Oluchi’s story
Oluchi took part in our Road to Growth programme from 2019-2020.

After the training, I was very clear on how to go about getting the funding I needed for my business.
Oluchi is the Founder of Muna and Luchi in Nigeria. She is one of the nearly 1,700 Nigerian women entrepreneurs to have participated in our Road to Growth programme, which from 2019-2020 supported her to access funding for her business, meaning it could keep growing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A year on, she reflects on her experiences…
My name is Oluchi Madubuike. In 2015 after having my daughter, I lost my mum, and that particular event triggered a whole new season of self-discovery for me. I wanted to do more and be a problem solver. That was how the dream of becoming an entrepreneur started.
I offer products and services that make natural haircare easy for caregivers and parents of children with African textured hair. My biggest inspiration is my daughter, whose hair I started caring for as soon as she was born. I started sharing my experience through blogging, and saw that people were interested in the way I took care of my daughter’s hair, and that there was a market for products which support natural haircare. In 2017 I took the plunge and registered Muna and Luchi as a business.
One of the major challenges I faced when I began my business was a lack of knowledge about how to operate it. I have never had formal business education training. I struggled with a lot of things.
What I think makes it generally harder for women to grow their businesses than for men is women’s lack of belief in ourselves and our potential, and also not being able to communicate our dreams and aspirations, so the people around us are able to support us.


Find out more about Road to Growth in Nigeria
Road to Growth is one of the Foundation’s three flagship programmes. It is highly scalable and adaptable. The Foundation is actively seeking funding partnerships to enable the programme to launch in, but not limited, to Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania and Mozambique, with each iteration carefully adapted for a local context. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss potential partnerships!

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