Where Women, Beauty, Business and Tech Co-exist - Beyond Hair Summit 2020
In the Afro-Caribbean community, hairdressing has been used as an economic tool for black women, and has since opened doors for increased career opportunities and economic empowerment. Oyinkansola (Oyin) Adebayo and Olaoluwa (Laolu) Dada used their own experiences as black women needing quality hair services in the Midlands and North England to launch Niyo Enterprise.
As existing social enterprise founders, Oyin and Laolu took their current model business which focussed on training, teaching and black hair, beauty and business empowerment events, and innovated into a tech business, and divided into two areas - practical workshops on hair styling, and professional hairdressing services. They also used creative campaigns to showcase how hair allows women to see themselves in both the UK and Nigeria, and this campaign landed them a feature in black beauty and hair magazine on two occasions.
Amongst the workshops and services, Niyo Enterprise are only weeks away from their annual event ‘Beyond Hair Summit’ which Oyin and Laolu coin as “A black women’s summit for all things business, afro-hair and creativity”. This year, the event aims to help women understand the power of innovation in technology, hair & beauty and creative industries with an overall theme – “The connectivity of digital technology to creativity, hair and beauty”.
The Beyond Hair Summit is a great introduction for women to really gain insight into how to use tech as a tool to grow business, and includes an impressive line up of professional speakers who will be sharing tips on brand building, investment, and entrepreneurship, alongside networking opportunities and a major giveaway of an £1000 grant to the best pitched idea (Gold ticket holders only).
For more information on Niyo Enterprise, subscribe to their podcast – “Woke! Up! Podcast” and to find out more about the Beyond Hair Summit, check out the highlights from previous years and click here to grab your tickets.