Ashly Pinjos, 24, founded Queens Beauty Empire (QBE) in 2019 while she was at USIU-Africa pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism. It was a way of generating income for financial freedom.
She started by selling human hair wigs and weaves to fellow students. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the business suffered when she could not afford to import products from Asia due to the travel disruptions that interrupted the world economy, leaving businesses struggling.
It was during the Covid hiccups that she had a new idea and started QBE Skincare, but the entrepreneur quickly realised that the cost of importing synthetic materials was punishing and unfriendly to her start-up. This scenario inspired her to formulate and manufacture own skincare products, ensuring they were affordable, easy-to-use, and amplifying beauty.
“I researched how to formulate products using materials sourced from Africa, including shea which is a natural butter that has been used for years in Western and East Africa. Most international products use shea from Ghana or Uganda, which is exported back and sold at higher prices,” she says.
Ashly enrolled for local and international formulation classes to get products that not only help those who suffer from skin conditions like acne but also maintain healthy skin. She spent Sh20,000 on formulation classes and another Sh11,000 for Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) certification.
“I tried formulating through YouTube tutorials and established formulators. I started formulating from home and I still do from my parent’s store. After a few months, I took my products for inspection and testing,” says the entrepreneur.
Certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards, Ashly initially sold to family and friends.
QBE Skincare was founded to cater to a niche, especially those with skin conditions like acne, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, and many more conditions.
“With a starting capital of Sh15,000 from my savings as a designer thanks to Greensteds Schools where I took a media course during my A-levels and enhanced my designing skills, I used the money to buy ingredients and machinery like the weighing scale and a hand stick blender and packaging containers,” she says.
Ashly started by making products on demand, but her business has grown its footprint across the beauty segment, hitting a portfolio of seven products that include raw shea body butter for Sh600, goat milk lotion for Sh1,300, toner for Sh650, serums for Sh1,300, masks for Sh550, and bar soaps for Sh420.
“Goat milk products have been the most selling products; the goat milk body lotion and goat milk bar soap. Soon, I will be making vitamin C serum using goat milk. The reason is that goat milk contains properties that are beneficial to the skin since the milk contains properties that kill bacteria causing acne.”
“All our products have special ingredients. Like our vitamin C serum is formulated with magnesium ascorbic phosphate, the bar soaps are handmade and contain goat milk. With QBE I have high quality products at affordable prices for everyone,” she says.
As QBE grows across the personal care segment, Ashly says she hopes to have a recognisable presence on the globally growing natural product market, which she says is a “bright spot”.
Beauty products that Ashly Pinjos manufactures.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
“I believe the products have been accepted quite well because of the positive feedback I am receiving from clients who have purchased our products and soon you are going to see our products on the shelves of more supermarkets and beauty stores,” she says.
When she started QBE Skincare, Ashly was keen on people accepting themselves as they are. ‘’The myth of being considered beautiful in society by lightening their skin tone has been a big challenge with people feeling less accepted due to their skin colour,” she says. However, she wanted to “change the narrative and make people know that one can use the high-end products that will not change the skin complexion but will still give them that healthy and glowing skin”.
Ashly says being trusted is a challenge in her entrepreneurial journey, saying “our people trust international products more than they trust locally formulated products”. In all this, she reports cases of people turning to her for help to restore their natural skin due to using international products “that have been illegally sourced into the market.’’
Starting a business is a challenge, she offers, but asks people running start-ups to keep going. “I would like to tell you not to give up; keep pushing, and most importantly, trust your process, and learn from it and trust God.”
On white-collar jobs, she challenges graduates to learn new skills online or through short courses, especially in areas where technology is revolutionising.
