- Title: Meet the Cameroonian doctor who created a makeup line for African women
- Date: 21st May 2018
- Summary: MAKEUP ARTISTS AT EVENT DOUALA, CAMEROON (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) RMB IBOW FOUNDER, KATE KUME, SAYING: "In the professional makeup class you are training young ladies, young men who are going to become professional makeup artist. The school is one of the areas am very passionate about because I love teaching. You see, the interesting thing about life is you can achieve so many things alone but the best achievement is passing on your knowledge to others and that's what we do here at the Ibow Academy." VARIOUS OF STUDENT PUTTING MAKEUP ON A MODEL
- Embargoed: 4th June 2018 15:48
- Keywords: Make Up Beauty shades African Brand entrepreneur training standards
- Location: BUEA AND DOUALA, CAMEROON
- City: BUEA AND DOUALA, CAMEROON
- Country: Cameroon
- Topics: Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA0038GTA5P3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Cameroonian makeup artist and model Njiki Mary says she struggled for years to find makeup that suited her skin until she discovered a local brand.
RMB Ibow was created for dark skinned women who have long felt neglected by a beauty industry that critics say is lacking in diversity.
"I love the fact that it's non-ashy - the finish, because sometimes we use products from outside and we are like, they have ashy finish because the skin tones of whites are not the same as ours. So that's it, I think it has this radiant, vibrant colours that I really love that you could use to do day make up till glam, till artistic, till beautiful, fantasy make ups and the rest," said Njiki.
RMB - an acronym for 'Reveal My Beauty' and "Ibow" a vernacular term meaning beauty, was founded in 2004 by Dr. Kate Kume - a Cameroonian doctor who decided to put the knowledge she had gained studying medicine to give African women a variety of choice in makeup and skincare.
Long before American artist, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty - a cosmetics line that disrupted the industry with a promise to match all skin tones, Kume says she was already dissatisfied with the limited options in the market, most of which were imported from the U.S. Europe and China.
Kume says RMB does not only match skin-types it also considers the weather.
"We are talking of a tropical climate. If you go to Europe and you look at the climate it's generally not the same like here so some products will be good for that region and they are not necessary good for this region and again the skin tones, you might find there are so many shades of black and when you, when the brand is made for basically for all skin types generally you might not have a wide range of colours that would fit African women," said Kume.
The products are manufactured in the U.S. following formulas created by Kume then shipped to Cameroon.
The prices range from 2 US dollars for compact mineral powder to 90 US dollars for a set of custom makeup brushes.
RMB is popular at many of Cameroon's public events, including Miss Cameroon but it was not easy to convince women that a local brand is just as good and maybe better.
"When we started at the beginning, the first thing was, 'oh... it's Cameroonian? And then I will rather buy some other brand because it's a brand name and it's from somewhere else it doesn't matter where it's from, it doesn't even matter about the quality'. But bit by bit I think our strategy was a very good one. We got people to see the results of the make-up. We constantly made sure that in the face of the public there were seeing exactly the capacity. How good our products were, how long they were lasting," she said.
Kume also runs a training programme for people to learn how to do their own makeup or do it professionally for others.
Thirty four-year-old Jeane Maze has been training at RMB for three months.
"I have noticed that whenever I make up a lady during my training I see the layer of the makeup products matching perfectly well on the skin. It's a perfect fit for African women and for the black skin. So I am very comfortable getting trained here and I am sure I will turn out to be a professional makeup artist after my course," said Maze.
"In the professional make-up class you are training young ladies, young men who are going to become professional make-up artist. The school is one of the areas am very passionate about because I love teaching. You see, the interesting thing about life is you can achieve so many things alone but the best achievement is passing on your knowledge to others and that's what we do here at the Ibow Academy," said Kume.
RMB products are available online and in stores in Cameroon's two main cities of Yaounde and Douala. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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