Ghana in Focus: Business Opportunities in Ghana - Tapping Into the Lucrative Hair and Beauty Industry

Ghana's hair and beauty industry is a very lucrative market one can easily tap into.  Here are key segments of this industry that we recommend you get into.

The hair salon business stands as perhaps the most obvious entry point into Ghana's beauty economy. Ghanaian women are known for their commitment to looking good, regardless of economic status, with many visiting salons at least twice monthly. This creates two potential market segments: the regular market serving students, teachers, and government employees, and the premium market targeting affluent clients like MPs, business executives, and corporate managers. The latter segment is particularly profitable, with services like cane rows potentially commanding $30-50 per client. For skilled hairstylists capable of executing diverse styles from cane rows to twists, locks, and relaxed styles, the earning potential is substantial and immediate. This demand intensifies during Ghana's many celebrations including outdoorings, naming ceremonies, funerals, weddings, and festivals, when women are especially motivated to look their best.

The wigs and weaves sector presents another golden opportunity, though it requires navigating a market currently dominated by Asian merchants. Ghanaian women, particularly in professional sectors, have embraced wigs as part of their beauty routine, creating consistent demand for quality products. Brazilian, Amazonian, and other premium hair extensions command high prices, especially among the growing professional class working in banking, telecommunications, and multinational corporations. For entrepreneurs capable of importing quality products or even manufacturing their own hairpieces, this segment offers tremendous potential for rapid profit generation, particularly when targeting the expanding black middle class with substantial disposable income.

Skincare represents perhaps the most dynamic segment within Ghana's beauty industry. Two distinct niches exist: natural skin-lightening products (a controversial but undeniably large market) and organic, natural skincare. The latter category is experiencing particularly strong growth as Ghanaian women become increasingly conscious of the harmful chemicals in conventional products. Entrepreneurs creating organic formulations using indigenous ingredients like shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and neem oil are finding receptive audiences among both regular consumers and affluent clients seeking ethically-produced alternatives. 

The nail industry has emerged as another promising sector, mirroring trends seen in Western markets. Just as nail bars have proliferated across European and American cities, Ghana's urban areas are experiencing similar growth. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Ghana in Focus
• 2:45 Hair and Beauty Industry Overview
• 5:30 Hair Salon Opportunities
• 10:00 Wigs and Weaves Market
• 12:20 Skincare and Organic Products
• 15:14 Nail Bar Business Potential
• 18:40 Beauty Consultant Career Path

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

welcome to this week's edition of Ghana in focus. Myself Kwame, ghanaian writer, broadcaster, journalist, podcaster and entrepreneur. And in this week's edition of Ghana in focus, we're looking at business opportunities in Ghana. All right, so for the next three weeks, we'll be continuing our series that we started last year, looking at business opportunities in Ghana. All right, so before we get into the show, to make you aware that if you like what you hear, please share with your friends, family, social media networks.

Speaker 1: 0:46

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Speaker 1: 1:27

All right, so we're looking at business opportunities in Ghana, business and investment opportunities in Ghana. So you know, ghana has numerous, numerous opportunities out there, particularly for those of you who are business minded, all right. So in the next few episodes we're going to look at business opportunities. Investment opportunities will come later on the year, but for now, for the next three weeks, we'll be looking at business opportunities that exist in Ghana, all right. So for me, one of the biggest opportunities, uh, in Ghana for business is definitely the hair and beauty industry. So we're going to put it like that. So hair and beauty industry. So when the podcast evolves, you understand why I've called it a hair and business and beauty industry. So the hair and beauty industry is a massive, massive industry in Ghana and there's a lot of money to be made within elements of the hair and beauty industry in Ghana, which I'll go through as part of the podcast. So definitely, definitely. If you want to do business in Ghana, then look at hair and beauty industry in Ghana. So that is the umbrella hair and beauty industry in Ghana. So that is the umbrella Let me give you, you know, four areas which are definitely money spinners, you know, into starting a business in Ghana within their hair and beauty sector.

