [6:42]
The journey to find product market fit [9:15]
How the market reacted to Afrocenchix [11:58]
How Afrocenchix formulated customer trust [16:12]
Afrocenchix’s fundraising experiences [18:18] [20:46]
What black and female founders actually need and bias in funding [21:49]
Why capital is key [28:21]
Trials and tribulations of creating a team [31:01]
How you can use personality tests and types to foster greater teamwork [33:45]
Joycelyn’s business role models [39:17]
Joycelyn’s advice for business and life - the art of mastery [42:24]
The iceberg analogy [46:50]
Joycelyn’s advice for founders, VCs, and investors [48:30]
About David:
David Elikwu FRSA is a serial-entrepreneur, operator and strategist who traded corporate law for tech. He now helps startups to scale. David previously founded Baba’s Flight Club, and is currently building Democratic Republic, a sustainable coffee and wine company. David writes weekly about learning more and living better in The Knowledge newsletter, and speaks regularly on The Knowledge podcast, Travel n Turn up podcast, and The Knowledge: Office Hours.
Twitter: @LegendofBaba / @DemRepWorld
Website: davidelikwu.com, demrepcoffee.com
Newsletter: theknowledge.substack.com
Podcast: gopod.me/theknowledge, travelandturnup.com
The Knowledge:
Welcome to The Knowledge, hosted by David Elikwu. David is on a journey of learning more and living better, and sharing everything he discovers along the way. As a writer, tinkerer, and serial entrepreneur, David unpacks wisdom from elite performers and everyday people, highlighting everything you need to know to navigate the world around you.
Newsletter: theknowledge.substack.com
Podcast: gopod.me/theknowledge
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