Serena Williams Invests in Company Aimed to Compete with Korean Beauty Supply Stores

Market research conducted by Mintel estimates 6 out of 10 black women wear a weave or wig. This translates to big bucks as the hair industry is one that earns over a billion dollars annually in the United States. This is an industry in which 85% of its consumers are black women. Diishan Imira, owner of Mayvenn broke down the supply chain within the hair industry:

“Basically, women in India sell their hair to buyers from China, who treat and package it, then sell it to primarily Korean distributors.

Those distributors sell to Korean-owned beauty supply shops in the U.S., who then sell it to primarily African American women.”

As you can see most of the money funnels itself into non-black owned beauty supply stores, where women can buy everything from wigs to braiding hair and bundles. Black women are typically not the profiteers in the commercial hair game.

“95 percent of African-American hair stylists can’t afford to keep the inventory on hand because of how expensive the natural hair is and the low amount of cash they have on hand to spend on it,” states Diishan Imira, owner of Mayvenn.

Mayvenn is a company seeking to put financial control back into the hands of the stylists by allowing them to sell hair without keeping on-site back stock and inventory. Consumers can purchase hair through their stylist and receive the hair within 2-3 days. The added bonus? A 30 day return window. (That’s something most Beauty Supply Stores don’t offer). The company has so far raised over $13 million dollars in funding and has investors such as Serena Williams backing them up.

What do you think of a service like Mayvenn? Beneficial for putting money back into the hands of the black community or just an added middle man?