Yaw Okyere was working at an energy drink start-up when he met his now wife, Esther, and noticed that she always wore long-sleeve shirts or kept her jacket on during their dates.
“Later she explained that it was because of hyperpigmentation marks on her arm that made her feel insecure,” he says. “She wanted some natural products that wouldn’t bleach her skin, and I started to think, ‘what can I do to help?’”
At the time, Okyere, who is 31 and studied chemical engineering at Warwick University, was spending his working day focusing on formulations for low-sugar energy drinks.
“So I used our labs to look into beauty formulations, aiming to create something for her.” That was in 2016, and Okyere’s success since then with Ava Estell, the natural skincare line named after his daughter which he launched in 2020, now spans 14 products, including “magix cream”, body scrub and body wash designed to tackle skin conditions such as hyperpigmentation, stretch marks, and dark spots.They have brought in revenues of £10 million over the past three years.
Okyere thinks the business took off because, he says, “I had ‘melanin in mind’ right from the onset — not an afterthought. I use natural ingredients that our community know and trust, and are research-backed so that we produce products that actually work.”
In the early days, Okyere started with some pots and ingredients on a spare lab table at his office.
“I spent a lot of time understanding active ingredients, and read research papers to understand what had been proven to work. Then it was a matter of formulating those ingredients to make a stable product, which I sent to Oxford Biosciences to check on safety grounds and regulations.”
He put in £5,000 to create his first batches — and when Esther tested them and found they worked, Okyere raised £120,000 from friends and family.
“I just pitched and pitched them and convinced them they needed to back me,” he grins.
Ava Estell has been self-funded ever since, but Okyere is in the process of raising £3.25 million from VCs to expand into retail across the UK and US.
When his first hyperpigmentation product went on sale on Ava Estell’s website in October 2020, Okyere viewed it as a fun side project.
“But it went mad,” he says.
Sales hit £10,000 in the first fortnight — “it was very unexpected, my Covid project to keep me occupied was really popular, so then I threw everything into it.” He quit his job a month later. “Being able to show the customer the results really helps to build trust,” Okyere says.
“From mothers who rave about our Magix cream helping their children who suffer from eczema and psoriasis, to people sharing testimonies of how they have gained their confidence back because they no longer have to hide their scars, blemishes, and spots with clothes.”
Production has been in-house since the start: initially in a 500 sq ft site in Sutton in 2020, “and since then we’ve moved five times because I’ve only wanted to get a tiny amount more space each time.”
But as sales soared — social media marketing, paid ads, word of mouth and affiliate marketing have driven turnover to approach £8 million this year — Ava Estell has expanded into a 10,000 sq ft unit in Ashford, Kent.
Okyere believes he was “born to do this,” adding, “when I was 16, I was introduced to the concept of entrepreneurship by my older cousin. He used to import goods from China and offered to loan me a few electronics to sell as I was so curious.To my surprise, the goods I was buying from him for £40 would sell for £100 or £120. This opened my eyes to so many opportunities and endless business possibilities.”
Now Okyere is honing expansion plans: “There are a lot more concerns that affect people of colour that they do not have a direct solution for, and we want Ava Estell to be that for them.”
Currently, 65 per cent of sales come from the US, with products made in the UK shipped out.
“We want to scale even further into Europe, Canada and certain parts of Africa and Asia,” Okyere adds.
“For me, the best part of this is seeing how much our products mean to the community and seeing how much it is helping people. Seeing customer feedback and reviews really fuels me and makes it worthwhile.”
