There’s A New App Changing The Natural Hair Industry For African Women (OkayAfrica)

Check out this recent article I wrote for Okayafrica about new app Tress, which hopes to disrupt Africa's billion-dollar haircare industry. You can find the full article below and the original here. 

By now it’s no secret: black hair is big business. Whether it’s New York, Paris or Lagos, black women like to experiment with their hair, and they’re willing to spend on it.

Documentaries such as Chris Rock’s critically acclaimed Good Hair explored the central role hair plays in the black community. In the United States, where the black hair industry is projected to reach $761 million by 2017, black women spend nine timesmore on hair than other racial demographics.

Euromonitor International estimates that approximately $1.1 billion of shampoos, relaxers and hair lotions were sold across South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon in 2013. The market research firm predicts that liquid hair care market might grow as much as 5 percent by 2018 in Nigeria and Cameroon. And these impressive figures don’t even include the hugely lucrative and diverse market of hair extensions that includes everything from weaves to wigs of every texture, size and color.

As the continent’s hair market grows, Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde and Cassandra Sarfo, three female software entrepreneurs from Ghana and Nigeria, are here to help African women cash in. Their new app, Tress, is a mobile app that helps black women around the world find hair inspiration, and high quality stylists and products.

The trio met at the award-winning Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology. Nestled in the popular Accra neighborhood East Legon, the school selects top graduates from across Africa every year to participate in a fully sponsored one-year, full-time, intensive educational program. In the seven years since MEST launched in Ghana, the school has successfully incubated Kudobuzz and meQasa, which have raised a combined $650,000 in the last year. Tress is the latest jewel in MEST’s line of promising startups.

The last year has been a whirlwind for team Tress. Since coming up with the concept last June, the three co-founders have dived headfirst into business and software development. Following a pilot run in Ghana last December, Tress officially launched at Social Media Week Lagos in February.

As Africa’s largest beauty market, Nigeria is one of Tress’ first two target communities. After building its network of users and salons in West Africa, Tress hopes to expand to other rapidly growing economies like Kenya and South Africa.

I catch Tress CEO Hazel fresh off of her trip to Lagos, where she spoke on a panel about technology’s role in shaping the beauty industry.

Addressing why she, Olatunde and Sarfo decided to launch an haircare app, Hazel speaks of the frustrations of trying to find accurate information about how to achieve certain hairstyles and where to find a high quality stylist.

“One of the greatest aspects of black hair is its versatility—you can do anything to it, so my friends and I, like many black women, love experimenting with our hair,” she tells me. “But we got frustrated with the lack of information. Where to go, what hair to use, what styling technique. Tress makes that information more accessible.”

When we speak, I feel like Hazel is reading my mind. Just a few days before, I lament my struggle to find someone who can do crochet braids in Accra. As I log into Tress, I locate a stylist in a matter of minutes, finding pictures of her previous work as well as a location and a number. The platform feels like a mash-up of Instagram in look and feel, and Pinterest in sheer, encyclopedic variety.

As I flip through the profiles of users and stylists, I also note with surprise the high number of natural hairstyles. Despite being majority-black, it often feels that natural hair in Accra is the exception rather than the norm. For years, in Africa’s major cities, hair extensions have been seen as a mark of status among the nouveau riche that have internalized Western beauty standards. But increasingly, like many other places in the world, the natural hair movement has started to gain momentum. On the Tress platform, the diversity in hairstyles is both astounding and refreshing.

While I find the app brilliant and straightforward, one thing isn’t immediately clear — just how does Tress plan to make money? According to Priscilla, the team plans to adopt the model of other social media giants like Instagram and Snapchat through sponsored and promoted ads after it builds a sizeable community of users.

“Down the road, we’re considering e-commerce,” she says. “We know that companies would love the opportunity to specifically target hundreds of thousands of women, and through Tress, women will learn which products they can use to achieve certain looks. But beyond companies, there are a lot of opportunities for salons–this platform could eventually help them schedule appointments and help increase their visibility.”

With the app just in its first version and yet to release on iOS, there’s more to come. Future versions will include the capability to feature by location and hair type as well as opportunities to connect with other users and form mini-communities for those with transitioning hair and more.

I, for one, can’t wait.

You can download Tress on the Google Play store today.