Speaker 1: 2:56

First of all, the hair salon. You know, ghanaian women, african women, like to look good, like to fix their hair. So whether they have their hair natural as an Afro, or whether they want cane rows, or whether they want, you know, locks, twists, or whether they want to relax their hair, you know if you open a salon in Ghana, that demand is there. So women always want to look good and you know they want to fix their hair at least twice a month and so you know they're. You know, over the last sort of 10 years there have been many, many hair salons that have sprung up all over the country. But we're talking specifically within Accra because obviously Accra is the capital and that's where a lot of money can be made. Because you're looking at within Accra, you're looking at different sectors of Accra, so you're looking about the on-market.

Speaker 1: 3:53

So if you open a on-market hair salon, that's for the world to do so the affluent people or the affluent women that can, you know, know afford. For example, if you're charging for a cane row, if you're charging 50 US dollars, you know, for that particular hair appointment or hairstyle for that one client, that wouldn't be, you know that would be a correct price range 50 US dollars or probably a bit less. Let's say about 30 US dollars, because times up by 16 Ghana cities yeah, 480 Ghana cities. Yeah, so 30 US dollars times up by 16, because 16 to a dollar more or less, so that's 480 Ghana cities. Yeah, that would be about right for me to, you know, charge a lady who wants a cane rose down.

Speaker 1: 4:50

So you know if you are very, very skilled in hair hair, you know, in doing women's hair. So you feel good at doing cane rose. You feel good at doing twists. You feel good at doing cane rows. You feel good at doing, uh, twists, you feel good at doing locks. You feel good at doing different styles of of cane row. You feel good at, you know, relaxing women's hair in different european styles, maybe the bob, the weave, that kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 5:19

Right, you will make a lot of money because, like I said, you've got the affluent market and then you've got the market which is a normal market. So basically, you can make a lot of money because, like I said, you've got the affluent market and then you've got the market which is a normal market. So basically, you can open a hair salon and attract your regular Ghanaian woman, who may be a market woman, she may be working in government office, she may be a regular, normal 20-something-year-old at university. She may be a teacher. Normal 20-something-year-old at university, she may be a teacher. What have you? That is the normal, your normal box-standard hair salon, that kind of carousel. So that's one market. The other is, like I said, the affluent market. So you could open an un-market hair salon which basically targets the affluent.

Speaker 1: 6:04

So I'm talking about MPs. I'm talking about, you know MPs. I'm talking about businessmen. Wives, I'm talking about, you know, women who have got their own businesses. I'm talking about, you know, women who are managers in corporate Ghana. Yeah, I'm talking about women who you know are captive industry. That's what I mean by you know are captive industry. That's what I mean by you know that affluent, that market, yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:31

So if you're like I said, if you're very good at Fixing hair and you've got two choices, either you tap into the regular market or you open an on-market hair salon where your main target or your main clientele is basically well-heeled, well-to-do, wealthy Ghanaian women, yeah, if you are very good at hair, you know fixing people's hair, you'll make a lot of money very, very quickly. Why? Because two things. Like I said, ghanaian, african women want to look good. So, just on that tangent, over the last sort of five to ten years. There's many women from the african continent, be it nigeria, kenya, zimbabwe, south africa, they've come to gh, ghana, you know, looking for, you know, business opportunities, looking for work in the last 10 years. So if you are good at fixing hair right, you'll make money.

