When Oke Maduewesi founded Zaron in 2011, Nigeria’s beauty landscape looked very different. International brands had a strong presence in the market, social media had yet to transform the way women discovered and bought beauty products, and Maduewesi was coming from an entirely different professional world. After years in banking, an MBA at the University of Leeds redirected her ambitions towards entrepreneurship. Zaron would eventually emerge from the business dissertation she developed there.
What began as an idea has since grown into a beauty business with a presence beyond Nigeria and an offering that has expanded from colour cosmetics into skincare. Zaron has also grown alongside a very different African beauty consumer: one with more choice, greater access to information and increasingly high expectations of the brands competing for her attention.
Keeping pace has required more than a good product. Maduewesi has had to navigate changing consumer habits, increased competition and the realities of building a business through different economic cycles. Along the way, she has also made social impact part of the Zaron story, with initiatives focused on supporting and economically empowering widows and underserved women.
Now, as Zaron marks its 15th anniversary, she sits down with Konye Chelsea Nwabogor to talk about the decisions that shaped the brand, the moments that tested it, what 15 years of serving African women has taught her, staying relevant in an increasingly crowded beauty market and, perhaps most importantly, where she intends to take Zaron from here.
If you had to tell the story of Zaron’s first 15 years through three defining moments, which would you choose and why?
I would probably start with before Zaron was even launched, because I believe that period is a defining part of the story.
At the time, I was going through a lot personally. I was raising two children on my own, and I knew that paid employment alone would not give me the kind of financial freedom and future I wanted to create for myself and my children. That experience gave me the drive to want more and to build something of my own. In many ways, that was the beginning of Zaron before the brand even existed.
The second defining moment was going back to school and gaining a broader perspective. I began to notice how little representation there was for African brands—not just in beauty, but across different industries. There was such a heavy reliance on foreign brands, and it made me realise that Africans needed to take more ownership in building businesses that could stand the test of time.
For me, it was never just about creating another beauty brand. It was about believing that we could build African businesses that were structured, sustainable, globally competitive, and capable of becoming some of the best in the world. That realisation gave Zaron a much bigger purpose.
The third defining moment would be learning to turn challenges into opportunities. Over the years, we have faced different experiences, setbacks and situations that could easily have been seen as negatives. But one of the things that has shaped Zaron is our ability to look at those
moments differently—to ask, What can we learn from this? How can this make us better? Where is the opportunity?
I think that mindset has been one of the biggest defining factors in our journey. Every challenge has helped us evolve, improve and grow. So, if I had to tell the story of Zaron’s first 15 years in three moments, it would be: the experiences that gave birth to the vision, the realisation that African brands could build for the world, and the resilience to turn every challenge into an opportunity.
You came into beauty after a successful career in banking, without the typical beauty industry background. In hindsight, did becoming an outsider become an advantage in the way you approached and built Zaron?
A thousand percent, yes.
I genuinely believe that my background before beauty is one of the reasons I have been able to build Zaron the way I have. I always say that, for me, it is not just about beauty—it is about the business of beauty.
Sometimes, when people are extremely passionate about a particular craft or industry, their passion and creativity can influence their business decisions. You see this a lot in creative industries. For example, someone may be incredibly passionate about fashion and create pieces that they personally love, without necessarily considering whether the product makes commercial sense or delivers a sustainable return on investment.
Creativity is important, of course, but a business must also be commercially viable. Sometimes, the cost of bringing a creative idea to life can be higher than what the customer is willing to pay for it, and if you cannot translate those costs into a sustainable business model, growth becomes difficult.
Coming from banking gave me a different perspective. For me, the product was beauty, but the foundation was always business.
I am not a makeup artist, and I don’t believe you have to be one to build one of the most successful and fastest-growing beauty brands in Africa. What I needed was to understand how to build and manage a business, create the right structures, identify the right opportunities and bring in the right people.
You can always access or invest in the expertise you need. You can hire makeup artists, formulators, creatives and other specialists. But ultimately, building a sustainable business requires strong management and an understanding of how all the different parts of that business work together.
