Sometimes, being a COO feels like a huge game. You set profitability tarobtains, and you’re just so focutilized on attempting to hit those tarobtains. But sometimes I pautilize and just consider – wow. My co-founder and I have actually done this. And it’s huge.
Jade is speaking about her experience creating and leading Uncover Skincare, a beauty brand and highly successful start-up. “At the time, I consider we were the only beauty brand on the continent with venture capital funding,” she declares. “Investors were so focutilized on tech.”
Founded in 2021 via the Antler accelerator, Uncover was built to solve a problem. Women with melanin-rich skin create up the majority of the world, but global beauty doesn’t cater for them. Gaps in research, product design and representation have resulted in a landscape where consumers face limited choices, ineffective solutions and, in some cases, unsafe products. Uncover is modifying that.
In just four years, the company has generated multi-million-dollar revenues, built a strong social media following, and secured distribution across hundreds of retail locations across Africa and the Caribbean. Products include an invisible sunscreen developed specifically for darker skin tones, as well as serums with a loyal fan base. Products include a no-white-cast, glow-finish sunscreen developed for melanin-rich skin, as well as serums designed with climate-appropriate packaging to protect active ingredients and ensure efficacy in humid environments.
So how did Uncover develop? Did the idea come first, or did Jade always want to start her own company?
“Actually,” she smiles, “when I was really young, I wanted to be a supermodel. So there was definitely some interest in beauty.” But an interest in science – specifically health – took over, and Jade, who grew up in Lagos, decided to study for a BSc in Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Surrey. On graduating, she took on roles in nutrition, sales and marketing at Nestle and Unilever, before relocating to Kenya. Here, as a senior brand manager, she felt she’d reached a career plateau, and necessaryed to learn more in order to progress.
“I was very excited about climbing the corporate ladder. But I knew I wanted to be a high commercial leader or CEO,” she declares. “And I knew that I necessaryed an MBA if I really wanted to reach that trajectory.”
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