Speaker 1: 7:25

And the second reason why I say that is because you know there are many events in Ghana. You know there's there's, you know, outdoorings, there's naming ceremonies, there's funerals, there's marriages, there's, you know, like, particularly big occasions like, or some of the festivals within a crowd, or even death, of December, when you get a lot of people from the diaspora, african diaspora coming to Ghana, showing you that if you are very good at what you do, where you get a lot of people from the diaspora, african diaspora coming to Ghana, yeah, showing you that if you are very good at what you do right, you can make a lot of money fixing people's hair. So, number one, I would strongly recommend, right, that as a business, you set up a hair salon, hair and beauty salon, yeah, where you know, where your main goal is fixing people's hair in different styles, be it cane row, twist locks, etc. Etc. So that's number one. Number two, in terms of the hair and beauty industry is selling wigs and weave ones. Again. There's a big demand in Ghana for weaves and wigs, yeah, weaves and wigs, weave-ons and wigs, yeah, and this market is dominated by Asians. When I mean Asians, I'm talking about Indians, chinese and Koreans. That's where the market, that's who controls the market. Now, if you can come in as African from the diaspora, yeah, and are able to, you know, break into the market whereby you are selling wigs and revans to women, particularly those, again, there's Afro women, and the reason I'm talking about after women, right, as a market we can tap into, is because these after women have got a lot of money, they've got a lot of disposable income, yeah, and like I mentioned also, or like what I will mention also, is that there is a thriving black middle class and obviously in Ghana, and within that, obviously there's women there, women who have got a lot of disposable income, who are prepared to spend money. You know buying these.

Speaker 1: 9:44

You know Brazilian hair pieces, you know Amazonian hair pieces, you know different type of, you know hair pieces to look good. You know for their, for their man, or to look good generally or within the profession that they're working in. So, if you're able to tap into that weave-on work industry within Ghana by importing it or by even being creative yourself and making your own weave-on work. Right, you can make a lot of money very, very fast. Like I said, because there's a strong demand in Ghana, particularly within the affluent circles, circles and also those professional women, those women that work for the government, for multinational companies, for these banks, telecommunication companies, et cetera right, a lot of women who work in those industries, right, wear wigs, yeah, and so if you are able to actually tap into that wig market by importing wigs into Ghana, you can stand to make a lot of money, because there is a demand for those weaves and wigs and whatever you want to call it.

Speaker 1: 10:55

Now, the third area in terms of the hair and beauty industry is skincare, haircare products. So, again, ghanaian women, african women, as part of looking good, right, they like to, you know, wear or put on good skin products, good skin and hair products. So let me first look at skin products here. So, in terms of skin, you know, uh, unfortunately you know, skin bleaching is becoming big in ghana and I mentioned this on another podcast before. So if you are importing, you know, natural skin bleaching creams, because they are natural skin bleaching creams, not the ones with hydroquinone, that can poison, damage the skin. You know, if you can sell those, again, that's the market because, unfortunately, you know some Ghanaian women not all, but some Ghanaian women want to look lighter and lighter. Yeah, so they don't want to be dark, so they want to look light, like you know, as if they're mixed race or that kind of tone. Yeah, a lot of African American women have that kind of light skin tone, yeah. So if you're able to make skincare that pertains to bleaching one's skin in a natural way, again you can make some money selling those kind of skin products. Again, all the skin products that will make you some money.

Speaker 1: 12:24

That's organic products. So for me, I think there's, and some of our women are moving into the area of whereby they want to use organic products. So obviously there's a market there for non-organic. You know those products that got high levels of. You know toxins, you know chemicals in it that can, you could say, damage the skin.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Aside from that, you know a lot of Guyanese and African women are becoming more conscious in terms of what they put on their skin, and so, if you are able to even make your own no, I'm not talking about import if you can make your own skin products right, using natural products like natural shea yeah, natural cocoa butter, you know, fuse it with some olive oil, fuse it with some coconut oil, fuse it with some olive oil, fuse it with some coconut oil, fuse it with lavender or lemongrass or coconut yeah, coconut oil or even neem oil. If you can make this kind of organic produce white, you will make a killing. Why? Because, like I said, you've got two markets you've got the afro market and you've got your regular market again. Both women within those camps within the regular camp got the afro market and you've got your regular market Again. Both women within those camps within the regular camp and the afro camp are becoming conscious in the way how they treat their skin and so, if they want natural beauty skincare products, that's going to enhance their melanin, that's going to enhance their glow, and so, like I said, if you're able to produce natural, organic products, then again that's a very, very tough business in which we're into, because the reality is is that, you know, this natural, organic skincare products is still quite new in Ghana. Yeah, there are people doing it, but it's not as widespread as the commercial skincare activity, which involves, obviously you know use of chemicals and so if you are able to tap into the natural, organic skincare products yeah, by using the things I mentioned, like Shea and Cocoa Butter, etc. Right, you will make a lot of money. Yeah, because women are looking for an alternative, you know, an alternative to the damaging chemicals that have been a lot of these mainstream skincare products.

