When Ore Runsewe first relocated from the UK to Nigeria in 2014, she didn’t imagine launching a beauty empire. She simply missed her skincare products—access to them was scarce and prohibitively expensive locally.
Hers is a classic entrepreneurial origin story, rooted in unmet personal needs and nurtured by creativity and grit.
Drawing on her background in public relations and digital marketing, she began mixing shea butter, black soap, coconut oil—simple, natural ingredients she found in Nigeria—at her bedroom table.
Her creations worked wonders for her eczema-prone skin. Soon, friends and colleagues were asking for more.
In late 2016, Arami Essentials was born.
Starting lean was Ore’s strategy. While holding a full-time job, she reinvested every bit of growth into her fledgling brand. That meant making products at home, packaging in her bedroom, and even operating from a small room in her compound. It wasn’t until 2021 that Arami opened its first factory at Nigeria Foundries in Lagos—a milestone that transformed Ore from hobbyist into beauty manufacturer.
But Ore’s vision extended far beyond creams and oils; it was about crafting a brand with values.
The name Arami, which means “my body” in Yoruba, reflects her philosophy: treat your body with reverence. Inspired by the biblical sentiment “Your body is a temple,” Ore built a brand grounded in holistic self-care—skin, mind, and spirit.
Customer care became part of the brand’s DNA. Arami packages include promise cards—with messages like “Everything will be beautiful in its own time”—to humanize every experience and remind customers they’re part of something bigger than transactions.
Ore’s growth strategy also embraced the digital economy from day one. She leveraged Instagram as her launchpad—building her brand digitally before expanding to other channels and launching a website.
Transparency, storytelling, and engagement helped Arami grow organically and authentically.
Her journey has not gone unnoticed. She’s become a shining example of African entrepreneurship in action—navigating product development, brand-building, and manufac-turing from scratch.
Arami Essentials is now recognized as one of Nigeria’s leading home-grown beauty brands.
What distinguishes Ore Runsewe is her alignment of purpose with performance.
Her brand doesn’t just cater to beauty needs—it reclaims African ingredients, establishes local manufacturing, and advances emotional connection in the age of e-commerce.
Arami is not just a business; it’s a platform for positioning Africa firmly on the global beauty map, all while honoring heritage and customer intimacy.
From a bedroom table to a factory floor, Ore Runsewe’s journey is one of resilient bootstrapping, brand empathy, and quietly forging a new standard for African beauty.
Her narrative reveals what it means to build upward: it starts with your own needs, leans on your own resourcefulness, and reaches people through integrity. And in that space—between entrepreneur and artisan—true leadership is born.