My experience in banking and working in a structured, professional environment taught me that. It taught me the importance of systems, management, structure and commercial discipline.
So, in hindsight, I would say being an outsider was absolutely an advantage. I honestly do not think I would be where I am today without that experience, and I am incredibly grateful for it.
When Zaron launched 15 years ago, the beauty landscape was very different, and international brands dominated the market. What did you understand about the African woman and her beauty needs that you felt the market was missing?
I think this was one of the key reasons we started Zaron in the first place.
At the time, very few brands truly catered to women of colour, and it was painful to see how limited the options were. I remember some international brands offering just two or three shades for women of colour, and somehow, we had all accepted that as enough—as though those were the only options we deserved.
But I kept asking myself: who understands the woman of colour better than the woman of colour herself?
I wanted to bridge that gap. I wanted to create products specifically designed with us in mind—our skin tones, our undertones and our unique beauty needs.
Over the years, people have asked whether we would expand significantly into other segments, with a much wider variety of shades and products. But from the beginning, I made a conscious decision that Zaron would remain a brand primarily tailored to and targeted at women of colour.
And the truth is, it is incredible how much better we understand ourselves when we are the ones creating the solutions.
I believe Africans and women of colour have to increasingly take ownership of solving our own problems and meeting our own needs. When we started, the lack of representation was significant. It has improved over the years, but there is still so much work to do.
If you look at the African beauty market today, foreign brands still dominate a large part of the space. My hope is that we continue to see more strong, structured and sustainable homegrown brands emerge and actively take their place in the market.
For Zaron, it has always been about proving that we can build products for ourselves, understand our consumers deeply and create brands that can compete at the highest level.
With so many beauty brands competing for the same customer today, what do you believe genuinely distinguishes Zaron beyond simply being an African beauty brand?
For me, competition is a sign of opportunity.
The growth in the number of beauty brands—both globally and locally—shows that more people are beginning to understand the enormous opportunity within the beauty industry. You can see it in the number of global and local celebrities, entrepreneurs and businesses that are choosing to enter the beauty space.
For us at Zaron, we do not necessarily see the influx of competition as a problem. We see it as an opportunity.
One thing that has always distinguished Zaron is our ability to look beyond challenges and identify the opportunities within them. That has been part of our mindset from the beginning.
The beauty industry is becoming more competitive, but it is also becoming bigger. The consumer is evolving, the market is expanding and there is room for brands that genuinely understand their customers and continue to deliver value.
After 15 years of creating and selling beauty products, how has the Zaron customer changed? Is the woman you are selling to today very different from the woman you started with?
That is a very interesting question because, yes, the Zaron customer has definitely changed over the years. When we started 15 years ago, the beauty landscape was very different. Consumer behaviour was different, income levels were different, and, importantly, Nigerians were not embracing local brands in the way they do today.
At the time, there was a strong perception that foreign automatically meant better. Local brands often had to work much harder to earn the consumer’s trust because, for many people, being locally made was not necessarily seen as good enough.
We were very conscious of that when we started Zaron. So, from the beginning, we knew that our quality had to be right. We wanted to create products that could compete confidently in any global market, regardless of where the brand came from.
Over time, we began to see consumers become more open to—and more proud of—supporting homegrown brands. Today’s consumer is also much more enlightened and exposed. She has access to more information, more brands and more global trends, which means she is more discerning about what she buys.
Of course, the economic landscape has also changed significantly. Consumers are increasingly conscious of value and affordability, even while still expecting excellent quality. So, that has also influenced how we think about our products and our customers.
But one thing that has remained consistent is our commitment to quality.
The goal was never to create products that were simply expensive or positioned as high-end for the sake of it. Our goal has always been to create fantastic-quality products and make them as accessible and affordable as possible.
So, yes, the Zaron customer has evolved—and she continues to evolve. And as she changes, we have to continue listening, learning and evolving with her, while remaining committed to the core promise that has always been at the heart of Zaron: great quality beauty products created with our consumer in mind.
