Oluchi Madubuike: “How I Converted My Passion into a Business – #Munaandluchi”

Anwulika Ngene

Oluchi Madubuike is a geoscientist turned child hair care advocate who has successfully converted her 20-month old daughter’s hair care routine into a business in just one year. What started out as just sharing tips on an Instagram page is now the go to place for thousands of African mothers with young children.

Muna and Luchi Care Services, coined from both mother and daughter’s names – Munachimso and Oluchi, focuses on helping young mothers care for their child’s natural hair including celebrity mothers like Anita and Ifeoma Okoye of P-Square.

When I arrive at Oluchi’s home for this interview, her tripod is set with a phone sitting in place of a camera. She probably notices the question in my eyes because she explains “I am doing live video sessions on a series – 10 child hair care tips. Today is the third day and I am about to start today’s live video”. I am curious to see whether people would turn up for this live video at noon on a week-day; they do and the session lasts for about 30 minutes. I can tell Oluchi has a relationship with her followers from the personal questions she asks, it is probably what has helped her business grow so fast alongside.

Even though Oluchi has always been a natural with hair care, she spent plenty of time researching on child haircare when she became pregnant. She explains, “I did a lot of research while I was pregnant about how to care for a child’s hair. So, when she was born I knew exactly what I wanted to do with her hair; I wasn’t confused, I knew I didn’t want to wash her hair every day, I knew I would use coconut oil, I knew everything.

“When I was doing my research, I didn’t see a lot of resources on how to care for your child’s hair so I knew this was a problem that I could contribute to solving; so I said if I get it right, I would start sharing the tips. By the time Muna was 10 months, I saw results and I felt it was time to start sharing what I knew to other mothers and I opened our Instagram page. I started sharing all about my daughter and that was what attracted a lot of people to our page, MunaandLuchi.”

The Mumpreneuer who finds responses from her audience fulfilling reveals how her daughter’s hair evolved into a business.

“When we started the Instagram page I didn’t think I was going to build a business from it. So while giving tips, people would raise concerns. For example, I used to tell mothers to put a scarf at the back of their child’s hair but some people would ask, “how do I do this, the scarf always slips off ”, “my baby will suffocate”. I had to start thinking of how to create something that could solve this problem so I did some research and I found out about the satin head rest. We started brainstorming on how we can create products that could fit into the three main things where children place their heads – car seat, crib and bouncer and we came up with standard designs that would fit standard sized crib, bouncer and car seat and that was how our satin head-rests were born. Then someone suggested, “why don’t we have ‘mummy and me’ bonnets?” and that’s how the ‘Mummy and me bonnets’ were born,” she tells me.

The enterprising mum who has also authored a book on hair care for babies is also a photographer, a skill she says it was necessary to acquire as a blogger. Oluchi’s tells us that her business is inspired by her daughter, Muna.

Oluchi revealed she had to pay a little price to take her business to the next level by registering for an online course on how to build a business and monetize social media following and says she will not stop educating herself as her business grows.

Highlighting the challenges she constantly deals with, the multitasking mum says, “It’s not easy being a solopreneur. You are the admin staff, the photographer, hairstylist, social media manager, editor, writer, I’m telling you, it’s crazy. I’m the one who does everything. This year, I got an assistant and even with an assistant, I still feel like I need a whole team of professionals working for me. I feel that if I had more people, I would be able to achieve more but it is a challenge that will be overcome over time. Money is also a challenge, if I got more money today, I would do more but I’m the use-what-you-have-to-get-what-you-want kind of person. I feel that everything I have now is what I need.
Sharing on where she sees her business in future, Oluchi says, “I want to educate people on what to do and how to do it. Products are developed but the people they are making them for don’t even know what to use and how. My desire for the future is to be one who bridges the gap between the consumer and producer. In the next 5 years, I want to build an educational platform for my hair care business. Apart from hair care, I also want to translate hair care and beauty to a heart based thing because hair plays a huge role in a woman’s self-esteem. I’m trying to build self-esteem for little girls and women.

“Any advice for intending Mumpreneurs?” I ask. She says, “Don’t take for granted that thing that comes naturally to you and that thing that people always come to ask you about– “hey, how do you make that your okro soup?” There’s something there. Then choose one social media platform you are comfortable with and push out every information you have about that thing and just give yourself 6 months and it would attract the customers you need.”