About
THE GENESIS
Bothered by how the African woman was fast losing her essence owing to the misleading image that she is continually sold in the media; the image that lighter skin and bone-straight hair is the standard of beauty, our Founder, Grace Ussenge, set out on a mission to demystify this myth by inspiring the African woman to be confident in her kinky hair and dark complexion; to be Black Out Loud and realize that she is her own standard of beauty! The best way she deemed fit to achieve this was by creating skin and hair care products that make it easier and enjoyable for the African woman to nurture her beauty. This ambitious mission led to the birth of Ayanna Handmade in 2018.
WHY THE NAME ‘AYANNA’
‘Ayanna’ is an Ethiopian name meaning ‘beautiful flower’, just like the purple Dahlia flower on our logo, which represents the beauty and essence of the African woman. The Dahlia flower expresses sentiments of elegance, dignity and inner strength. We chose purple as our main brand color because just like the Dahlia flower, Purple represents confidence, elegance, and dignity. Also, grandeur, wealth, luxury, happiness and royalty – exactly how we aspire that you feel while consuming our exquisite products.
OUR INTENTION
We want to inspire confidence in every African woman to be Black Out Loud. We strive to make our products so good that they inspire confidence and happiness just by consuming them. Then your confidence and happiness inspires another’s and the whole world spirals into the same.
OUR PRODUCTS
We provide superior quality, nutrient-dense, ethically sourced, and responsibly hand-crafted, natural skin and hair care products. Our products are naturally sourced and primarily organic, making them safe for children and infants. We scent exclusively with essential oils and tint with natural pigments. This exceptional integrity gives you remarkably positive outcomes.
OUR CUSTOMERS
Our customers are seeking gratifying, nutrient-dense, and high-quality natural personal care products. Our customers have come to the awareness that they are unequivocally beautiful and therefore derive much pleasure from nurturing and preserving their beauty with our products.
OUR TEAM
The Ayanna Handmade family is made up of happy, diligent, amiable, and creative individuals who are driven by love, passion, and purpose. We believe in what we do and take pride in positively impacting and enriching lives.
OUR COMMUNITY
By locally sourcing our ingredients, we support Africa’s economy. In addition, Ayanna Handmade avidly supports local social enterprises that create positive social and global change either through our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects or by donating part of our profits to them.
OUR WORLD
We conduct our business with a passionate responsibility to environmental sustainability and social change: we encourage our customers to Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose or Return the packaging so as to help reduce waste and pollution for a healthy environment.
Through our program dubbed, “Eco Offer” we allow our customers to return their empty packaging for discounted purchases thus reducing waste.
We are also keen on sourcing for ingredients grown through sustainable methods.
AWARDS
Diaspora Excellence Award Winner 2023
READ MORENOMINATIONS
- 40 Under 40 Africa Awards 2024
- 50 Under 50 Female Founders Middle East and Africa 2024
- African Excellence Awards 2024