You came into entrepreneurship with years of banking experience and have since built a sizable retail business. What has running Zaron taught you about business that banking never could?
First, I always give credit to my banking experience, and I will continue to do so. I genuinely do not believe I would be as good at what I do today without the experience and foundation I gained from banking.
In many ways, banking already gave me an entrepreneurial mindset. It taught me how to think commercially, manage people, understand numbers, take responsibility and work within structured systems.
But running your own business teaches you something remarkably different: the weight of ownership.
When I was working in banking, I had responsibilities and targets, but I was an employee. If I did my job well, I knew what was expected of me, and at the end of the month, I would receive my salary.
As an entrepreneur, it is quite different.
The risk is yours. The responsibility is yours. Every major decision, every challenge, and every outcome directly affects you and the business you are building.
You are also responsible for managing all the moving parts at once—people, finances, products, customers, operations, challenges, and opportunities. There is no part of the business that you can completely disconnect yourself from.
So, I think entrepreneurship has taught me how much more there is to business when the responsibility and the risk truly sit with you.
And honestly, I enjoy every bit of it.
It has been challenging, but I am incredibly grateful for the journey because I genuinely believe this is what I am supposed to be doing. I believe I am a natural entrepreneur.
What has been the biggest turning point for Zaron commercially—a particular product, expansion, partnership or decision that took the company to another level?
I would have to say the introduction of Skin by Zaron was one of the biggest commercial turning points for the business.
More specifically, I think the success of our skincare products—particularly our Vitamin C Body Lotion—really changed the narrative for Zaron.
Before launching skincare, we did extensive research. We tested, refined, and made sure we understood the product and the consumer need we were trying to address. And, thankfully, we got it right.
The products worked, consumers saw the results, and the response was incredible.
For me, one of the biggest lessons from that experience is that business is not simply about having a wide range of products. It is about creating products that genuinely make an impact.
Our Vitamin C Body Lotion was one of those products. Seeing how strongly it performed in the market, among a portfolio of hundreds of SKUs, gave us a different level of confidence. It showed us just how transformative one truly successful product can be for a business.
I often say that you can build a successful business around one exceptional product, just as you can have hundreds of products and still not achieve the same level of impact.
The important thing is understanding where your star product is, recognising why consumers are connecting with it and building on that opportunity.
At the same time, you must be careful not to become too dependent on one product. A star product can drive growth and open new doors, but the long-term goal is to use that success to strengthen the wider business.
There is often pressure on successful African brands to prove themselves by going global. What does expansion mean to you at this stage—conquering more of Africa, entering international markets, or going deeper into the markets you already serve?
That is such an important question because there is often a misconception that, for an African brand to be considered successful, it must at once expand into Western markets.
I say this a lot when I mentor young entrepreneurs. Everyone wants to say they are a global brand; everyone wants to enter Europe or America, and sometimes people see that as the ultimate proof that they have arrived.
But I do not necessarily agree that expansion must mean going West first.
For me, the strategy has always been to go deeper before going wider.
Nigeria is an incredible market. We have a large, growing population, and there is still enormous opportunity in the market. So, before we start chasing markets elsewhere, it is important for us to continue strengthening and deepening our presence here.
The second part of that strategy is Africa.
Zaron products were created primarily with African women and women of colour in mind. Africa is therefore a natural growth market for us. There are millions of consumers across the continent with similar needs, and I believe there is a significant opportunity for African brands to build strong positions within Africa first.
And when you expand into other African countries, you are also growing beyond your domestic market and earning foreign exchange. So, Africa itself presents a huge opportunity that I believe many businesses sometimes underestimate.
Of course, international expansion is important, and I am not saying that Western markets should not be part of the vision. But those markets require significant investment. You need deep pockets to build visibility, invest in marketing, support distribution, and compete effectively.
Simply being present on the shelf of a retailer in a Western market does not necessarily mean you are succeeding in that market. If consumers do not know your brand, and you do not have the resources to support awareness and growth, you may spend significantly without achieving meaningful results.
So, for me, expansion at this stage means being strategic.