Speaker 1: 15:01

All right, so the last facet of the health and hair, or the hair and beauty you can go into is the nail industry. Again, nails. You know women like to look good and do their nails right. So in Europe, particularly the UK I don't know about the US, but the UK over the last five years there have been nail shops springing up all over the place in the UK in London, in Birmingham, in Manchester, in Derby, in Sheffield and Leeds. Same in Ghana. Right in the last couple, let's say last five years or so, yeah, a lot of nails bars are springing up, particularly in Accra, and so if you are a trained beautician, yeah, a trained manicure, pedicure, right, that's something that you can definitely go into by establishing your own nail bar business.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Like what? The Orientals because I don't want to say Chinese, so I'll say Orientals as a white umbrella. That's what they've done in the UK, because a lot of their nail bars that you see in the UK are owned by Orientals. So, whether they're Korean, vietnamese, vietnamese, chinese, what have you right, a lot of the nail bars that you see in the UK are owned by these people and I'm sure that in Ghana, seeing what's happening in the UK, they will bring that to Ghana and try and make a killing.

Speaker 1: 16:33

And so, again, if you are a qualified beautician and you've gone to school to learn how to, you know, do women's nails, if you open your own nails bar, you'll make a lot of money because women want to make women. You know, ghanaian women are following the trends of the West. Yeah, and as you see, in North America and in Europe, right, nail bars are becoming popular amongst women. Yeah, women like to do their nails. Yeah, despite the health, the health risks within these nails, right, women want to do their nails. And so if you are trained in that area and you open your nail, you open your own nails bar shop, right, and you're able to do it to a very, very good extent, right, you'll make a lot of killing.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Finally, on this, again, if you are a trained beautician, right, you can even become a consultant to provide women right, you know, give them advice in terms of how to look good, in terms of their skincare, their hair care. You know manicure, pedicure, you know nails care, et cetera. So you could act as a consultant. If you have studied, you know the beauty, you know beauty. You know.

Speaker 1: 17:45

If you're a beautician, if you're a qualified, you know beautician, or if you have experience in the area, you could act as a consultant to, you know, know to a lot of affluent women who are willing to spend the money for a consultant to advise them, to help them, about how to keep their hair good, how to maintain a good, healthy, healthy skin glow.

Speaker 1: 18:11

You know how to, you know, maintain a youthful appearance, etc.

Speaker 1: 18:17

So if you are skilled in that area, then one thing that would definitely make you some money is if you become some kind of beauty consultant or some beautician, particularly these athlete women out there who have got the money and are prepared to spend the money on good consultation.

Speaker 1: 18:39

So these are areas within the hair and beauty industry in Ghana that you could tap into, where you can make a lot of money, you know, because there's definitely the demand out there and this expertise is not as what you have in the UK or the West right. So if you're able to add that added expertise to your service, then you know you will get regular customs and you can stand to make a lot of money. All right, so I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Ghana In Focus, looking at business opportunities in Ghana, looking particularly at the hair and beauty industry in Ghana, and next week we'll have another business opportunity for you that you can tap into, and so for myself, kwame and for all the crew here on Ghana In Focus, thank you very much for listening and we'll see you in the next edition of Ghana In Focus.