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Mumbi Dunjwa, Founder & CEO, Naturaz Hair Care
Article written by A. Shila Waritu
Philadelphia, PA – A Kenyan woman who immigrated to the United States in the early 1990s has built a successful natural hair care business in the U.S. and she is now expanding that business to her country of birth, Kenya, East Africa.
Mumbi Dunjwa is Founder and CEO of Naturaz Hair Care (www.naturaz.com), a company she started over five years ago in Philadelphia. She holds a Bachelors degree in chemistry and nuclear medicine technology and she earned a Master of Information Systems Management degree from the world renowned Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon University. She has more than a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry supporting research and development and her tenure at the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world taught her invaluable insights about international business.
She developed and refined her business plan for Naturaz Hair Care over a decade ago, while in graduate school at Carnegie Mellon. “I saw a fundamental need and gap in the cosmetics industry that was not being fulfilled for black women across the globe. Every queen has a crown and I was determined to make sure that our crowns are well nurtured, nourished, celebrated and illuminated to share their brilliance with the world.”
Mumbi formulated the natural hair care line of products with a brand promise of “superior natural ingredients, no sulfates, no parabens, no drying alcohols and no fillers.” To realize her vision, she built a strong team of professionals from all over the world including the United States, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, United Kingdom, Argentina and India, to name a few. She then launched and commercialized the product in the United States. When it was time to expand her business beyond the U.S., her first choice was Kenya.
Naturaz Hair Care is opening its first store in Kenya on Saturday, 31st of January 2015, at Uchumi, Langata Hypermarket. “There is a hunger for high quality natural products that Kenyan women are increasingly demanding from their product manufacturers and hair stylists. The modern Kenyan woman wants to look great while insisting on the long term health of her body. Our brand is the perfect fit for achieving this ideal” said Mumbi Dunjwa.
Naturaz Hair Care products are manufactured to the highest standards in an FDA registered facility in the United States. The products are KEBS certified in Kenya and widely distributed throughout the United States. “We are pleased to bring such a phenomenal brand to Kenya and we are confident that our customers will love the products and the results they achieve” said Mrs. Nellie Mathu, Managing Director at Nelma Marketing, the strategic partner of Naturaz Hair Care in Kenya and the licensed operator of the Naturaz Hair Care store at Uchumi.
Kenyans have already embraced the Naturaz brand on social media, even before its official landing in the country (http://on.fb.me/15IWi4M). The company also has future plans to bring manufacturing to Kenya to service the East African market.
Mumbi was born and raised in Kenya. She attended Loreto Limuru Girls High School where she was a Deputy Head Girl. Her father is the late Professor Raphael Njoroge who was the first African headmaster of Mangu High School. He was also a Professor, Dean of Educational Foundations and Dean of Students at Kenyatta University in the 1980s and early 90s.
For Mumbi, bringing the Naturaz Hair Care brand to Kenya is a deliberate and important homecoming. “Kenya’s place on the world map is rapidly rising with all the development that Kenya has experienced in recent years. Kenya has a growing middle class that is supported by massive improvements in physical infrastructure. The bar is being raised on a daily basis and we are proud to be raising the bar within our industry and meeting consumer satisfaction in the country” said Naturaz Hair Care Founder & CEO, Mumbi Dunjwa.
For more information about Naturaz Hair Care and Mumbi’s journey, visit www.naturaz.com. For information about Naturaz in Kenya, contact Mrs. Nellie Mathu on +254 732 333 623 or customerservice@naturaz.co.ke.
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Article written by A. Shila Waritu