Re-Imagining Everyday #LITTLELUXURYMOMENTS with Imperial Leather

A sneak peek at Imperial Leather's new product range 

Rebranding is an area where many a company has tried and failed. It’s not about just putting a new logo on a product and calling it a day — it’s about growing and expanding your customer base while still maintaining your core values. Think J.Lo reminding us she’s always Jenny from the Block. Or, in the case of this post, Imperial Leather, manufactured by UK-based PZ Cussons.

Growing up, my grandparents always loved Imperial Leather soaps. While the brand invoked some childhood nostalgia, I didn’t necessarily think of it as a product that I would use myself. Well-acquainted with Imperial Leather's original bar soaps, I thought of it as a traditional, old world brand. So when Imperial Leather got in touch with me and a few of my fellow Accra bloggers (Naa Oyoo Quartey, Jemila Abdulai of Circumspecte, model Laurie Frempong, and Adwoa Asiedu of Love, Adjpants) to discuss how we could partner, I was surprised. What, I thought, could an old-school brand of my grandparents' era possibly want to do with a millennial like me — especially someone like me, who is a student of culture and politics, rather than a traditional lifestyle blogger? 

When Stephen Boadi, Head of Digital Marketing, introduced me to Imperial Leather's new range of personal care products, I was astounded by the variety of the new line. Yes, the old classic bar soaps on my grandparents' age remain, but they’ve been complimented by a wide variety of contemporary scents like “Softly Softly” (hints of rose) and “Japanese Spa” (my personal favorite, with its beautiful jasmine fragrance and moisturizing rice milk formula). As I shared some of the other parts of the new improved line, which features body washes, lotions, bar soaps, and deodorants, with friends and families, I heard nothing but positive reviews. Those familiar with their classic bar soap commented on the improved fragrance and lather. With Imperial Leather’s new range, there is something for men and women, young and old. With the new look and feel of the products, these aren’t things you leave languishing at the back of your medicine cabinet — especially their amazing Japanese Spa range — but go-to products for the everyday.

Part of understanding culture and politics and how they shape our evolving global landscape is experiencing cultural shifts. So it was interesting for me to learn more about how Imperial Leather has evolved since its beginning in 1798. As the story goes, a Russian nobleman called Count Orlof commissioned a brand of perfume called 'Eau de Cologne Imperiale Russe' from Bayleys of Bond Street in London. At the time, Russian leather was a high-quality leather with a distinct aroma exported widely from Russia. In 1921, Cussons Sons & Co acquired Bayley and began to use the perfume in a line of scented bath products. Originally called 'Imperiale Russian Leather,' the brand was later renamed Imperial Leather. 

While Imperial Leather has traditionally been priced at figures friendly to most people’s pockets, the idea of luxury is in their backbone. With their latest re-launch, the Imperial Leather Ghana team chose to center their marketing campaign around the idea of #LittleLuxuryMoments — making luxury for the everyday. As a firm believer in the idea that everybody should adhere by Donna of Parks and Recreation fame's informal motto "treat yo'self," Imperial Leather's rebranding made me think deeply about the meaning of "luxury."

Thanks Team Imperial Leather and PZ Cussons for inviting me to join in on the fun at your launch event! 

When you think of the word “luxury” what images come to mind? Ten years ago, it might have been the excess of the MTV and VH1 reality shows of the 2000s era—guilty pleasures like Cribs or The Fabulous Life. For others, it might be the couture houses that rule the runway – Balmain or Dior; however, increasingly, luxury has a different luster.

What if we thought of luxury as self-care? As investing in the everyday icing on the cake. Old-school luxury items like a pair of Louboutins or a Rolls Royce may be prohibitively expensive, but the “new school” of luxury offers a high-quality, stylish experience at a lower price point. Self-care isn’t the domain of the wealthy, but something that can be democratized for the everyday.

On a small fellowship budget in the dumsor days of Ghana, I can tell you personally that a little luxury goes a long way. 

Read my previous column on supporting African luxury markets.

The Fantasy Coffins of Ghana (Slate)

I wrote a piece for online travel magazine Roads and Kingdom's Breakfast section a few weeks ago. Today, I'm sharing a piece I wrote as a foreign correspondent for their weekly global dispatch, co-produced with Slate, on the unique Ga tradition of "fantasy coffins." 

