Her passions are now the core feature of her beauty empire.
Linda Gieskes-Mwamba created her brand to cater for those with similar hair texture to hers because most hair brands didn’t offer that. Now, with almost 10 years in the beauty industry, there is no stopping her.
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the businesswoman built her brand, Suki Suki Naturals, a hair care and skincare range that prides itself in celebrating the underutilised.
Linda says, “Suki means hair and the name came very naturally to me because I would casually and colloquially refer to my hair as my Suki and when I decided to launch a beauty brand, I felt like Suki Suki was quite melodic and fun to say and light. Then, upon more research, I discovered that it had actually quite positive meanings in other languages. Suki means ‘hair’, in Hindi it means ‘happiness’ and in Japanese it means ‘to be fond of’.”
Linda established her brand in 2014. While she had obtained a law qualification, she had a deeply rooted love for beauty, which shifted her to that space.
“So, I started the brand in 2014 to address a personal need. I'm a lawyer, I have a legal background and I never intended to start a beauty brand, in all honesty. I've always loved beauty. My passion for it started very young, at five years old. I loved creams and spending time in bathrooms when all my relatives were outside playing in the garden. I was in my mother's bathroom, trying on creams, perfume and makeup. So, that was my version of having fun.”
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“I think it just developed as I got older. I'm very much a care person. I love to care for myself and for people around me and I do put an accent in products that care, through ingredients and the use of the products as opposed to products that kind of temporarily make you look good. We're very much into cultivating care so that your hair is flourishing, your skin is glowing but really from the inside out.”
Wanting to put efforts into her brand, Linda stopped practicing in 2017. In the same year she launched a skincare range, adding to her hair range. Taking pride in her work, she says, “I created a brand, I didn't create just a product and I created a good brand. I believe it has a good reputation [and] that's super important”.
“I stopped practicing in 2017, and that was three plus years into Suki Suki. I was doing both [law and brand]. At the time, it was hair care; so, we started with hair care [then] I stopped in 2017 [doing law] because I wanted to pursue it full-time. I felt like it really needed my full attention. And being very much a fan of fully giving the things in your life attention so that they flourish the way they need to.
Although, she created a trailblazing brand, she says there were challenges.
“Cash is always a challenge for small businesses. You need to know what to prioritise and building a team is always challenging.”
The ingredients she uses in her products hold a dear meaning, the business owner says, although she’s not a cosmetologist.
“I always say I'm a lawyer and I'm not a cosmetologist or anything, but I have a strong intuition in the things that I believe I need. And when we started the brand, I started with three products - miraculous oil, the mango butter and the hair mist.
“And the story behind that product, the first version of the miraculous oil was back in 2010 when I went natural. I was looking to grow my hair. So, the focus was just hair growth and hair health, and I played around a lot. I did a lot of research, and it took four years to finalise that formula,” she tells us.
With more to celebrate, Linda speaks about her 10th milestone as a brand and tells us that there’s more products that they are working on for 2024.
“I'm just excited to celebrate 10 years next year. I'm excited for that milestone, we are still a small business show but we're not a young business exactly and I’m excited to celebrate 10 years next year and being able to say that you launched a brand that is over 10 years old is an achievement.”
