Brand Focus: Ebony & Indigo.

So "Buy Nigerian to grow the Naira" was one phrase that gained massive popularity last year, encouraging people to patronize and promote our local businesses and while we are still far away from the ideal situation, i think we can all agree that Nigerian/Nigeria-based companies are doing an admirable job of gradually building brands that offer a wide variety of goods and services that are of good quality and decent put together.

In fact, Nigerian consumers these days are getting more and more options for whatever goods or services they want, options that feature both international and local brands side-by-side.

Late last year, I was opportune to meet with one of such local businesses, Ebony & Indigo.
My first contact with them was at the 2016 GT Bank Fashion Weekend and i later went on to visit their Lekki, Lagos offices, saw their range of products and had a small chat with the owner and founder of the brand Ms. Nicki.

Ebony & Indigo is a Nigeria-based brand in the business of manufacturing and selling natural and organic personal, skin care and home care products, ranging from soaps, creams/lotions, balms, bath tools, towels, stationery, etc., for everyone; women, men and even babies.

My session with Ms. Nicki covered a summary of her career journey, how she started the Ebony & Indigo brand, challenges in running the business in Nigeria so far and her hopes for the business.

Some key takeaway from the chat includes:

• Ms. Nicki- A legal practitioner for over two decades in the UK, started the Ebony & Indigo brand in March of 2015, first with skin care, and then later grew to include the other categories she carries now.
•  Natural versus organic. I learnt that the two terms are not the same. Natural products contain non-artificial ingredients that have been grown in a mixture of natural conditions and artificial chemicals, often enhanced with synthetic fertilizers, coloring, flavors and fragrances, etc. while Organic means products made from purely earth-grown, non-artificial ingredients that have been grown under strictly natural conditions and containing NO artificial or synthetic flavors, fertilizers, fragrances or parabens. Ebony & Indigo carries products under both categories, including the very popular and my personal fave; the Sweet Mint Lip Balm that i featured in my last skincare post and on my Instagram @skynotfancy .
• Her hope and plan is for Ebony & Indigo to be the go-to source for natural and organic personal, beauty and home care products in the nearest future.

It was a great experience for me as I got a closer look at how challenging building brands can be, especially in our market here. I came away with more knowledge about the Ebony & Indigo brand, as well as a higher respect and appreciation for our local business owners.

You can see more of and shop for all Ebony & Indigo products via their e-commerce site  www.ebonyandindigo.com and there is A LOT to see and love, so check them out.
They can also be reached on Instagram and Twitter @ebonyandindigo .

If you own a brand or know any brands that we can meet and showcase, feel free to contact me at skynotfancy@gmail.com, I would love to hear and tell your brand story.

P.S: This is NOT a sponsored post.

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