If that term intrigues you, read more via the Roads and Kingdoms website or on the Slate website.

Take a peek at an excerpt below: 

I almost miss the workshop on a busy coastal road in the Ghanaian capital. The faded sign reading Kane Kwei Coffins in block letters sits prominently outside a small structure set between a three-story supermarket and a few ramshackle buildings. Children run around coffins of all shapes and colors: a chili pepper, a cat, a scorpion.

The finished coffins are smooth to the touch, painted in vibrant shades that shine despite the seasonal Harmattan dust coating every surface. Inside the workshop, a group of young apprentices saw grooves into a block of wood that will become a coffin in the shape of a cocoa pod. Founded in the 1950s by Seth Kane Kwei, this is thought to be the oldest coffin shop specializing in abebuu adekai: proverb boxes...

In the Echo Chamber: Is South Africa Really The Rape Capital of the World?

Echo chamber: when a claim, often erroneous, bounces around the echo chamber of government and media, making it sound as if multiple, reliable sources are corroborating the same story.

In the last decade, multiple countries have competed for the title of "rape capital of the world." Sometimes it's India. Often it's the Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Africa.

According to fact-checking and news gathering website Africa Check, the vast majority of media claims about South Africa as the world's rape capital are based on claims repeated by other media sources. These original claims are, in turn, based on fake allegations allegedly made by reputable bodies like the United Nations and INTERPOL. When Africa Check interviewed officials at both organizations, they denied making these claims. An INTERPOL even said, "We have previously... request[ed] a correction in this regard, and will do so again. Unfortunately these false reports have been repeated by various media."

An excellent 2013 Foreign Policy article by Marya Hannun explores why it's so hard to declare one country the world's rape capital in the first place. Hannun writes: 

The first problem in cross-country comparisons of crime rates in general — and rape in particular — is definitional. What exactly constitutes rape? Statistics tend to skew upward in places with broader, more inclusive laws. In Sweden, for example, each instance of sexual violence is catalogued as its own crime. "When a woman comes to the police and she says my husband or my fiance raped me almost every day during the last year, the police have to record each of these events, which might be more than 300 events," one Swedish sociologist explained to the BBC. "In many other countries it would just be one record." In Congo, by contrast, the World Health Organization found that police did not record reported cases of sexual violence in the absence of a witness who could testify to the use of force. 

Last October, I interviewed Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola of the University of the Witwatersrand for Ayiba Magazine. Gqola's latest book, Rape: A South African Nightmare,  explores the troubling realities of South African rape culture. When I asked her about the claim that South Africa's the world's rape capital, she had this to say: 

I don’t think South Africa in fact has more rapes than everywhere else in the world. We never knew this and there is no way of knowing it. It’s the media reportage that very quickly started conflating research that showed highest reporting rates to highest incidents of rape. For a time we had much higher rates of reporting – because for a time, in the early days of our democracy – women had increased faith in the criminal justice system. So, what we actually had was the highest rate of reported rapes in the world. All over the world, rates of reporting are atrociously low, as research from different countries repeatedly shows. Our reporting rates have decreased significantly, as rape survivors realized that faith in the criminal justice system is often not rewarded. So if we were working with rates of reporting today, rather than in the mid-1990s, our statistics would be unspectacular comparatively. This is not the same as saying rape incidents are lower.

Most statistics on rape are based on data sets that aggregate criminal reports of rape. Unsuprisingly, in countries with good outreach systems and efficient, competent police forces, reports are likely to be higher. When women don't trust the system, they don't report sexual violence. 

With different legal definitions of and methods of recording rape in addition to under-reporting of sexual violence worldwide, making international comparisons is hard. Before we make generalizable claims like which country is the world's rape capital, we need better data. To obtain better data, we require systems that better support survivors of sexual violence by "interrupt[ing] the continuum in societal attitudes, norms, and behaviors that enable rape and rape culture."

Rock the Vote From Abroad

In another life, my friend Emefa Agawu would be the voting czar of the DNC. Last year, she was on a one-woman mission to make sure everyone who crossed her path voted in the tight CT election that secured a second term for Governor Dan Malloy. 

Inspired by Emefa's zeal for getting people to rock the vote, I'm on a mission to encourage every American abroad to vote. I think local elections are just as important, if not more important than presidential elections, but it's always the race for the White House that garners the most attention. So if you're not going to vote for your local election, you can at least vote in a presidential election.