It means continuing to deepen our presence in Nigeria, strengthening our position across Africa, and entering international markets when we have the right strategy, resources, and infrastructure to truly compete.
I do not believe in expanding simply for the prestige of saying we are present somewhere. I believe in going into a market with the intention—and the capacity—to win.
For Zaron, the focus is to build deeply at home, spread our wings across Africa and expand globally with purpose when the time and conditions are right.
You have also made philanthropy part of Zaron’s story, particularly through initiatives supporting widows and underserved communities. Was that always part of the vision, or did your idea of what the company should contribute to society evolve as Zaron grew?
It was always part of who we are and, therefore, always part of the vision for Zaron.
I often say that Zaron is kind. Zaron is giving. Zaron has to be able to see people who are struggling and be sensitive to the needs around us.
That has always been at the core of the business. In fact, from the very first day we launched Zaron, we carried out a CSR activity. So giving back was never something we introduced later because the company had grown, or because we felt it was the right thing to say publicly. It has always been part of our DNA.
As the business continues to grow, the goal is simply to grow our capacity to do more and reach more people.
For me, it is a privilege to be able to give back. It is not about trying to be politically correct or creating a good image for the company. We genuinely enjoy doing it.
And I believe that, as a business grows, it should also become increasingly aware of the impact it can have beyond its products and profits.
Zaron has been given an opportunity to grow, and we see it as a privilege to use that growth to positively impact lives and support communities where we can.
Fifteen years of building Zaron may have changed you too. How different is Oke, the entrepreneur today, from the woman who started the company?
The truth is, sometimes I feel like I am in a relationship with Zaron.
Over 15 years, you build such a deep connection with the business that it becomes difficult to separate yourself from it. And it is not just a financial relationship. It is the time you give, the energy you invest, the satisfaction the business brings you, and sometimes the emotional impact it has on you.
When Zaron is going through a difficult period, Oke feels it.
When Zaron is doing well, Oke feels that too.
The business affects your emotions because you have invested so much of yourself into building it. In many ways, the outcome of Zaron begins to feel connected to your own personal outcome.
I think that is one of the biggest ways entrepreneurship has changed me. The woman who started Zaron 15 years ago may have seen it as a business she was building. Today, Zaron has become such a significant part of my life and identity.
But I think one of the things I am still learning is how to separate the business from the person.
Because Zaron is the business, and Oke is the person.
And sometimes, after giving so much of yourself to something for so long, knowing where one ends and the other begins can be difficult.
So, yes, I have changed. I have grown alongside Zaron. In many ways, we have grown together.
But perhaps one of the most important lessons I am still learning is that while Zaron is a very important part of my life, I also have to remember that I am more than the business I have built.
After 15 years, you have earned the right to think beyond the next product launch or financial year. What do you want the next 15 years of Zaron to look like, and what would you like the brand to ultimately be remembered for?
The vision is for Zaron to become a truly global brand.
But for me, being global is not simply about being present in different countries. It is about building a brand that is globally relevant, globally competitive and capable of standing confidently alongside the very best beauty brands in the world.
I also believe that the next generation of Zaron will be very different.
Beauty is changing. Technology is changing the way consumers discover products, shop, interact with brands and even understand beauty itself. There is a new frontier ahead, and I want Zaron to be ready for it.
I want us to continue embracing technology, embracing innovation and understanding where the future of beauty is going—while continuing to drive the market rather than simply follow it.
Of course, I want Zaron to continue growing across Africa and into new territories. I want us to remain one of the leading beauty brands in Africa and continue expanding our reach.
But beyond growth, one of my biggest goals is for Zaron to outlive me.
I want to build something that is bigger than any individual—something that can continue to grow, evolve and impact lives for generations to come.
Ultimately, I would like Zaron to be remembered as a brand that proved that an African business can be built to last.
A brand that understood its consumer.
A brand that created quality products.
A brand that remained innovative and resilient.
A brand that gave back.
And, most importantly, a brand that started in Africa but was built for the world.
That is what I hope the next 15 years will take us closer to.
