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Beauty West Africa, the continent’s largest and most popular trade show for the beauty, cosmetics and hair industry, opened on Tuesday, November 26, for its seventh consecutive year.
The event showcased more than 300 exhibitors from around the world, as well as a free-to-attend conference, seminars, demonstrations and hundreds of product launches! 2024 saw record visitor numbers for this three-day event held at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Large exhibitor delegations meant that there were country pavilions for China, Turkey, Pakistan, Korea, Egypt, and Malaysia, in addition to a strong presence from India, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, among others. There was also a spotlight on Nigeria and West Africa’s own beauty SMEs.
The conference was full of key beauty industry experts, including a keynote speech from Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke, the Director General of Standards Organisation Of Nigeria (SON), who highlighted the importance of standards and public-private collaboration in Nigeria’s beauty industry.
It also saw the announcement of official inauguration of the new Beauty West Africa ‘Leaders Club’.
Official conference partners, Beauty In Lagos, were there as the founder, Ezinne Alfa, harped on the importance of the event
“Shows like this one are very important to our (Beauty) industry because it is a once-in-a-year opportunity for stakeholders in the industry to gather and share ideas, engagements and fully Interact with one another and you know this doesn’t happen every time,” she said.
“Beauty stakeholders are always engaged because they own salons, they own beauty shops and all that and such always takes a lot of their time, so an event line this is so important because it doesn’t happen often.
“What we want to happen today is for attendees to learn the best ways of going about their beauty businesses because we have a lot that would go on like workshops and panel discussions by the experts. We have experts in all beauty areas like experts in Cosmetics Science and all that. So this conference is apt and it is for everybody — enthusiasts, professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs. Everyone is welcomed her,* she said.
Ezinne regretted the lack of standards in the beauty industry, calling for stakeholders to address the situation while saying a legal framework on this is also good
“There is a lack of standards in the industry and I feel that NAFDAC and other agencies that should protect the consumers, should get to work on this.
“What we want is to start that process of creating and establishing standards for this. This requires a legal framework but it mostly involves the stakeholders in the industry offering their own feedback on the best approach to achieve that.
“We are more or less responsible for developing that standard that we want to see with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria and the beauty stakeholders,” she said.
Meanwhile, some of the exhibitors shared their experiences at the event and noted that Beauty West Africa remained a veritable platform for them to showcase their products.
Vivian Obiano, the Marketing Manager of Lush Hair, said her company is pleased to be part of teg engagement, noting that it was the right platform for them.
“This event is the right platform for us to showcase what we do and what we stand for, as well as where we are going,” she said.
“Our brand is already established and known but given that a lot of exhibitors and visitors from both African and beyond are here, it is the right platform for what we do.
“We are presently in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Mozambique and we are not relenting in making our presence known widely.
“Beauty is the essence of a woman and we want to restore confidence in African women and beauty, and Beauty West Africa is the right platform.
“We are looking out for partners and distributors who will further identify with our products,” she said.
Cem Uysal of World Expo from Turkey said they were at the event to monitor their country’s Platform for the Turkish Government, while exploring areas of business collaborations with Niegrian companies
“We have nineteen Turkish booths here and we are overseeing Turkish platforms. We are here to check their requirements, their needs and where we can come in.
“This is a great opportunity for our exhibitors and while we have 19 companies here, we plan to have up to forty companies next year,” he said.
He said they were also in Nigeria to explore business opportunities with investors from the country and praised the business atmosphere in Nigeria.
On his own, Rahmy Ahmed, Sales Manager of Expo Consultant of Egypt said they were at the event for the first time, praising the organisers and sayibg with Niegria’s huge economy, some of conpanies from Egypt at the exhibition were planning to establish presence in Nigeria.
“This is the first time we are here for the exhibition but I can tell you it is the right place and it is fantastic.
“We are planning to be here every other time. We consult for a lot of companies in Egypt which are into beauty care products.
“Our plan is to be here every year and so many of the companies want to establish factories in Nigeria because Nigerian is a big market in Africa with a huge population.
“Nigerian economy is the best in Africa and that is why we are here,” he said.
Saheed Rahmon from WAHL, a company which specialises in clippers and other hair cutting appliances, said Beauty West Africa Exhibition provided an opportunity for the over a century old company to analyse trends and evolving technology in the industry.
Rahmon, the company’s Sales Manager, said: “We got more contacts at the Beauty West Africa Exhibition. Besides, we signed agreements with distributors, analysed trends in the industry and offered training programmes for barbers.”