Yesterday, I got an email from a former Princeton in Africa fellow with some useful information on overseas voting that I'll share below: 

If you'd like to vote in the presidential primaries (as well as more local elections), please go to www.overseasvotefoundation.org. Depending on your home state, there is still time to register for the primaries and in many states you can do the entire absentee voting registration process, and even vote, electronically. 

If you're only abroad temporarily, when you get back to the US the following two sites might be worthwhile for you. If you end up outside of your home state but want to continue to vote in your home state (e.g. you move to NYC but want to vote in your home state), you can use www.longdistancevoter.org. If you need to register in a new state (or register to vote for the first time), you can find a guide here: https://vote.usa.gov

Given the enormous influence that America has on the lives of people outside its borders, including Africa, it is our responsibility to use this enormous privilege we have to take part in shaping America’s future and the future of humanity.

The Breakfast Staple That Transcends All Borders (Roads and Kingdoms)

I've been following Anthony Bourdain-backed travel website Roads and Kingdoms for quite some time. The website bills itself as a "next-generation travel, food, music and journalism platform." And it's living up to its lofty goals: it's won two James Beard nominations, an IACP nod, and was named the best Travel Journalism site by the Society of American Travel Writers. I was really excited when the editorial team gave me the chance to write for their breakfast series. Check my ode to "diasporic dough" below and find it live on the Roads and Kingdoms website here. 

THE BREAKFAST STAPLE THAT TRANSCENDS ALL BORDERS

Bofrot in Accra

Across Africa and its diaspora, certain recipes and techniques stretch across borders. The most famous diasporic staple is likely West Africa’s okra stew, which shares similarities with New Orleans’ gumbo and caruru in Brazil’s Bahia, the hub of the Afro-Brazilian culture. But less well-noted are African and diasporic variations of fritters.

Louisiana has its beignets. Kenya, its mandazi. In Ghana, the fried dough of choice is bofrot, also called togbei, or “goat’s balls” in Ga, the language of one of the ethnic groups native to the Accra region.

Each morning, in the congested Accra traffic, street vendors weave in and out of the treacherous maze of cars selling on-the-go snacks. Boxes filled with bofrot and other pastries are balanced precariously on their heads. Drivers and passengers crammed in trotros, the local form of public transport, dive into their pockets in search of a few coins to exchange with hawkers before traffic begins moving again.

But you can’t get your bofrot from just anyone. A tried-and-true bofrot connoisseur, I find the bofrot sold on the street to be soggy after sitting too long. I prefer to purchase mine from a lovely lady named Ama, who starts deep frying the delicious round doughnuts each morning in Osu, Accra’s hustling, bustling “Times Square.” By now, Ama and I have a steady rhythm. Rolling down the car window in the morning, I’m always greeted with a warm smile and a raspy voice saying “εte sεn? One cedi?”

For the equivalent of twenty-five cents, I get two warm bofrot. Not the healthiest of foods, I (regretfully) indulge sparingly, just two or three times a week. While a popular breakfast snack, alongside other popular go-to’s like kooko (maize porridge) or kye bom (fried egg and bread), bofrot is also a staple at parties and weddings. As a sweet finger-food, it stands out in a culture dominated by salty and savory dishes.

Some Ghanaian friends tell me that traditionalists use palm wine in place of yeast, which gives it a distinctive taste. An uncle with a sweet tooth advises rolling the bofrot in powdered sugar to make it sweeter. As I perform my own gastronomic experiments at home, I dip the bofrot in a passion fruit glaze and delight in the sweet-and-tart taste.

Growing up, I was accustomed to bofrot’s Kenyan cousin, mandazi, which often features coconut milk and spices like ginger and cardamom and is frequently cut into triangles. Mandazi is more dense, with a consistency similar to cake rather than a beignet. Less sweet than bofrot, mandazi are often served with chai tea, a nod to Kenya’s fusion of Indian and African culture.

Different regions call for twists that alter the texture and taste, but the core components to diasporic dough always follow the simple formula: flour, yeast, sugar, water. The omnipresence of such a simple snack across the globe ensures that a piece of home is never too far away. A Kenyan-American in Ghana, my bi-weekly trip to Ama’s bofrot stand cures even the worst bout of homesickness.