Hardwork, self belief and drive had always been her go-to armour and now, many thanks to that, Courtney Adeleye stands tall in the entrepreneurial world.
A registered nurse by profession, the 40 year old always desired strong, healthy hair, so rather than keep wishing In 2013, she decided to dig deeper, burning candles and giving it her all, alas, many thanks to her science background, right from her kitchen she successfully created a product line -The Mane Choice which helps women and men in the African diaspora take care of their natural hair. Leveraging on the power of YouTube to chronicle her journey it blew big.
The premier hair-care brand which kicked off with a miserly $500 grew from ground up and is now available at 60,000 stores nationwide, recording as of 2018 $50 million in sales and hitting major retailer like Target.
In just four years Adeleye’s brand skyrocketed; from $500 investment, her business grew to a $25 multi-million-dollar empire.
“I always tell people,” Adeleye explained, “when you want to do something great, you have to do something different.”
Courtney Adeleye comes from a family with a business savy mindset – Adeleye is the mother of Lily Adeleye, a five-year-old young entrepreneur who made headlines as the youngest CEO to have her products sold at the retail giant, Target. She runs a girls’ fashion brand called “Lily Frilly”.
“My mom has always been a risk taker,” emphasized Adeleye explaining and shedding light on her upbringing in a single-parent household. “That’s definitely the DNA of an entrepreneur is taking a risk, doing something that, probably, the rest of the world wouldn’t necessarily do, but knowing that it’s possible. Understanding that the sky’s the limit.”
The University of Michigan graduate applaudably uses her firm to empower black talents, offering leadership roles.
The healthy hair growth founder has since merged with MAV Beauty Brands reaching out to the international market. Explaining, the beauty maven revealed that although she technically sold the company to MAV Beauty Brands, she also became one of the major shareholders of the entire MAV Beauty Brands company.
“It was important for me to become a partner with the company who acquired my company. And that, my friends, I don’t think has ever been done in this category, especially for a Black female in her 30s.”
Spreading her wings; amongst her growing empire, in 2018, she started ‘The Bawse Conference’ which hosts hundreds of women to an inspiring weekend of learning from the greatest minds: workshop and mentorship programs are put in place to equip women with tools to help them become independent.
Adeleye also established “Olbali Corporation” to house all of her private brands.
“I am no longer waiting to be invited to a seat at the table,” Adeleye said. “I want to make sure that whatever table that I sit at, or whatever table that I build, there’s plenty of room for women who look just like me.”
