The Kenyan skincare market is attracting more entrants as companies look to sell different products, from pimple patches to cleansers, serums, toners and charcoal sponges to meet consumers’ growing needs.
One of the latest players in the market is Uncover Skincare, founded in 2020 by the trio of Sneha Mehta, Catherine Lee and Jade Oyateru. The three are from different backgrounds, each bringing unique skills to the table.
Their exciting entrepreneurial journey started during the pandemic when Catherine, a Korean living in Kenya, inspired her team to use global best technology and innovations from her home country to create skincare formulas suitable for the Kenyan market.
Catherine, though, has no background in beauty. The graduate from Yale and Harvard universities is an economist and filmmaker and has worked with women groups in 19 countries.
Traumatic experience
Sneha’s work spans a decade of scaling businesses across Africa with firms such as Grassroots Business Fund, Helios, McKinsey and the World Bank. For the graduate of the London School of Economics, the inspiration came from a traumatic experience with a Nairobi dermatologist.
She had visited the skin expert for an acne problem, only to leave with burns all over her face. Her drive? To ensure no woman ever goes through the same ordeal, she says.
The third cog in Uncover’s gear is Jade, a nutritionist and consumer goods expert with experience working at Unilever/Nestle and Jumia.
A graduate of UK’s Imperial College London, Jade obsesses over holistic self-care touching on the skin and says her mission is to help women understand the value of nutrition and gut health in overall skincare health.
Brand partner Patricia Kihoro is a singer, actress and one of Kenya’s leading beauty influencers who empowers women on mental health issues. She holds a Psychology degree from Moi University.
Says Sneha: “We founded Uncover to encourage women to uncover who they want to be, to proudly show their beauty to the world. There is confidence that comes with knowing that you are taking care of the largest organ in your body: your skin.’’
