Adeoluwa Adekunle: 9 year-old CEO of Dede’s Skincare 

Dede’s Skincare is a business committed to enhancing skin and hair care using natural products. Her product line currently includes Coconut oil, Lip balm and Shea butter that comes in mixed fruits and orange fragrances.

Adeoluwa has a strong heritage of handcraft. Her paternal and maternal grandmothers both had hand craft related businesses and they emphasized the importance of learning at least one handiwork in addition to academic work. So it was not surprising when she began to show interest in doing things with her hands. 

Adeoluwa’s interest in handcraft first started when she was about 5years old, when her mom used to make black soap and shea butter for use at home. She learnt with her mum the process of making these products right from the point of sourcing for the materials in the market, to packaging, marketing and sales.

Her first business adventure started at the kid entrepreneurs’ fair held in April 2017 where she produced, and sold coconut oil and shea butter.The high point for Adeoluwa was when she won the prize for the most innovative business idea at the fair. The whole experience has been a life defining one for her.

During her school’s last fun day Dede’s Skincare took a stand to sell their products. Adeoluwa was excited about telling her friends about her business and some even offered to help her with sales at her stand.

The experience of participating in the kid entrepreneurs fair was beyond the products she made, she also got her mum r to get her books on business for kids which she read and could clearly explain. She learnt how to walk up to complete strangers to market her business and she even got mentors. 

No doubt it is an experience that has marked her young mind forever.
A big thank you to the organizers of the fair for the impact their making in these children’s lives.