At age 11, Anastasia Ogochukwu was already running a salon from her living room. Every weekend, children would line up in her family house waiting to make their hair. “I would charge their parents N30 each and for 10 people, that was, N300. I would be good for that day,” she said. The graduate of Banking and Finance, now runs Anastaceas Luxury Hair, a logistics company, and a Ready-to-Wear business, shipping her luxury hair from Nigeria to customers abroad.
By Eberechi Obinagwam
At age 11, Anastasia Ogochukwu was already running a salon from her living room. Every weekend, children would line up in her family house waiting to make their hair. “I would charge their parents N30 each and for 10 people, that was, N300. I would be good for that day,” she said. The graduate of Banking and Finance, now runs Anastaceas Luxury Hair, a logistics company, and a Ready-to-Wear business, shipping her luxury hair from Nigeria to customers abroad.
How it all started
Anastasia Ogochukwu didn’t learn hair making anywhere. At the age of 11, she woke up one day to discover a hidden talent in her, hair making. She first began with her sister’s hair, practicing and developing herself personally. Over time, she developed love for hairs. “If I saw a hairstyle, I would come home and practice on my mannequin. When wig making came out, I learned online and it all turned out well,” she told TheNiche in an interview.
“When you come to our house on weekends you would see many children lined up, waiting for me to make their hair. Then, I would charge their parents N30 and when I made for 10 people that would be N300 and I would be good for that day. While I went to school, I continued. I was making braids for N800 to1000 and they were all good because I was getting referrals,” she recalled.
As her love for hairs grew, she went to learn bridal styling. She added; “Anytime I went for an event, I first looked out for the brides. I just like bridal hair. So that was why I went to learn it. The training was just for five days in Lagos and it was the only training on hair I ever did. So, I added that to my business.”
After her school, she got a corporate job and was running her hair business as a side hustle. But in 2016, after getting married and could no longer cope with her work and business, she quit her paid job to focus on her business. “When I got pregnant for my first child in 2016, I was having bleeding and the rest. So, it was affecting my work and business. But because I love my business more, I had to leave the corporate job to focus on my business,” she explained.
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In 2021, when family demands became intense, she dropped bridal styling to launch Anastaceas Luxury Hair. She said it was more flexible. “I couldn’t manage childcare with hair, wig making, and bridal styling. Most of my jobs were bridal styling and that required me to leave on Fridays. I had just given birth to my second child and was breastfeeding. I didn’t have help. It was not convenient for me. So, I stopped and switched to selling luxury hair. That was when I launched Anastaceas Luxury Hair, selling within Nigeria and abroad,” she said.
In 2024, Ogochukwu added Ready-to-wear African print and logistics to her business. “I had a friend in the US that usually asked me to help her buy Ready-to-wear African prints. When I bought and sent to her, her friends would be like this is fine and would ask me to help them buy too. Then, I was like I can turn this into a business. So, instead of going to buy them, I would just go to the market, select materials, design them and give them to my tailor to sew and then ship to them. That was how I added that into my business,” she said.
Then came her logistics business in the same year. Her sister had relocated to the US, and she usually helped her send items. Her sister’s friends also started asking for help. “One day, while shipping a package for my sister at DHL, the staff asked why I didn’t get an RAC card and start the business. That was how I added logistics to my business,” she said.
Sourcing for capital
Ogochukwu said she started her luxury hair with zero capital but with trust from friends. “When I advertise a particular hair and my friends see it and like it, they pay for it and I send it to them. So, it wasn’t something I started with a particular capital,” she said.
Penetrating the market
The brand owner of Anastaceas said penetrating the market took her a while because she is not a social media person. “If I were, my business would have gone far. I like my own space. I am not used to social media stuff, and my kind of business requires it. So, I was just selling within my WhatsApp space, but I knew that if I had gone through social media, I would have gone far,” she said.
Ogochukwu also said selling on credit affected her business, but she had to stop it. Now she only delivers once a customer has completed payment. “Some of my customers would buy hair for an occasion and pay in installments. Because it was for an occasion, I would give them the hair and they would pay later. Some bought on credit. It really affected my sales. But I have stopped it. Now I only allow installment payments. So, once you complete your payment, I deliver your hair,” she said.
She added: “What helped me was that my target audience were customers outside the country. Most of the people that referred me were my friends that relocated to the US, UK etc. I had few customers from Nigeria.”
Business experience
Ogochukwu’s unforgettable experience was entrusting a package to her rider for someone traveling abroad the next day. The rider forgot to deliver it, and the person left without it. It was a devastating moment.
She explained: “I had a customer who needed the hair for an important occasion abroad. She was already expecting it because I was supposed to give it to someone traveling out of the country the next day. But my rider forgot to deliver the items on the day I sent him.
“It was a very bad experience for me. I had to beg and beg. And then, she was like okay, no problem that she would look for how to add up money for another logistics. I had to add my own money too so she would not not feel bad. That was how we resolved it. My rider was just sorry but then, what could I do. I saw it as a mistake because anybody can make mistakes. But I won’t try that again,” she added.
She also shared an experience from when she was pregnant and running around to get her hair from a company. She almost passed out at a bus stop. “I just wanted to satisfy my customers, but I was very weak at the time. I was still struggling to finish everything and I almost passed out at a bus stop. That taught me to prioritize my health,” she recalled.
Breakthrough
What encouraged Ogochukwu to keep pushing was making sales quickly through referrals from friends in the diaspora. “In my early days of this business, I had a group of women who went on vacation and patronized me. They were all from the U.S. and paid in dollars. That was a lot for me,” she said, smiling.
Business challenges in Nigeria
High import duties are a major challenge for Ogochukwu running her business in Nigeria. According to her, the rates are so high that when she buys products abroad and it’s time for pickup, the tariff becomes unmanageable. “It’s a challenge for me,” she said.
Other challenges she mentioned include electricity tariffs, high transportation costs, and the high cost of living. “The cost of living is high. The workers I used to pay N3,000–N5,000 to style wigs because I can’t do them alone now want N10,000,” she said.
Japa
The brand owner of Anastaceas prefers to stay in Nigeria for now because of her business. According to her, running her business here is conducive for growth. She said she might relocate abroad in the long run. “I think most people relocate because of insecurity in the country, which I may consider in the long run. But for now, I’m still here because of my clients abroad. I give them the best, and if I travel, who would do that?” she said.
About Ogochukwu
Ogochukwu was born in Ibadan and grew up in Lagos. She is a graduate of Banking and Finance from Covenant University and the Chief Executive Officer of Anastaceas.
She trains aspiring stylists and also has a team of workers.
