How 40 years of hustle, integrity built my brand — Kudi Fashola, Kuddy Cosmetics Founder
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More than 40 years ago, before the Kuddy brand became a household name; its founder was a young UniPetrol employee who spent her weekends flying to New York. During the week, she held a steady job in Lagos; on Fridays, she boarded a night flight to the United States, returning to Nigeria by Sunday morning.
She speaks with Ebunoluwa Sessou on her earliest lessons in trade which came from the biggest patent medicine outlet in Balogun Market, owned by her mother.
From her small beauty shop located on Lagos Island in 1986, Fashola has more than 20 shops in Lagos, and other places even outside the country. She ventured into business at the age of nine.
Kudi started helping her mother as a young girl. That was where she learned to talk to customers and understand supply and demand.
The store also connected her to neighbours who were already in the cosmetics trade. One day, a trader approached her to help bring Fashion Fair powder from the U.S. She agreed. She bought the powder for nine dollars, sold it for nine naira, and made her profit from the pencils and lipsticks that came with the order. That simple favour became her first step into beauty retail. Her pregnancy at the time did not slow her down.
“By the time I was expecting my first child, I had already built a small but loyal clientele. Madam Bicu, a veteran trader on the same street, noticed my boldness and invited me to add cosmetics to her mother’s drug store. With handwritten lists from customers and Dunlop slippers on my feet, I would run between shops, buying and reselling at a small markup.
“I remember I would tick off items on people’s lists, run to Madam Bicu’s store, buy them, add my profit and sell.
“I continued juggling UniPetrol, weekend flights and cosmetics through the births of my first two children. But by my third pregnancy, I decided to resign and focus fully on business.”
At first, she switched to children’s clothing, travelling to Italy and the U.K. for underwears, shoes and even toast-bread machines, then a novelty in Lagos homes, but heavy goods ate into her profits so she stopped and returned to what she knew best, beauty products.
“My big break came through a tip about traders bringing car radios from New York. Curious, I asked a contact, Sabah, what Nigerians really came to buy. ‘Relaxers’, he replied. I had $2,000 saved. ‘People do not even come here with that much money,”’ Sabah told me.
“I gave him $1,500 to supply super relaxers, negotiated with an airport bus driver for transport, and enlisted the help of airline staff to move 16 luggages without stress. Each time I returned to Nigeria, customers were already waiting. People thought I had no money because I travelled light with two bags. They didn’t know my goods had already been shipped.
“With that same $2,000, I built a steady cycle buying, shipping, selling and reinvesting. I was making money without stress. My capital stayed the same; my profit went into the bank.”
Initially, Fashola sourced a popular international brand for a friend, Elvis Amadi, until the company itself called her. Their Nigerian distributor had disappeared, and NAFDAC was looking for her. The international brand agreed to supply her exclusively.
“During a visit to their warehouse, I noticed thousands of high-quality moisturizing soaps gathering dust. I bought them, rebranded them as Kuddy Moisturizing Bar Soap, and used them as souvenirs at a family friend’s turbaning ceremony. The response was overwhelming. That was the birth of the Kuddy brand.
“From there, I expanded into full skincare and make-up lines, including eye shadows produced under my name. I registered the trademark on the advice of a Ghanaian entrepreneur who admired my marketing skills. He told me I was sitting on gold”.
Soon, truckloads of cosmetics were moving under her label, with customers often choosing her products even when identical to other brands from the same factory, not knowing it is the same content under a different name.
“My success was not only about quick thinking. I cultivated deep relationships with suppliers. Most major cosmetics in Nigeria today, I introduced them and make sure my suppliers are my good friends. I do not just make friends; I make very good friends.
“I also refused to tie myself to a single manufacturer. When Black Opal’s founder, Nikos, tried to make me exclusive, I politely declined. If I had stayed content with just Black Opal and the founder died, my business would have died too. By the time Nikos passed away, I was already working with manufacturers in Chicago and California.”
With growth came challenges. Counterfeits in South Africa, Ghana and even the U.S.; global downturns in spending and a flood of new personal brands after COVID-19. “Everybody now wants to have their own brand, Vivian Powder, Tessy Powder,”
Through all this, she never compromised on quality according to her, and has now involved her children including a foundation.
“I credit my success to faith and constant innovation. Do not sit back and say, ‘I have arrived.’ If you are too relaxed, when an opportunity comes, you will miss it.
“Looking back, I see each turn – the Fashion Fair powder, the relaxers, the moisturising soap as divine stepping stones. What keeps me going is God’s hand.
“I still see myself as a bridge between international manufacturers and Nigerian consumers, building trust in a market awash with counterfeits. My approach remains the same as it was 40 years ago in my mother’s shop, know your customers, honour your word, and keep moving.
“For aspiring entrepreneurs, my story is both a caution and an inspiration. I emphasize on three principles. Be alert and sensitive to information, never depend on one source, and protect your name. My name opens doors; my integrity keeps them open.
“And though the market is now crowded with competitors and counterfeiters, people will come from everywhere and ask where to buy your product,” she says with quiet confidence.
“That is my story.”
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